U.S. stock futures strengthened Tuesday as oil prices continued to decline and a halt was called to the fighting between Russia and Georgia.

The front-month futures contract for crude oil declined by 84¢ to US$113.61 a barrel in electronic trade this morning. Oil has fallen more than US$30 from its July 11 high of US$147.27, easing concerns about inflation.

Here at home, Canada’s trade surplus with the world expanded to $5.8 billion in June from $5.2 billion in May, as energy exports to the United States increased.

The Canadian dollar opened trading at US93.41¢, down 0.11 of a cent from Monday’s close. The loonie has now fallen about 6¢ since closing at 99.48 on July 14.

South of the border, the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed to US$56.77 billion in June as exports registered their biggest gain in nearly four and a half years.

In today’s earnings news, UBS AG said it had further losses and writedowns of US$5.1 billion during the second quarter of 2008.

Rothmans Inc. incurred a massive loss of $354.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008, in part because of costs involved with a settlement of smuggling-related criminal charges.

Rothmans was one of two Canadian tobacco companies to plead guilty in late July to charges related to cross-border smuggling of cigarettes in the early 1990s.

Arctic Glacier Income Fund reported it is reducing the rate of monthly cash distributions to unitholders by 18%. They’ll fall to an annual rate of 90¢ per unit from $1.10 per unit, beginning in August.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.95%. In morning trading, the UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.13%, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.32% and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.18%.

Falling commodity prices pulled down Canadian resources shares on Monday. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 138.55 points, or 1.04%, at 13,203.19.

The materials group, home to mining companies, fell 4.7% as prices for gold and other metals weakened. Gold slumped to below US$820 an ounce

Falling commodity prices also send stocks on the Toronto Venture Exchange sharply lower. The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index plunged 76.12 points, or 3.64%, to 2,015.35.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose on Monday as oil prices closed lower, lifting the Dow to its fourth gain in five sessions.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 48.03 points, or 0.41%, to 11,782.35, while the S&P 500 rose 9.00 points, or 0.69%, to 1,305.32. The tech-heavy-Nasdaq Composite Index umped 25.85 points, or 1.07%, to 2,439.95.