North American markets will likely open lower Wednesday as oil prices moved up and Canadian investors await interest rate news and earnings reports from the big banks.

The Bank of Canada is widely expected to leave interest rates at current low levels when it issues a scheduled announcement.

South of the border, orders for U.S. durable goods increased a seasonally adjusted 1.9% to $200.30 billion last month after falling 1.6% in March, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Economists had called for a 1.5% increase in new orders for durable goods from March.

April demand for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft — a barometer of business spending — climbed 1.6%, after falling at the same pace in March.

Later this morning, Commerce is also slated to release new home sales data for April. Economists look for a 5.7% decline to an annual rate of 1.35 million in new home sales from March. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes rose 4.5% in April to a record 7.18 million, better than forecasts for an annual rate of 6.9 million

In other economic news, crude-oil prices rose 15¢ to US$49.82 a barrel in early trading Wednesday.

Bank of Montreal and CIBC report earnings today, kicking off the quarterly earnings parade for the banks.

Toronto stocks posted solid gains Tuesday. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 66.16 points, or 0.70%, at 9,518.35 points.

Energy stocks rose 2.23% as the group played catch-up to the price of crude, which inched back closer to US$50 a barrel over renewed gasoline stockpile concerns ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day long weekend and the summer driving season.

Gold mining stocks, a subgroup of the materials index, were up 4.17%. Bullion price rose to just under US$418 an ounce after sliding to a three-month low earlier in the session.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 3.02 points to end at 1,606.55.

On Wall Street, U.S. blue-chip stocks closed slightly lower on, after Federal Open Market Committee minutes gave no sign when the central bank would ease its campaign of interest-rate hikes.

Major decliners included Dow component General Motors, after Fitch Ratings cut its debt to junk.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 19.88 points, or 0.19%, to end at 10,503.68. The S&P 500 Index edged up just 0.21 of a point, or 0.02%, to close at 1,194.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index advanced 4.97 points, or 0.24%, to finish at 2,061.62, marking its eighth straight day of gains.