Wall Street stock futures were higher on Tuesday, after yesterday’s steep selloff.

In today’ U.S. economic news, home construction and permits for new building unexpectedly fell in July, the Commerce Department reported. Housing starts fell 1% compared to June, while building permits sank by 1.8%. Economists had expected both numbers to climb.

Separately, declines in the energy sector and lower prices for vegetables, eggs, and other food dragged down producer prices in July. The U.S. producer-price index for finished goods fell 0.9%. The core index, which strips out food and energy prices, declined 0.1%.

Here at home, foreign investors acquired $10.5 billion of Canadian securities with considerable investments in both federal government debt instruments and equities in June, Statistics Canada said.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors purchased $1.4 billion of foreign securities, all equities.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.04 of a cent Tuesday to US90.36¢.

In commodities news, the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 75¢ US$67.50 a barrel.

The December bullion contract on the Nymex gained $3.10 to US$938.90 an ounce.

In earnings news, Home Depot said its profit fell 7.2% on lower sales, beating expectations. Department store retailer Target reported a second-quarter earnings decline that proved less severe than analysts expected.

Asian markets rebounded from Monday’s steep losses. The Japanese Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8%. In Europe, banks and miners were among the best performers as most stock benchmarks rose.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 index advanced 0.73% while Frankfurt’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were each up about 0.6% af

On Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange followed international stock markets in a broad-based selloff on as economic data from abroad fell short of expectations and sparked new concerns about the pace of an economic recovery.

The S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 316.42 points, or 2.9% to close at 10,531.59.

The materials group plunged 4.3% as commodity prices sunk lower.

Declines among junior stocks dragged the Venture index down by 33.6 points, or 2.8%, to 1,159.82.

Major stock market indexes in New York finished with hefty losses of their own on Monday, as fears about a lagging economic recovery eroded investor confidence.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 186.06 points, or 2%, to end at 9,135.34.

The S&P 500 index dropped 24.36 points, or 2.4%, to close at 979.73.

The Nasdaq composite index declined 54.68 points, or 2.8%, to finish at 1,930.84.

IE