Wall Street stock index futures were little changed Tuesday at the start of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary-policy meeting.

The Fed is expected to leave its key target rate unchanged.

On today’s economic calendar, the U.S. Labour Department at is expected to show U.S. unit labor costs fell 2.9%, while productivity is expected to show a 5.5% increase.

In today’s earnings news, Cascades Inc. reported net earnings of $30 million, or 30¢ a share for the quarter ended June 30, reversing a year-earlier loss of $25 million, or 25¢ per share.

In today’s commodities news, the front-month September light, sweet, crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading 17 cents higher at $70.77 a barrel.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 61.20, or 0.6%, to 10,585.46. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 144.69 points, or 0.7%, at 21,074.21.

European markets were mostly higher in midday trading, with benchmarks in the United Kingdom, France and Germany higher by around 0.5%.

On Monday, the resource-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange ended lower as gold bullion prices retreated and investors moved to lock in profits.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 91.66 points, or 0.84%, at 10,793.67, with nine of its 10 main groups lower.

The materials group, home of gold and mining shares, dropped 1.4%. Gold futures fell Monday for a fourth straight session. The front-month August contract lost US$12.30, or 1.3%, to US$945 an ounce.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index shed 7.37 points, or 0.62%, to finish at 1,185.21.

In New York, the major U.S. indices closed lower, but were off their session lows.

The Dow Jones industrial average 32.12 points, or 0.34%, to close at 9,337.95. The S&P 500 fell 3.38 points, or 0.33%, to 1,007.10. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 8.01 points, or 0.40%, to 1,992.24.

IE