Stocks are poised to drop this morning after Motorola Inc. and Alcoa Inc. issued weak profit forecasts, spooking traders.

Motorola announced Tuesday following the close of trading that it plans to cut 9,400 more jobs from its workforce.

On the economic front, the U.S. trade gap widened to US$29.4 billion in October on total exports of US$77.3 billion and imports of US$106.8 billion, close to a 2-year low.

The gap is up by US$10.4 billion from September, when September 11 related insurance payments skewed the figures.

Canada’s imports and exports of merchandise fell in October to their lowest levels in almost two years. Exports fell to $32.4 billion, down 1.0% from September and the lowest level since November 1999. Merchandise imports declined 0.6% to $28.2 billion, also the lowest level since November 1999.

This marks the seventh straight monthly decline for exports and the fourth straight decrease in imports. However, the pace of the declines in October was far slower than in September, when exports fell 2.7% and imports dropped 4.5%. The trade surplus in goods fell to just under $4.2 billion in October.

In a separate report, wholesale sales came in down for a second consecutive month in October. Wholesalers sold $32.2 billion worth of goods and services in October, down 0.9% from September. This weakness was led by strong declines in the electronics and automotive sectors.

There’s weakness in overseas markets, particularly hurt by the Motorola news. The FTSE dropped 52 points to 5,099. The CAC 40 is off by 40 points to 4,440. The DAX is down 72 points to 4,968.

Overnight in Asia, stocks shook off the weak news, responding instead to Bank of Japan attempts to increase liquidity. The Nikkei rose 40 points to 10,472. The Hang Seng added 78 points to 11,565.

In M&A news, it is being reported that Citigroup Inc. is planning to sell up to 20% of Travelers Property Casualty Corp. in an initial public offering, spinning off the rest to shareholders.

Also, energy traders Williams Cos. is planning to cut capital spending by US$1 billion and sell assets in the wake of the Enron Corp. debacle.

In other news, QLT Inc. reports that it has hired a new CEO, Paul Hastings, formerly president and CEO of Axys Pharmaceuticals.