Wall Street stock futures were slightly lower Wednesday ahead of data on durable-goods orders and new-home sales.

Here at home, CIBC reported a higher quarterly profit, but still fell short of analysts’ estimates.

The bank said it had net earnings of $434 million, or $1.02 a share, in the third quarter that ended July 31. That was up from $71 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier.

In today’s economics news, Statistics Canada said Canadian corporations earned $50.2 billion in operating profits in the second quarter of 2009, down 6.4% from the previous quarter.

This compares with declines of 14.1% in the first quarter of 2009 and 19.2% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%, Germany’s DAX was up 0.2% and the UK’s FTSE 100 was flat.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.1% to 20,456.32. The Japanese Nikkei 225 stock average climbed 1.4% to 10,639.71.

Financial sector stocks carried the Toronto Stock Exchange higher on Tuesday after the Bank of Montreal became the first of the big banks to release its third quarter results, and beat analyst expectations.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 130.56 points, or 1.2%, to close at 10,920.53.

The financials group surged 3.6%.

Shares of Bank of Montreal soared 6.7% after it reported that net earnings rose 6.9% to $557 million in the third quarter ended July 31. BMO’s stock added $3.29 to close at $52.30.

Shares of the other banks followed suit and finished with strong gains.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished lower on Tuesday, shedding 2.69 points, or 0.2%, to end at 1,183.67.

In New York, the main U.S. stock market indices retreated through the afternoon, to finish with modest gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 30.01 points, or 0.3%, to close at 9,539.29.

The S&P 500 index added 2.43 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 1,028.00.

The Nasdaq composite index climbed 6.25 points, or 0.3%, to end at 2,024.23.

IE