North American markets look set to open flat Wednesday, as investors mull over weaker-than-expected numbers on U.S. durable goods orders.

Durable-goods orders rose 0.2% in September, as strong spending on capital goods offset weakness in orders for metals and aircraft.

The Commerce Department said that orders for durable goods increased 0.2% to US$195.7 billion in September after a revised 0.6% decline in August. Economists were expecting a 0.6% increase in new orders.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a measurement of business spending, rose 2.6% after an 0.3% increase in August.

Crude-oil prices eased 5¢ to US$55.12 a barrel early Wednesday in New York.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said average weekly earnings of payroll employees were virtually unchanged from July to August, leaving the gain from August 2003 at 1.8%.

In earnings news, Boeing’s profit rose 78%, helped by tax settlements.

Procter & Gamble’s quarterly profit rose 14% on volume growth and a gain from selling its juice business, and it maintained its fiscal 2005 guidance

Toronto stocks closed higher on Tuesday, despite a drop among gold issues, as developments in a U.S. insurance scandal boosted the heavily weighted financials group. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 69.02 points, or 0.79%, to 8,818.18 on volume of 214 million shares.

Financial stocks rose on news from the United States that the chief executive of insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. had quit. After the resignation, New York’s Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who accused the company of rigging insurance prices, said he would not press criminal charges.

On Wall Street, investors also took heart that problems in the insurance industry might not be as serious as previously thought.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 138.49 points, or 1.4%, at 9,888.48, while the S&P 500 Index rose 16.29 points, or 1.5%, to 1,111.09.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 14.75 points, or 0.8%, to 1,928.79.