Wall Street stock futures were little changed Tuesday as the U.S. trade deficit widened after seven consecutive months of decline.

U.S. exports fell to a 2004 low amid the global economic crisis, U.S. Commerce Department data showed Tuesday.

As a result, the trade gap rose in March to a seasonally adjusted US$27.6 billion dollars, from a revised US$26.1 billion in February.

Here at home, Canada’s merchandise imports and exports both declined in March, largely due to volume reductions, Statistics Canada said.

Imports decreased more than twice as fast as exports leading to the widening of Canada’s trade surplus with the world from $262 million in February to $1.1 billion in March.

Imports fell 4.4% to $31.4 billion as most sectors posted decreases. Exports were down 1.8% to $32.5 billion, largely reflecting a decline in exports to the United States.

Ahead of the release of today’s trade data, the Canadian dollar opened at US85.98¢, up 0.2 of a cent from Monday’s close.

On today’s earnings calendar, CI Financial Corp. is scheduled to release its first-quarter results.

In commodities news, light sweet crude for June delivery was up US$1.02 to US$59.52 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.4%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.5%, and France’s CAC-40 declined 0.5%.

On Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange kicked off the week with a broad-based decline that saw the benchmark index erase nearly 150 points of last week’s 700-plus point gain.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 10,094.14, down 143.85 points, or 1.4%, as investors took profits following last week’s big gains.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture index slipped 6.64 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 1,063.11.

The main U.S. stock market indices also dropped lower on Monday as investors booked profits after last week’s rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 155.88 points, or 1.8%, to 8,418.77.

The S&P 500 index shed 19.97 points, or 2.2%, to 909.26.

The Nasdaq composite index gave back 7.76 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 1,731.24.

Monday close: Stocks slide on profit-taking

IE