North American markets are set to open strongly Tuesday morning, boosted by expected bargain hunting.

On Wall Street a flood of earnings reports will likely dominate the trading day.

Brokerage giant Merrill Lynch said fourth-quarter earnings slipped 2.5% from a year-earlier period that included a gain. Revenue surged 21%, amid improvements in its investment-banking, private-client and investment management businesses.

Drug maker Merck reported a 21% drop in fourth-quarter profit, hurt by the withdrawal of its blockbuster drug Vioxx from the market.

Canadian investors will have earnings reports and the latest news on interest rates to mull over. As widely expected The Bank of Canada is left interest rates unchanged.
The overnight rate remains at 2.50%.

Later this morning, the U.S. Conference Board will release its report on consumer confidence for January.

Toronto stocks closed slightly lower on Monday to extend the market’s losing skid to four sessions. The S&P/TSX composite index shed 8.63 points, or 0.09%, to 9,078.20.

Volume was relatively light at 215 million shares, as investors were looking ahead to the flow of domestic earnings reports due later this week, and to tomorrow’s interest rate announcement from the Bank of Canada.

Canada’s central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged. The overnight rate currently stands at
2.50%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 2.23 points, or 0.12%, to 1,806.80.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks fell to fresh year lows. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 24.38 points, or 0.23%, to finish at 10,368.61. The 500 was down 4.12 points, or 0.35%, to end at 1,163.75. The Nasdaq composite index was down 25.57 points, or 1.26%, to close at 2,008.70.

The Nasdaq, the Dow and the S&P 500 all ended lower for the fourth consecutive session. The Nasdaq closed at its lowest level since Nov. 3, the Dow since Nov. 4 and the S&P 500 since Nov. 10.