Concerns over rising U.S Treasury yields and Texas Instruments’ quarterly sales outlook could weigh on the North American stocks Tuesday.

In Canada, investors awaited a possible interest rate increase. The Bank of Canada is scheduled to issue a rate announcement at 9 a.m. ET and a quarter-point rise is widely expected.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.39¢, down 0.34 of a cent.

In this morning’s economic news, U.S. productivity fell 0.5% during the fourth quarter amid a sharp slowdown in economic growth, a revised report showed. Unit-labor costs rose by 3.3%.

Crude-oil futures edged lower, off 23¢ to US$62.18 a barrel, in electronic trading ahead of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ production decision on Wednesday. Expectations are that OPEC will leave its output quotas unchanged.

Texas Instruments has narrowed its first-quarter guidance to the high end of its previous target. When TI released fourth-quarter earnings in January, it said first-quarter sales would be US$3.11 billion to US$3.38 billion. The company now expects revenue to come in between US$3.22 billion and US$3.35 billion.

Overnight, Japanese and Hong Kong shares fell.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 175.14 points, or 1.1%, to finish at 15,726.02 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The blue-chip Hang Seng Index shed 209.47 points, or 1.32%, to 15,602.36.


Toronto stocks closed lower Monday, despite soaring share prices for Research in Motion Inc., on lower oil and gold prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 95.37, or 0.80%, to 11,833.31.

The technology sector gained 2.84%, spurred forward by a surge in RIM shares. The maker of the Blackberry saw its stock gain $13.06, or 16.10%, to $94.18 after it announced Friday an agreement to pay US$612.5 million to NTP Inc. to settle its four-year-old patent dispute.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index index ticked down 7.72, or 0.29%, to 2,643.51.

In New York, higher yields on long-term Treasury notes waylaid the market, despite merger news that included a $67-billion deal that would see AT&T buy BellSouth Corp.

The Dow Jones industrials closed down 63 points at 10,958,59, the S&P 500 fell 8. 97 points to 1,278.26, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 16.57 points to 2,286.03.