North American stocks are likely to rise Wednesday thanks to improved outlooks from technology stalwarts Yahoo and Sun Microsystems.

Tech stocks are poised for a better performance after Yahoo rolled out new search ad technology and said it expects to improve revenue per page view over the course of the year, even it reported a 61% profit decline.

Sun Microsystems swung to a better-than-forecast profit on 7% revenue growth.

Crude-oil futures slid 54¢ to $54.50 a barrel in electronic trading Wednesday, after the sharp rally on Tuesday

There are no major economic reports from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.78¢, up 0.04 of a cent.

In other earnings news, Corning swung to a fourth-quarter profit as demand for flat-panel televisions continues to surge.

WellPoint said net profit in the fourth quarter rose 23% and maintained its 2007 net income forecast and its enrollment outlook for the year.

ConocoPhillips, General Dynamics and McDonald’s are among the blue chips due to report quarterly earnings, with eBay reporting results after the market’s close.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 rose 1.2% in London

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 98.83 points, or 0.57%, to finish at 17,507.4.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 51.35 points, or 0.3%, to 20,821.05.

Toronto stocks soared Tuesday in a broad-based rally led by energy and resource issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 205.10 points, or 1.6%, at 12,910.87. The TSX finished 2006 at 12,908.39.

All but one of the TSX index’s 10 main groups were higher, led by a 3% advance in the influential energy sector and a 3.9% rise in the resource-laden materials group.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite indexmoved ahead 30.92 points to 2,877.80.

In New York, U.S. stocks gained on Tuesday as the spike in crude oil prices lifted shares of energy companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 56.64 points, or 0.45%, to end at 12,533.80. The S&P 500 was up 5.04 points, or 0.35%, to finish at 1,427.99. The Nasdaq composite index was up just 0.34 of a point, or 0.01%, to close at 2,431.41.