Wall Street stock futures moved higher Tuesday after a government report showed a rebound in housing starts and investors awaited the outcome of a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

The Fed isn’t expected to alter U.S. interest rates.

U.S. housing starts increased 22.2% in February after plunging 14.5% in January, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Building permits also climbed. The jump came as a surprise to the markets, which were generally expecting a small slide in new residential construction.

Here at home, manufacturing sales decreased 5.4% in January, reflecting declines in the motor vehicle industry, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. Sales have fallen every month since August 2008 to near 10-year lows.

Separately, StatsCan said labour productivity of Canadian businesses fell 0.5% in the fourth quarter, in the context of substantially slower economic activity.

The Canadian dollar opened at US78.75¢, up 0.23 of a cent from Monday’s close.

In today’s corporate news, mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. said it will lay off 1,700 people worldwide at several units to cut costs.

Late Monday, aluminum maker Alcoa said it will cut its dividend, saving it more than $400 million a year. Alcoa also laid out plans to cut $1 billion in capital expenditure in 2010.

Overseas markets were mixed. The Nikkei 225 rallied 3.2% in Tokyo to its highest level in a month.

However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended down 0.8%.

European stocks were mostly weaker. Germany’s DAX declined more than 1%.

On Monday, financial stocks led the Toronto Stock Exchange higher for a fifth consecutive session, but the benchmark index failed to maintain larger gains it experienced earlier in the day.

The S&P/TSX composite index added 83.32 points, or 1%, to 8,386.71. Earlier, the benchmark index had surpassed 8,550.

Financial industry stocks gained 2.3%.

Declines among junior companies pushed the S&P/TSX Venture index lower by 1.65 points, or 0.2%, to 847.32.

Meanwhile, stock markets south of the border failed to extend their winning streak, with stocks in the technology sector displaying particular weakness.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost its gains in the final hour to finish down 7.01 points, or 0.1%, at 7,216.97. It was the Dow’s first drop in five days.

The S&P 500 index ended down 2.66 points, or 0.3%, at 753.89.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 27.48 points, or 1.9%, to finish at 1,404.02.

IE