Wall Street stock futures were higher Tuesday after last week’s selloff.

In today’s Canadian economic news, corporate operating profits increased 5% from 2006 to $302.4 billion in 2007, Statistics Canada said.

In the financial industries, profits rose 13.4% to $92.4 billion, while profits in the non-financial industries were up 1.8% to $210 billion.

The Canadian dollar opened at US77.45¢ , up 0.47 of a cent from Monday’s close.

South of the border, the U.S. Commerce Department releases data on wholesale trade inventories for January.

Meanwhile U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will speak before the Council of Foreign Relations on overhauling the U.S. bank regulatory system.

In commodities news, light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 28¢ to US$47.35 a barrel in electronic premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In M&A news, Dow Chemical agreed to go through with its acquisition of Rohm & Haas.

Overseas, a recovery in financial stocks helped most markets make gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 3.1% as shares of HSBC Holdings rose 14%.

However, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.4%.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 climbed about 1.2%. Germany’s DAX gained 1.6%.

On Monday, Canadian stocks erased early gains to finish lower, as advances among energy stocks failed to offset declines in most other groups.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended the day down 24.53 points, or 0.3%, at 7,566.94.

Financial stocks suffered a 2.5% drop on Monday.

The energy group gained 3.2% , boosted by a surge in oil futures. Crude for April delivery closed up US$1.55, or 3.4%, at US$47.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest closing level for a front-month contract in two months.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 14.93 points, or 1.8%, to close at 814.19.

In New York, U.S. stocks also finished lower on Monday, as investors continued to display concerns about the state of the global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 79.89 points, or 1.2%, to 6,547.05.

The S&P 500 index shed 6.85 points, or 1%, to close at 676.53.

The Nasdaq composite declined 25.21 points, or 2%, to 1,268.64.

IE