U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening Tuesday following remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that suggest the Fed could move to hike interest rates sooner rather than later to fight inflation.

Here at home, the Bank of Canada is widely expected to deliver another interest rate cut Tuesday morning amid signs that the economy is cooling.

Most analysts say the central bank will drop its key overnight lending rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% and then put its recent rate-slashing campaign on hold.

Canada’s trade surplus with the world decreased for the first time in four months, Statistics Canada said today.

The trade surplus narrowed to $5.1 billion in April from a revised $5.7 billion in March, as the growth in imports outpaced the growth in exports.

The Canadian dollar pulled back further Tuesday, trading at US97.13¢, down 0.76 of cent from Monday’s close.

South of the border, the U.S. trade deficit swelled more than expected during April, pushed wider by record oil prices and an increased consumption for imported crude that offset a solid climb in exports.

The U.S. deficit in international trade of goods and services increased by 7.8% to US$60.90 billion from March’s revised US$56.49 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department said today.

Oil prices moved higher overnight. The July light, sweet, crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading 41¢ higher at US$134.76 a barrel in European trade Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency today lowered its forecast for global oil demand this year amid surging prices, but said the world’s hunger for oil is still knocking the market off balance.

“Supply growth so far this year has been poor and higher prices are needed to choke off demand to balance the market,” the Paris-based watchdog said in a monthly report.

The agency predicted global oil product demand in 2008 to grow by 0.9%, or 800,000 barrels a day, down from the 1.2%, or 1 million barrels, forecast earlier.

In today’s economic news, U.S. trade balance data for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

In earnings news, Texas Instruments raised the midpoint of its earnings forecast late Monday, saying it expects second-quarter earnings of between 43¢ and 47¢ a share, and revenue of US$3.33 billion and US$3.46 billion.

Overseas, European markets were lower, with financials and auto makers under particular pressure. The UKs FTSE lost 0.7% to 5,838.50, the German DAX Xetra fell 1.1% to 6,743.94 and the French CAC-40 declined 1% to 4,751.70.

Asian markets fell sharply. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 4% to 23,433.65 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.1% to close at 14,021.17. Shanghai plunged more than 7% on fears of further credit-tightening measures from China’s central bank.

Toronto stocks fizzled Monday afternoon as energy shares gave back earlier gains.

The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 8.79 points, or 0.06%, to 14,960.76, after being up p more than 100 points earlier in the session.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index dropped 14.04 points, or 0.52%, to 2,667.31.

In New York, the Dow staged a modest rebound on Monday from Friday’s big drop following a surprising increase in U.S. pending home sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 70.51 points, or 0.58%, to 12,280.32.

The S&P 500 gained 1.08 points, 0.08%, to 1,361.76.

But the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 15.10 points, or 0.61%, to 2,459.46.