Wall Street stock futures fell Tuesday as investors awaited a Senate vote on the U.S. stimulus package and the unveiling of a revamped bank-rescue plan.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is due to deliver a speech at 11:00 ET outlining how the government will spend the remaining US$350 billion of the US$700 billion financial bailout package passed by Congress last fall.

In other U.S. economic news, the Senate is also due to vote on the US$838 billion stimulus package, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be speaking at 13:00 ET and wholesale inventories data is also due at 10:00 ET.

Here at home, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney appears before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance this morning.

The Canadian dollar opened at US81.53¢, down 0.68 of a cent from Monday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Swiss bank said it’s cutting another 2,200 investment bank jobs following a US$7 billion fourth-quarter loss.

Molson Coors Brewing and SABMiller say fourth-quarter profit for their joint venture MillerCoors declined 40% partly on a decline in sales to retailers.

In today’s M&A news, Certicom Corp. said it has received notice that VeriSign, Inc. will not exercise its right to match the friendly takeover offer by Research In Motion Limited to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Certicom at a cash price of $3 a share.

In commodities news, gold also rose slightly. Oil futures rose back over the US$40-a-barrel mark.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3%.

European markets traded sharply lower on concerns over the U.S. Senate’s pending vote on an economic stimulus package. London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.4%, Germany’s DAX index down 0.9%, and France’s CAC-40 down 0.6%.


After a volatile session Exchange, the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchanged managed to finish the day in positive territory on Monday, thanks to strength in the heavyweight energy sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished at 9,047.28, up 39.26 points, or 0.44%.

Energy stocks advanced 2.5% despite oil futures slipping to close below US$40 a barrel for the first time in three weeks.

Junior companies’ shares dipped lower on Monday, sending the S&P/TSX Venture composite index down 8.24 points, or 0.9%, to 901.10.

In New York, U.S. stocks remained largely unchanged on Monday, as investors awaited details of the stimulus package and financial rescue plan soon to be released by the Obama administration.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 8,270.87, down 9.72 points, or 0.1%.

The S&P 500 index rose 1.29 points, or 0.2%, to 869.89.

The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.15 points, or 0.01%, to 1,591.56.

IE