North American stocks may falter Wednesday after the U.S. economy picked up speed in the fourth quarter, and ahead of a decision on interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter as GDP rose at a 3.5% annual rate, the U.S. Commerce Department said today.

For the whole year, GDP advanced 3.4%, compared to a 3.2% increase in 2005 and 3.9% growth in 2004.

The Fed, which began a two-day meeting on interest rates Tuesday, is expected to issue its decision at 14:15 ET. The central bank is widely expected to leave its federal-funds-rate target at 5.25% for a fifth consecutive meeting.

Here at home, the Canadian economy increased 0.2% in November after remaining stable in October, Statistics Canada reported today. Growth was registered in both goods and service industries.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.64¢, down 0.1 of a cent.

Oil prices fell Wednesday as the market adjusted to a spike the day before and awaited the weekly U.S. inventories report. Light sweet crude for March delivery fell 33¢ to US$56.64 by midday in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In today’s earnings news, Alcan Inc. swung to a fourth-quarter profit of US$422 million from a year-ago loss of US$361 million as operating cash flow hit a record high.

Natural gas distributor Enbridge Inc. said its fourth-quarter profit slipped to $171.1 million from a year-ago $174 million as energy use in North American was reduced by unusually warm weather.

Boeing’s fourth-quarter profit more than doubled and the aerospace giant boosted its 2007 earnings forecast after booking a record year for jetliner orders.

Time Warner’s fourth-quarter net income jumped 34% amid a US$769 million gain from selling its Internet-access business in Europe and US$900 million tax benefit.

Key European indexes were down in early action.

In Japan, worries about Sony’s sluggish earnings helped drag down the benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which shed 106.77 points, or 0.61 %, to close at 17,383.42 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Sony shares fell 1.42 % amid concerns about sales of the electronic giant’s new games console business.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 354.04 points, or 1.73 %, to 20,106.42.

Toronto stocks moved higher Tuesday, driven ahead by gains in the resources sectors.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 66.64 points, or 0.53%, to 13,014.60.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups moved up, with the energy sector rising 1.60%.


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved up 14.07 points, or 0.48%, to 2,919.58.

In New York, markets moved higher on good corporate earnings news and optimism of the economy’s prospects.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 32.53, or 0.26%, to 12,523.31, the Nasdaq composite moved up 7.55, or 0.31%, to 2,448.64, and the S&P500 gained 8.20, or 0.58%, to 1,428.82.