U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open Wednesday after Merrill Lynch posted a wide loss and disclosed bigger write-downs than expected.

Merrill swung to a wider-than-projected third-quarter net loss because of US$7.9 billion in write-downs on collateralized debt obligations and subprime mortgages. Merrill had warned earlier this month that it would post a net loss because of writing down US$4.5 billion in collateralized debt obligations and subprime mortgages.

In today’s economic news, a report on September existing home sales in the United States is due at 10:00 ET.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US103.17¢, down 0.34 of a cent after jumping 1.51¢ Tuesday.

In other earnings news, Amazon.com reported higher revenue and quadruple earnings growth in the third quarter.

Nasdaq Stock Market’s third-quarter net income surged due to a gain from the sale of its stake in London Stock Exchange Group. The second-largest U.S. stock exchange reported net income of US$365 million, or US$2.41 a share, compared with US$30.2 million, or 22¢ a share, a year earlier.

CME Group posted a 94% jump in quarterly net income the first quarter following its US$12 billion acquisition of CBOT Holding.

Tundra Semiconductor Corp. warned it will generate lower than expected profits and revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 because of weakening markets and the impact of a stronger Canadian dollar.

Crude-oil futures slipped 22¢ to US$85.05 a barrel ahead of weekly U.S. energy inventory data. Gold futures eased US$1.90 to US$761.20 an ounce.

International stock markets were mixed, with the Nikkei 225 slipping 0.6% in Tokyo and the FTSE 100 edging up 0.1% in London.

The Toronto stock market ended higher Tuesday as surging technology issues offset sagging industrial and energy shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 43.89 points, or 0.31%, at 14,087.49.

The tech sector was up 1.11%, boosted by Research in Motion.

RIM shares jumped $9.12, or 8.2%, to $120.42 after the BlackBerry maker said it had made a Chinese distribution deal with Alcatel-Lucent.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index climbed 39.45 points to 3,018.26.

In New York, technology stocks rallied on Apple’s strong profit and the Chinese distribution deal RIM.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 45.33 points, or 1.65%, at 2,799.26.

The broader market also advanced. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 109.26 points, or 0.81%, to end at 13,676.23. The S&P 500 was up 13.26 points, or 0.88%, at 1,519.59.