Investors are facing mixed signals ahead of Wednesday’s opening bell. There was positive news from giant chip maker Intel, but the also a report that the U.S. trade gap widened more than expected in November.

After the bell Tuesday, Intel reported a 10% jump in fourth-quarter revenue, reflecting solid demand for technology products, though profit was 2% below the year-earlier period. Intel also indicated stronger first-quarter revenue than analysts expected and predicted its gross profit margin would improve in 2005.

The bad news came this morning when the U.S. Commerce Department said the U.S. trade gap widened to US$60.3 billion in November as oil imports climbed while sales of U.S. goods and services overseas fell for the first time in five months. Economists had forecast a deficit of US$53.60 billion.

The Commerce Department also upwardly revised the October trade deficit to US$56 billion.

Here at home, it was a different story. Statistics Canada said the merchandise trade surplus rose to $7.3 billion, the third highest level since 1997 and just short of the peak of $7.5 billion set in June 2004.

The rise came as merchandise imports tumbled in November, resulting in a near record high trade surplus with the rest of the world. Canadian companies imported $27.4 billion worth of merchandise in November, down 10.2% from October.

StatsCan said the drop in the value of imports was a result of falling import prices due to a soaring Canadian dollar and a drop in the volume of goods.

Meanwhile, Canadian exports fell 2.9% to $34.7 billion.

On Tuesday, Toronto stocks edged lower. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 6.14 points, or 0.07%, at 9,026.42.

The influential financial index, which accounts for about 30% of the index, fell for the fifth straight session as last week’s speculation that the Bank of Canada could revive its campaign of interest-rate rises continued to weigh on the sector.

Meanwhile, CI Fund Management reported a 173% rise in its second-quarter profit, benefiting from strong markets and recent acquisitions, despite a $53 million charge taken to compensate fund holders for allowing certain institutional investors to profit from market-timing. CI shares fell 38¢, or 2.17%, to $17.11.

Tech bellwether Nortel Networks helped cushion the index’s fall with the telecom equipment maker’s shares rising after it released its long-awaited audited 2003 results.

Shares of Nortel were up 11¢, or 2.68%, at $4.22, their highest close in two weeks.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 8.52 points, or 0.48%, to 1,772.53.

On Wall Street, U.S. markets closed lower as the start of earnings season delivered disappointments from Advanced Micro Device and Alcoa.

The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 64.81 points, or 0.61%, to 10,556.22, the lowest close of the blue chips since Dec. 10.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 17.42 points, or 0.83%, to 2,079.62. The broader S&P 500 lost 7.26 points, or 0.61%, to 1,182.99.