TSX in for negative open

U.S. futures were mainly lower with the Dow Jones industrial futures down 58 points to 12,568, the Nasdaq futures gained 13 points to 2,450.5 in the wake of a blowout earnings report from Apple Inc. while the S&P 500 futures slipped 5.3 points to 1,306.1.

Traders were cautious as key Greek bondholders met for a closed-door meeting in Paris to discuss how — and whether — to continue talks central to Europe’s debt crisis.

The steering committee of the Institute of International Finance represents banks and other investment funds that hold a large part of Greece’s debt and are being asked to swap their existing bonds with new ones of a reduced value, longer maturity and lower interest rate.

Traders also took in a report that Britain’s economy shrank by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2011, a worse-than-expected result that raises recession fears.

The Office for National Statistics said that the economy, which had been expected to contract by only 0.1%, saw no growth in the key services sector and a slide in industrial activity.

Meanwhile, Apple shares were up about eight per cent in pre-market trading in New York after the tech giant reported Tuesday after the market close that it sold 37 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011, vastly exceeding analyst estimates and propelling the company to record quarterly results.

Apple’s net income in the fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, was us$13.06 billion, or $13.87 per share. That was up 118% from $6 billion, or $6.43 per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting earnings of $10.04 per share for the latest quarter, Apple’s fiscal first.

Revenue was $46.33 billion, up 73% from a year ago and well above the $38.9 billion that analysts were expecting.

Shares in rival Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) were off 0.5% in pre-market trading in New York. RIM shares have tumbled 12% since announcing a management shakeup Sunday night that saw co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis step down. Traders were unimpressed after the new CEO, Thorsten Heins, told analysts he didn’t think drastic change was needed at the BlackBerry maker.

Commodity prices slipped with the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down 85 cents to US$98.10 a barrel.

March copper lost four cents to US$3.77 a pound while bullion fell $11 to US$1,653.50 an ounce.

Traders also looked to the latest announcement on interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve at 12:30 p.m. EST.

The Fed is keeping rates unchanged near zero but markets will look to the central bank’s latest assessment of the economy.

Also, later in the afternoon, the Fed will, for the first time, release forecasts of its expectations of the path of short-term rates for coming years followed by a news conference with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

European markets were lower with London’s FTSE 100 index down 0.7%, Frankfurt’s DAX fell 0.59% and the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.66%.

Asian stocks posted solid gains. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo rose 1.1%, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.1% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1%. Markets in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan remained closed for Chinese New Year.

In other corporate news, Wild Stream Exploration Inc. (TSXV:WSX) said it has struck an agreement to sell all issued and outstanding shares to Crescent Point Energy Corp. (TSX:CPG) for about $770 million/ Wild Stream says each of its common shares will be exchanged for 0.17 common shares of Crescent Point, one share of a new light oil focused junior exploration company and 0.2 of a share purchase warrant, or new company warrants.