Wall Street stock futures pointed to a flat open Tuesday as investors recover from a massive selloff on Monday.

Here at home, the Bank of Canada is lowering its target for the overnight rate by one-half of a percentage point to 0.5%.

The cut was widely expected by Bay Street economists.

In today’s earnings news, BMO Financial Group reported a first-quarter profit of $225 million and Bank of Nova Scotia posted earnings of $842 million.

The Canadian dollar opened at US77.41¢ on Tuesday, down 0.03 of a cent from Monday’s close.

In commodities news, light, sweet crude rose 66¢ to US$40.81 a barrel in electronic premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

South of the border, US. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will testify on the budget to separate Senate and House committees. Data on pending home sales for January will be released.

In Asian trading, Japan’s Nikkei stock average slipped 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2.3% on the heels of Wall Street’s massive selloff.

In late morning trading in Europe, markets were mixed. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 1.2%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.01%, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.3%.

On Tuesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange succumbed to the global stock market selloff on Monday, dropping more than 5% after news that Canadian GDP contracted at an annual rate of 3.4% in the fourth quarter.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 435.51 points, or 5.4%, to close at 7,687.51. That’s its worst level since the fall of 2003

All 10 main groups finished the day in negative territory.

Junior companies took a hit of their own, sending the S&P/TSX Venture composite index down 33.42 points, or 3.9%, to close at 828.24.

In New York, stock markets added to the steep losses incurred last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 299.64 points, or 4.2%, to finish at 6,763.29, it’s lowest level since April 1997.

The S&P 500 index shed 34.27 points, or 4.7%, to finish at 700.82.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 54.99 points, or 4%, to 1,322.85.

IE