North American markets may open flat Wednesday as investors mull over a weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales report.

The U.S. Commerce Department said today that retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in March, after climbing 0.5% a month earlier. Retail sales, excluding autos, rose by just 0.1% last month, after a revised 0.6% increase in February.

Economists had expected a 0.8% rise in overall retail sales and a 0.5% increase when auto sales are excluded.

Crude-oil prices fell 56¢ to US$51.30 a barrel in early trading Wednesday. The decline comes a day after the International Energy Agency said growth in demand for oil is more likely to slow than accelerate, spurring a drop in oil futures.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar opened today at US80.98¢, up 0.22 of a cent.

On Tuesday, the fell 0.33 of a cent as the Bank of Canada announced it was leaving its key interest rate at 2.5%. The bank also hinted that rates will move up, but didn’t indicate when.

Falling commodities prices pushed Canadian stocks lower Tuesday, while U.S. markets rallied on reassuring comments from the Federal Reserve Board.

At close, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 14.70 points or 0.15% to 9,629.02, while the S&P/TSX Venture exchange slid 30.82 points or 1.68% to 1,807.73.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 59.41 or 0.57% to 10,507.97. Broader stock indicators also reversed their earlier losses and gained ground. The S&P 500 was up 6.55 or 0.55% at 1,187.76, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 13.28 or 0.67% to 2,005.40.

U.S. stocks bounced back after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed that the monetary policy makers were willing to stick with “measured” interest rate hikes, at least in the short term.