Wall Street stock futures were little-changed on Tuesday as traders awaited another wave of U.S. economic data. Meanwhile Canadian investors got a first look at the second-quarter earnings of Canada’s big banks.

In today’s earnings news, BMO Financial Group said second-quarter profits fell by 44% despite higher net earnings in its personal banking and capital markets divisions.

The bank said it earned $358 million, or 61¢ share during the quarter ended April 30, down from year-earlier profits of $642 million, or $1.25 per share.

BMO said provisions for credit losses rose to $372 million, up $221 million from a year ago.

In economic news, Canada’s budget deficit will be “substantially more” than the $33.7 billion forecast in January because the economic slowdown is sapping tax revenue, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warned on Monday following a meeting with provincial and territorial finance ministers.

This morning Statistics Canada reported that 681,400 people were receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in March, up by 65,300 or 10.6% from the previous month, with the strongest increases in Alberta and British Columbia.

The March increase was the largest since the labour market started to deteriorate last October, StatsCan said.

The Canadian dollar opened at US88.17¢, down 0.84 of a cent from Monday’s close.

South of the border, the Conference Board will report U.S. consumer confidence at 10:00 ET. Also, the Case-Shiller home price index for March will be released at 9:00 ET.

In commodities news, oil prices fell to near US$61 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as investors looked for signs of crude demand to justify the recent rally.

Asian markets finished mostly lower Tuesday on sustained worries about North Korea’s nuclear test.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished 0.8% lower, and in Tokyo, the Nikkei ended down 0.4%.

In Seoul, the benchmark Kospi reversed early gains to close down 2.1% at 1,372.04, after reports that North Korea was preparing additional short-range missile tests.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 1.1% to 4,315.54, Frankfurt’s DAX lost 1.3% to 4,851.20, and the CAC-40 in Paris declined 1.4% to 3,191.99.

Strength in financial stocks carried the Toronto Stock Exchange higher on Monday, though trading volume remained lower as stock markets in the U.S. and UK were closed for holidays.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 76.08 points, or 0.8%, to close at 10,069.50.

The financials group advanced 2.1%.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished flat on Monday, closing at 1,096.43.

IE