Market signals for Wednesday’s open are mixed as a jump in U.S. consumer prices contrasted with encouraging earnings reports from Intel and Yahoo.

After the market close Tuesday, Intel posted a 25% jump in first-quarter earnings and raised its profit-margin expectations. Yahoo said first-quarter net income more than doubled on robust growth in online advertising, international operations and its fee-based businesses.

However, this morning the U.S. Labor Department said consumer prices rose 0.6% in March. The core reading, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.4% — the fastest pace in two-and-a-half years.

Economists had called for a 0.5% in the overall consumer price index and a 0.2% gain in the core rate.

Yesterday, the core Producer Price Index, a measure of wholesale prices excluding food and energy, rose by only half of what economists expected.

Later today, the Federal Reserve’s so-called beige book of regional economic activity is due out at 14:00 ET.

There are no major releases from Statistics Canada today.

In today’s earnings news, Ford Motor Co. said its earnings fell 38.5% to US$1.2 billion in the first quarter, but beat Wall Street expectations.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest U.S. bank, today reported first-quarter earnings of US$2.3 billion, below analysts’ estimates as the bank took a charge for its settlement of WorldCom Inc. litigation.

On Tuesday, Toronto stocks rallied on for a second straight session, as rising commodity prices boosted resource issues. The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 84.71 points, or 0.91%, at 9,415.70.

Seven of the 10 TSX 10 main subgroups closed higher, led by energy, which rose 2.53%.

The materials sector, home to TSX mining stocks, gained 2.44% as gold miners jumped 3.0%, while base metal miners rallied 3.31%.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 56.16 points, or 0.56%, to end at 10,127.41. The S&P 500 Iwas up 6.80 points, or 0.59%, to close at 1,152.78. The Nasdaq composite index was up 19.44 points, or 1.02%, to finish at 1,932.36.