North American markets are expected to open higher Wednesday morning, as investors return their focus to corporate earnings following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increase.

In economic news, the ISN nonmanufacturing index will be released at 10:00 ET. Economists expect a falloff in the measure of the U.S. service sector to 61.2 in April from 63.1 the prior month. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the service sector, a reading below 50 points to a contraction.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In this morning’s earnings news, accounting charges for oil hedging contracts and stock compensation liability produced a big loss at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. in the first quarter. The oil and natural gas company said it lost $424 million or $1.58 a share for the three months ended March 31. That compared with a profit of $258 million or 96¢ a share for the same 2004 period.

BCE Inc. said its first-quarter profit rose to $474 million, from $470 million a year earlier, while revenue climbed 4.8% to $4.9 billion.

On Tuesday, energy stocks kept Toronto markets in the red, while U.S. investors digested an expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve Board and lower April vehicle sales by the U.S.’s two largest automakers.

At close, the Toronto S&P/TSX composite index was down 59.24 points or 0.63% to 9,370.97, while the junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slid 11.5 points or 0.69% to 1,666.06.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials closed mostly unchanged, up 5.25 points or 0.05% to 10,256.95. The Nasdaq composite added 4.42 or 0.23% to 1,933.07 and the S&P 500 index lost 0.99 of a point or 0.09% to 1,161.17.

U.S. investors reacted positively to the Fed’s rate decision, which had been widely expected. The Fed’s Open Market Committee announced mid-afternoon a quarter-percentage-point hike in the nation’s benchmark lending rate, to 3%, and said future rate hikes would remain “measured,” a statement that eased investors’ fears of more aggressive increases.

However, most of the statement that accompanied the latest rate move was largely unchanged from the Fed’s March 22 meeting, although the central bank did express a little more concern about inflation and acknowledged that higher energy prices are starting to slow spending growth. Neither was enough for the Fed to abandon its approach to rate hikes.

However, stocks bounced off lows in the dying minutes of trade after the Fed said it had omitted a key phrase on inflation in its statement accompanying its interest rate decision. In a highly unusual move, the Fed revised its statement just ahead of the market close, saying it had left out a statement that “longer-term inflation expectations remain well-contained.”