Strong results from International Business Machines may get jump start North American markets at Tuesday’s open.

After the market closed Monday, Dow industrials component IBM reported its profit rose to US$1.12 a share, soaring past the forecast of US$1.03 a share, as the firm bounced back from a dismal first quarter amid signs of renewed demand for its technology services.

In today’s economic news, the U.S. government reported that housing starts were flat in June as new residential construction rebounded in the South while dropping in the rest of the U.S. Building permits climbed 2.4%.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In today’s earnings news, Ford Motor Co. says its profit fell 19% in the second quarter from a year ago, stung by lower production and intense competition in North America, where it lost more than US$900 million. The automaker said it earned US$946 million, or 47¢ a share, in the April-June period versus a profit of US$1.2 billion, or 5¢ a share, a year earlier.

Wall Street brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. saw its second-quarter profits rise 6% from a year ago on strong stock performance and fixed-income trading, the company reported Tuesday. For the quarter ending July 1, Merrill Lynch earned US$1.14 billion, or $1.14 per share, compared with US$1.07 billion, or $1.05 per share, in the second quarter of 2004.

In other business news, Metro Inc. said it has struck a $1.7 billion deal to buy A&P Canada’s supermarkets. The Montreal-based Metro grocery chain will pay $1.2 billion in cash and $500 million worth of Metro class-A shares.

Personal-computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. says it will cut 14,500 jobs, about 10% of its full-time staff, as part of a restructuring plan designed to save US$1.9 billion annually and boost business performance.

On Monday, Toronto markets edged up as a strong showing by financial stocks offset lagging energy group.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished ahead 14.08 points, or 0.14%, to close 10,163.03.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, including the heavily weighted financials sector, up 0.79%.

All of the six big banks were up on the day, with the Royal Bank of Canada up $1.26, or 1.64%, to $77.92.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished down 3.26, or 0.19%, to 1,717.94.

In New York, the somewhat disappointing performance of banking giant Citigroup Corp. offset the positive effect of lower oil prices.

The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average lost 65.84, or 0.62, to 10,574.99, the tech heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 11.91, or 0.55%, to 2,144.87 and the broad based S&P 500 index declined 6.79, or 0.55%, to 1,221.13.

Citigroup shares fell 3% to US$45 as the company reported second-quarter that missed analysts’ expectations.