With no major economic news coming out of Canada or the U.S. and some general investor anxiety prior to the next round of earnings reports, trading is expected to open negative to flat. Investors are waiting for the release of Canadian and U.S. December unemployment reports on Friday.

Meanwhile the European bourses are lower at midday. In London, the FTSE index has dropped 0.55%. Frankfurt’s DAX has slipped 0.37% and Paris’s CAC 40 is down 0.5%.

In Asia, markets fell during their Wednesday trading. In Tokyo, the Nikkei Stock Average closed down 56.17 points, or 0.52%, at 10,757.82. In Hong Kong, the market ended at a new 30-month high on gains by mainland conglomerates and other blue chips. The Hang Seng Index rose 121.36 points, to 13157.68 — its highest close since June 22, 2001.

After the markets closed Tuesday a group of Air Canada creditors who are owed $1 billion says a sweetened offer from tentative equity sponsor Trinity Time Investments doesn’t go far enough to help creditors recover their investments. The group wants Air Canada to restructure its agreement with Trinity, controlled by Hong Kong businessman Victor Li.

On Tuesday, gains in the information technology sector pushed Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index up 23.44 points to 8,405.1. The TSX Venture Exchange edged up 1.52 points to 1,782.38.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 5.41 points to 10,538.66. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index added 10.01 points to 2,057.37. The S&P 500 index fell 1.45 points to 1,123.67.