U.S. stock futures pointed to a weak opening Wednesday amid concern about the financial sector and the economy in general.

In today’s economic news, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development warned Wednesday of several quarters of weak growth in most of its 30 member countries, including the United States, Japan and much of Europe.

The OECD cut its outlook for growth in its member countries to 1.8% this year, down from a previous forecast of 2.3%, and a bare 1.7% next year.

U.S. productivity rose sharply in the first quarter despite a weak economy, according to revised government data.

Nonfarm business productivity increased at a 2.6% annualized rate in the first quarter, the U.S. Labour Department said today, up from the previous estimate of a 2.2% rise. The upward revision was due largely to higher output than first estimated.

Here at home, Canada’s homeownership rate reached its highest level since 1971 in 2006, according to data from the 2006 Census.

Of the 12.4 million households in Canada, more than 8.5 million, over two-thirds (68.4%) owned their home in 2006, the highest rate since 1971. At the same time, the proportion of Canadian households that rented their home slipped from 33.8% in 2001 to 31.2% in 2006. About 3.9 million households rented their home in 2006.

In today earnings news, Bombardier Inc. reported a near-tripling of first-quarter profit to US$226 million as revenue increased 21% from a year ago to US$4.8 billion.

The price of light sweet crude dipped 53¢ to US$123.78 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after dropping US$3.45 Tuesday.

Gold futures fell US$5.30 an ounce, remaining beneath US$900.

Overseas, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.9% in early afternoon trading, while Germany’s DAX was down 1.5% and the Paris CAC-40 lost 2.3%.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1.6%, but the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong declined one% and China’s Shanghai composite dropped 1.9%.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index fell sharply Tuesday as energy stocks stumbled amid a retreat in crude oil prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 85.57 points, or 0.58%, to finish at 14,728.61.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 11.79 points, or 0.44%, to 2,640.10

In New York, U.S. stocks fell for a second day after a report that Lehman Brothers may have to raise more capital compounded recent worries the financial sector faces another round of big losses from the credit crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 100.97 points, or 0.81%, to 12,402.85. The S&P 500 shed 8.02 points, or 0.58%, to 1,377.65. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 11.05 points, or 0.44%, to 2,480.48.