North American markets are expected to slide Tuesday morning, under pressure by a first-quarter earnings warning from Texas Instruments.

Texas Instruments narrowed its revenue and earnings range of first-quarter estimates after the bell Monday, saying demand for DLP chips, which are semiconductors used in televisions and projectors, isn’t as strong as expected.

Crude oil futures fell Tuesday amid signals that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will maintain its current production output at its coming meeting in Iran.

Light sweet crude was down 55¢, fetching US$53.34 by late morning in Europe on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Here at home, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 214,900 in February, up 5.3% from 204,000 in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

“Housing starts rebounded in February back to levels more consistent with our outlook for the year,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “Strong growth in domestic demand, healthy levels of immigration and low mortgage rates continue to fuel the activity in the new home market.”

On Monday, oil and gold shares kept Toronto markets in the red, while a harsh report on U.S. consumer borrowing costs late in the session pushed U.S. blue chips into negative territory.

At close, the S&P/TSX was down 41.11 points or 0.41% at 9,886.09, while the junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 2.52 points or 0.12% at 2,040.29.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped sharply in the last half-hour of trading, ending the day down 3.69 points or 0.03% at 10,936.86, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 19.60 points or 0.95% at 2,090.21, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 3.19 points or 0.26% to 1,225.31.

The Canadian dollar was up, adding 0.09 of cent to US81.35¢.

In New York, a report from the Federal Reserve showing that buyers increased their borrowing on credit cards, auto loans and other types of consumer debt at an annual rate of 6.6% in January, the fastest pace in three months, sent blue chips lower after being up throughout the day. The 6.6% rate of increase in January compared to a 5% rise in December and was the fastest advance since consumer debt rose by 8.2% in October.