North American stocks look set to slide Tuesday morning, as traders turn their attention to the release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes for its last meeting and the OECD cut is forecast for world economic growth.

The Fed releases minutes of its May 3 policy meeting at 14:00 ET Market observes will parse he report for clues on interest rates and the health of the U.S. economy.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said the leading indicator rose 0.4% in April, its largest advance since last fall. The government agency said demand for labour and domestic spending continued to improve.

Six of the ten components rose, one more than in March, while three were unchanged. The housing index was the only component to decline.

The Canadian dollar opened Tuesday at US79.24¢, up 0.26 of a cent from Friday’s close.

Also this morning, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its forecast for 2005 economic growth in the industrialized world to 2.6% from 2.9%, blaming a slower-than-expected recovery in Japan and yet another false start in Europe.

In a twice-yearly report, the OECD also raised its U.S. growth forecast to 3.6% from the 3.3% it predicted in November.

But the Paris-based club of developed countries slashed its euro-area growth forecast to 1.2% from 1.9% and lowered its expectations for Japanese growth to 1.5% from 2.1%.

Later today, the U.S. National Association of Realtors is due to release its existing home sales report for April. Economists predict a modest increase to an annual rate of 6.90 million from 6.89 million in the prior month.

Meanwhile crude oil prices climbed 19¢ to US$49.35 a barrel in early trading Tuesday.

U.S. stocks sustained last week’s rally on Monday. The Dow industrials added 51.65, or 0.49%, to 10,523.56. The Nasdaq composite index rose 10.23 points, or 0.5%, to 2,056.65, and the S&P 500 advanced 4.58, or 0.39%, to 1,193.86.

On Friday, Toronto stocks closed slightly lower on Friday in a lightly traded session ahead of the Victoria Day long weekend. The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 17.59 points, or 0.19%, at 9,452.19.

The TSX ended the week up 173.74 points as energy and tech stocks rebounded.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks ended little changed on Friday after posting the best week since November.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 21.28 points, or 0.20%, to end at 10,471.91 and the S&P 500 index was down 1.80 points, or 0.15%, to finish at 1,189.28.

The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.84 points, or 0.19%, to close at 2,046.42. Nasdaq ended higher for the sixth session in a row, its best winning streak in six months.

For the week, the Dow climbed 3.27%, the S&P 500 rose 3.05%, and Nasdaq was up 3.5%.