North American stocks are likely to advance at the open Tuesday after Procter & Gamble lifted its earnings outlook and Colgate-Palmolive topped analyst expectations.

Procter & Gamble reported a 12% increase in net income for its fiscal second quarter as revenue growth outpaced cost increases, helping to boost profit margins.

Colgate-Palmolive posted an 11% jump in fourth-quarter profit, as higher advertising spending and a strong performance in Latin America boosted sales.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada reported that petroleum and metals pushed up prices for manufactured goods and raw materials in December.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.5¢, down 0.07 of a cent.

South of the border, Federal Reserve policy makers beginning a two-day meeting, with an announcement on interest rates due Wednesday.

The Fed is expected to leave its key rate unchanged at 5.25%.

The Conference Board’s U.S. consumer confidence survey for January is slated for release later this morning.

In other earnings news, Canadian Oil Sands Trust said its net income fell to $128 million in the fourth quarter as its bottom line was hit by higher Crown royalties, higher operating expenses, and higher foreign exchange losses while production fell short of expectations due to equipment problems.

Canadian Pacific Railway said its fourth-quarter profit rose 6% to $145.6 million from a year-earlier $137.1 million.

Sony reported a decline in net profit in the fiscal third quarter as losses in its videogame business offset strong electronics sales.

U.S. Steel said yesterday that its fourth-quarter net income nearly tripled from a year earlier.

Crude-oil prices rose 41¢ to US$54.42 a barrel as Saudi Arabia advised its customers of an impending 158,000 barrel-a-day cut, which takes effect February 1.

International stock markets saw relatively muted moves. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% in London

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 19.73 points, or 0.11%, to close at 17,490.19.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 223.78 points, or 1.1%, to 20,460.46.

A steep decline n oil prices help send the Toronto stock market lower Monday, despite news of big merger in the forest products sector.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index lost 33.3 points to 12,945.96, also pushed lower by mining and telecom stocks.

Shares Abitibi Consolidated surged 27% on merger news.

Abitibi-Consolidated shares soared 27%, or 84¢, to $3.95 on heavy volume of 53.2 million shares after the Montreal company and U.S.-based Bowater Inc. announced plans to merge in a stock-swap deal creating a firm with annual revenues of about $9.3 billion.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved up 3.51 points to 2,905.51.

In New York, merger and acquisition news in the United States failed to make much of impression, as investors await Wednesday’s interest rate announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones industrial average inched up 3.76 points to 12,490.78, the Nasdaq composite index advanced 5.6 points to 2,441.09 and the S&P 500 index points slipped 1.56 points at 1,420.62.