Wall Street stock futures were relatively flat Wednesday after Tuesday’s steep drop, which was triggered by uncertainty over the U.S. government’s financial rescue package.

Here at home, exports and imports dropped in December amid a global economic downturn, with exports falling 9.7% while imports declined 5.7%, Statistics Canada said.

This resulted in a trade deficit of $458 million compared with a trade surplus of $1.2 billion in November, StatsCan said. This was the first trade deficit since March 1976.

The Canadian dollar opened at US80.25¢ on Wednesday, up 0.01 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

Meanwhile, new housing prices declined 0.1% between November and December, StatsCan said. This was the third consecutive monthly decrease at the Canada level.

In today’s earnings news, BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd. said it is expecting its fourth-quarter net subscriber base will be 20% higher than it initially forecast in December, but warned its earnings will be at the low end of its projections.

BCE Inc. posted a loss of $48 million, for the fourth quarter, compared with a year-earlier profit of $2.35 billion.

The telecommunications firm hiked its annual dividend by 5% to $1.54 to “demonstrate its commitment to return cash to shareholders through consistent and sustainable dividend increases,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Credit Suisse swung to a fourth-quarter loss.

In commodities news, light, sweet crude rose 26¢ to US$37.81 in electronic pre-market trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average was closed for a national holiday.

In late morning trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4%, Germany’s DAX index was down 0.4%, and France’s CAC-40 was down 0.7%.

Canadian equities fell sharply on Tuesday as investor uncertainty over a new U.S. rescue plan dragged down energy and financial shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 229.39 points, or 2.5%, to close at 8,817.89.

The junior S&P/Venture composite index edged up 1 point, or 0.1%, to close at 902.09.

American equities plummeted on Tuesday as a new financial sector rescue plan unveiled by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner failed to inspire investor confidence.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 381.99 points, or 4.62%, to 7,888.88 — the lowest close since Nov. 20 and the biggest one-day drop since Dec. 1.

The S&P 500 fell 42.73, or 4.91%, to 827.16.

The Nasdaq composite dropped 66.83, or 4.2%, to 1,524.73.

IE