North American markets are expected to open higher today as investors continue to sift through the continuing flood of quarterly earnings reports.

In this morning’s earnings news, Barrick Gold said higher costs and lower sales led to a decline in second-quarter profit to US$34 million, from US$59 million a year earlier.

Oil and gas firm EnCana Corp. said its second-quarter profit fell 69% to US$250 million amid the cost of acquiring Tom Brown Inc., the U.S. natural gas producer, for US$2.7 billion.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada this morning.

South of the border, investors will be watching for the June report on new home sales, which the U.S. Commerce Department is due to release at 10:00 ET. Economists expect a 6.9% decline to an annual rate of 1,275,000. Meanwhile, the U.S. Conference Board is scheduled to release its July consumer confidence index at 10:00 ET. Economists’ consensus is for a reading of 102.2.

Overseas, prices fell in Tokyo for the fourth straight session. The fell 128.01 points, or 1.15%, to 11,031.54 points.

The plan for two of Japan’s megabanks to combine to form the world’s largest bank ran into a major obstacle Tuesday when a Tokyo court demanded the merger talks be halted.

UFJ Holdings Inc., one of the banks, said it will fight the order.

The Tokyo District Court decision to stop the merger talks between UFJ, Japan’s fourth-biggest banking group, and larger rival Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. was in response to a request put in by Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. shortly after the merger proposal was announced earlier this month.


In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 18.51 points, or 0.15%, to 12,301.32.

Toronto stocks finished lower Monday as worries over corporate profits in the second-half of 2004 led to broad-based selling.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 68.76 points, or 0.82%, to 8,314.55.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 26.69 points, or 1.78%, to finish at 1,472.39, he sixth straight down day for the junior market.

On Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite Index fell 10.07 points to 1,839.02, its lowest close since Oct. 2, 2003.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.30 of a points at 9,961.92. The S&P 500 fell 2.13 points to 1,084.07, its lowest close since Dec. 17, 2003.