North American stocks rise at Wednesday open as U.S. housing starts increased unexpectedly, and oil prices fell.

In today’s economic news, home construction in the United States unexpectedly rose during April, but building permits took their sharpest fall in 17 years.

The U.S. Commerce Department said housing starts increased 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted 1.528 million annual rate, after rising by 0.3% in March.

Building permits fell 8.9% to a 1.429 million annual rate, the U.S. Commerce Department report said. It marked the biggest decline since 24% in February 1990.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians acquired $11 billion worth of foreign securities in March. Meanwhile, non-residents added $4.7 billion worth of Canadian securities to their holdings, following February’s investment of $4.8 billion.

The Canadian dollar opened at US90.89¢, down 0.12 of a cent.

In M&A news, hedge-fund manager Edward Lampert disclosed he bought more than 15 million shares U.S. banking giant Citigroup.

Agile Software agreed to be bought by Oracle for US$495 million, or US$8.10 a share, a 14% premium to Tuesday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, FPI reversed its first-quarter loss, reporting a profit of $2.9 million compared to a loss of $2.7 million last year.

Applied Materials is forecasting flat sales in its fiscal third quarter and up to a 15% drop in orders.

Sony said this year’s earnings will rise on a recovery on its consumer electronics business. Its fourth-quarter loss widened.

Federated Department Stores, Deere and, after the close, Hewlett-Packard are due to report earnings on Wednesday.

In other business news, workers who maintain track and bridges for Canadian Pacific Railway set up picket lines across the country early Wednesday in the second strike at one of Canada’s national railways this year.

Crude oil futures dropped 20¢ to US$62.97 a barrel before weekly energy data, and gold futures declined $3 at US$671.50 an ounce.

The Nikkei 225 ended with a 0.1% rise and the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% in London.

Toronto stocks rose Tuesday as mining company shares got a lift from news that Xstrata boosted its takeover offer for LionOre Mining International.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 31.36 points, or 0.23%, at 13,934.64.

LionOre Mining jumped $3.16, or 13.3%, to $26.86 after Xstrata boosted its offer for LionOre to a total value of $6.2 billion, trumping a bid from Russia’s Norilsk Nickel.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slid 37.02 points to 3,272.63.

In New York, The Dow Jones industrial average rose to a record high close, as signs of stabilizing inflation raised the prospect of lower interest rates, boosting the outlook for business investment.

The Dow rose 37.06 points, or 0.28%, to end at 13,383.84, a record close. The S&P 500 was down 1.96 points, or 0.13%, at 1,501.19. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 21.15 points, or 0.83%, at 2,525.29.

The Dow also hit a record intraday high of 13,481.60.