Wall Street futures signalled that stocks would rise modestly Wednesday after the Dow Jones industrial average closed just above its November low on Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, General Motors and Chrysler said they may need US$21.6 billion more in bailout loans. GM plans to phase out Saturn, shut five more factories and cut 47,000 jobs. Chrysler slated a modest cut to production capacity.

In other job-related news, tire maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. on Wednesday said plans to cut 5,000 jobs this year after posting a fourth-quarter loss of US$330 million and a 21% decline in sales.

In today’s Canadian earnings news, grocery retailer Loblaw said it made $188 million, or 69¢ a share, on sales of $7.75 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. That compared with a profit of $40 million, or 14¢ a share, on sales of $6.97 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. The fourth quarter of 2008 was one week longer than in 2007, resulting in a 7.9% increase in year-over-year sales.

Rogers Communications Inc. posted a quarterly loss on Wednesday as it took almost $300 million in impairment charges on its conventional television business to reflect the impact of the weak economy.

Rogers’ loss totaled $138 million, or 22¢ a share, in the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2008. A year earlier, it posted a profit of $254 million, or 40¢ a share.

In overseas financial news, ING Groep NV, the Dutch financial services company, reported Wednesday a net loss of 3.1 billion euros for the fourth quarter of 2008 and said it planned to cut operating costs by euro1 billion in 2009.

In January, the company warned markets it expected a loss for the quarter of 3.3 billion euros (US$4.17 billion), sold off a huge portion of its stake in its Canadian insurance subsidiary ING Canada, and CEO Michel Tilmant resigned.

In U.S. economic news, housing starts fell 16.8% in January, much steeper than the roughly 5% drop that economists had expected. Starts were down more than 56% from the same time a year earlier.

Investors are waiting for U.S. President Barack Obama to announce a plan to help stabilize the housing market and reduce foreclosures.

Meanwhile, U.S. import prices fell for the sixth month in a row in January.

Here at home, Canadian wholesale trade dropped 3.4% in December from November, the largest month-over-month decrease for over five years, on lower exports and weaker sales in Canada, Statistics Canada said.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.06 of a cent to open at US79.19¢.

In commodities news, oil fell 12¢ to US$34.81 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.5%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.7%, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.9%, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.4%.

The market’s decline on Tuesday followed steep losses overseas, and markets in Europe and Asia were lower once again on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai Composite fell 4.7%, its biggest single-day percentage loss since November.

In currency markets, the dollar continued to trade more firmly across the board, with the euro fetching $1.2580. Gold futures slipped modestly after screaming to seven-month highs on Tuesday. Oil futures crept higher.

On Tuesday, North American stock markets tumbled sharply lower, as a weekend meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central bankers failed to improve investor confidence through the deepening global recession.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 299.4 points, or 3.5%, to close at 8,378.7.


The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange erased early-day gains to finish the day at 919.16, down 6.48 points, or 0.7%.

Global economic concerns also dragged down stock markets south of the border, despite the massive US$787 stimulus package being signed by U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average shed 297.81 points, or 3.8%, to end at 7,552.6.

The S&P 500 index dropped 37.67 points, or 4.6%, to 789.17.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 63.7 points, or 4.2%, to close at 1,470.66.

IE