Stocks are expected to open higher Tuesday after strong earnings reports from companies ranging from Home Depot to ATI Technologies.

Home Depot says its Q3 earnings rose to US$1.15 billion from US$940 million, handily beating Wall Street expectations.

Graphic-chip maker ATI also elevated its revenue and profit forecast, citing “broad-based demand –. particularly in the desktop business.”

In economic news, U.S. consumer prices were steady in October, indicating the recent surge in economic growth isn’t fanning inflation.

The U.S. Labor Department says the consumer-price index was unchanged for the first time in five months as a slump in energy and transportation prices offset gains in food and housing prices. The core index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose a scant 0.2%. In annual terms, the core increase was 1.3%, up a tenth of a percentage point from September.

Foreign investors added to their holdings of Canadian equities in September but reduced their investment in Canadian debt instruments. Meanwhile, Canadian investors turned away from foreign bonds in September for the first time this year, following eight months of steady accumulation.

Statistics Canada reports that foreign investors acquired another $2.1 billion of Canadian stock in September to bring the total for the third quarter to $5.3 billion. This follows purchases of $2.6 billion worth in the second quarter. StatsCan notes that Canadian share prices have risen 17% over these two quarters.

American investors purchased $8.5 billion in Canadian equities over the last two quarters, while investors from other countries reduced their holdings by $0.6 billion.

StatsCan says foreign investors continued to reduce their holdings of Canadian bonds in September, but by much less than in the previous two months. The small $0.7 billion reduction in September nevertheless brought the total decline since June to $12.9 billion.

Canadian investment in foreign bonds fell $2.7 billion in September, with U.S. treasury bonds taking the largest hit. This decline, the first in eight months, follows an accumulation of $8.9 billion in foreign bonds since January.

Canadian investors also reduced their holdings of foreign stocks by $177 million, after acquiring $3.9 billion worth over the previous four months.

Asian stock markets closed mixed Tuesday, with prices recovering somewhat in Tokyo from a steep drop in the previous session.The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 110.22 points to 9,897.05 points.

Hong Kong stocks closed up 0.3% at 12,027.26 on news that local banks will be permitted to offer some services in the Chinese currency, the yuan.

In Europe, stocks are higher at midday, after strong Vodafone earnings led the telecom sector higher.

A drop in euro-zone inflation also helped markets. The euro-zone’s annual inflation rate fell to 2% in October the European Union statistics agency said Tuesday.

London’s FTSE100 is up 0.3% to 4,353.10 points, while in Paris the CAC40 is up 0.1% to 3,363.17. Frankfurt’s DAX Index is up 0.4% at 3,690.13.

A late surge of buying pushed the Toronto stocks into positive territory at Monday’s close. The S&P/TSX composite index gained 13.66 points to close at 7,766.05.

In New York, stocks fell for the third straight session as fears over more deadly attacks across the world and a gloomy outlook for the key holiday season from retailer Toys R Us raised investor concerns that the market has risen too far, too fast.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 57.85 points to finish 9,710.83.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 20.70 points to 1,909.60. The broader S&P 500 slid 6.72 points to 1,043.63.

In M&A news, Travelers Property Casualty Corp. and St. Paul Cos. agreed to merge as expected in an all-stock deal valued at US$16.4 billion, The merger will create one of the largest property-casualty insurers in the U.S. and could be a harbinger of more consolidation in the industry.