Stocks are likely to rise Tuesday morning, as investors look forward to data on U.S. consumer confidence and March existing-home sales. Earnings reports also will continue to guide trading.

The U.S. Conference Board is expected to release its consumer-confidence index at 10:00 ET. Economists are looking for the index to slip to 88.0 from 88.3 in March. The U.S. National Association of Realtors will release March existing-home sales data at 10:00 ET as well.

On this side of the border, Canadian retail sales advanced at their fastest monthly rate in more than six years in February, Statistics Canada reported today.

Surging auto sales, combined with strong gains in the clothing, furniture, general merchandise and food sectors led total retail sales to new heights. Retailers sold $27 billion worth of goods and services in February, up 2.3% from January.

In a separate release, StatsCan said wholesale sales edged down slightly in February, slipping 0.3% to $36.8 billion in goods and services. This is the third decrease for wholesalers in the past four months.

In this morning’s earnings news, Canadian Pacific Railway said its first-quarter profit slumped to $24 million, from $102 million a year earlier, as bad weather and a weak U.S. dollar ate into earnings. For the quarter ended March 31, basic earnings per share fell to 15¢ from 64¢.

Petro-Canada said it had a “solid” first-quarter profit of $513 million, down from $579 million a year earlier. Earnings for the quarter ended March 31 were $1.93 a share, compared with $2.19 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Overnight, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 122.42 points, or 1.01%, to 12,041.47, as investors locked in profits.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index edged up 22.23 points, to 12,154.91.

Markets closed lower Monday as fears of an imminent rise in interest rates overwhelmed a string of positive earnings reports. In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index finished 29.66 points lower at 8,638.21.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 2.79 points lower to 1,742.8.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 33.58 points to 10,439.26. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 16.72 points to 2,033.05, while the broader S&P 500 declined 5.84 points to 1,134.76.