North American stocks are looking to open higher on Wednesday as traders await the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates later in the day.

Analysts are expecting the Fed to hold steady on rates for a second consecutive time. Prior to last month’s meeting, the Fed had raised rates 17 times in a row since June 2004, pushing the overnight lending rate up to 5.25%.

At home, the growth of the leading indicator continued to moderate, edging up 0.2% in August after increases of 0.3% in the previous two months, Statistics Canada reported.

These gains were less than half the progressions posted in March, April and May. Still, seven of the 10 components rose in August, up from five in July. Household spending softened, but business spending remained strong and the weakness in manufacturing appeared to moderate.

StatsCan also reported that wholesale sales reached a new high in July, buoyed by a surge in the sale of automotive products. Sales increased by 2.1% to $42.4 billion, more than reversing a 0.8% drop in June. Excluding the automotive sector, which posted its largest monthly increase in almost a year, sales rose by 0.6%, as had been expected.

Meanwhile, Oil prices fell in early trading as traders awaited the release of U.S. petroleum stocks data widely expected to show further declines. Light sweet crude for October was down US56¢ at US$61.10 a barrel.

The Canadian dollar opened at US88.61¢, down US0.07¢. On Tuesday, the loonie had fallen US0.77¢.

Toronto stocks also fell Tuesday, after enjoying a triple-digit gain on Monday, as resource indices dropped on falling commodity prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 61.84, or 0.53%, to 11,701.71.

Seven of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy index giving up 1.84%.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index was off 40.08, or 1.55%, to 2,537.44.

In New York, markets ended lower as investors fretted over economic news suggesting a slowdown in the domestic economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 14.09 points to 11,540.91. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 13.38 points at 2,222.37, while the S&P 500 Index dipped 2.87 points to 1,318.31.