North American stocks may open higher Wednesday as U.S. consumer inflation moderated in October, and oil prices continued to drop.

U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2% in October as energy prices eased slightly following four months of increases, the U.S. Labor Department reported today.

The closely watched “core” index, which excludes volatile food and energy items, rose 0.2%, after inching up 0.1% in September.

Economists had called for the CPI to slow to 0.1% from 1.2% in September, while core CPI was seen rising to 0.2% from 0.1%.

Meanwhile, business inventories rose 0.5% in September, the U.S. Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast a 0.4% increase.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

Crude-oil prices fell 27¢ to US$56.71 a barrel in early trading Wednesday ahead of a weekly report on U.S. oil inventories.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 broke a losing run to end 0.6% higher at 14,170.87. European markets declined across the board, with London’s FTSE 100 losing 0.8% recently.

Toronto stocks closed broadly lower Tuesday as investors moved to lock in profits, amid uncertainty over the timing of a possible federal election.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 55.82 points, or 0.52%, to 10,628.90.

Nine of the 10 TSX 10 main groups fell with telecom issues off 1.78%, and the consumer discretionary group down 0.8%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slid 17.03 points, or 0.85%, to end at 1,996.75.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks ended lower with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping a four-session winning streak, after mixed signals on inflation and a worrying sales outlook from Target Corp.

The Dow finished down 10.73 points, or 0.1% at 10,686.44.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 14.21 points, or 0.65%, to 2,186.74, while the S&P 500 Index dropped 4.70 points, or 0.39%, to 1,229.01.