North American stocks may open Wednesday morning after solid earnings from Time Warner and Procter & Gamble.

Time Warner swung to a profit in the second quarter after it recorded a charge for settling securities litigation a year earlier, and the media company said AOL will give away email accounts and software in a major strategy shift.

P&G reported its fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 36% to US$1.9 billion. The world’s largest consumer products company said sales increased 25% to $17.84 billion.

BCE Inc. said its second-quarter profit fell 15.5% to $476 million, hurt by employee benefit and pension plan costs that will continue to hit the bottom line this year.

Alcan Inc. is boosting its quarterly dividend by 33% after its second-quarter profit more than doubled to US$455 million, from a year-earlier US$191 million.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said its second-quarter profit soared to $1.04 billion from a year-earlier $219 million.

After markets closed Tuesday, General Motors revised its second-quarter results, widening its loss by US$200 million to reflect a change in the estimated tax provision relating to its pending sale of a majority interest in its GMAC financing unit.

Credit Suisse Group more than doubled its second-quarter profit, but the company’s shares slid in Switzerland after only meeting consensus forecasts.

Crude-oil prices rose 56¢ to US$75.47 a barrel in early trading amid concerns that Tropical Storm Chris could turn into a hurricane and tensions in the Mideast. A report on U.S. weekly energy supplies is due at 10:30 ET, with expectations that gasoline inventories fell.

The Canadian dollar opened at US88.6¢, up 0.16 of a cent.

Overseas, Asian and European markets traded higher. The German DAX 30 rose 0.9%.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index lifted 23.38 points, or 0.15%, to finish at 15,464.29.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 121.38 points, or 0.72%, to 17,032.75.

Toronto stocks finished higher Tuesday, as the market was buoyed by strong performances in the telecommunications sector, as well as the energy and materials indexes.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 76.69, or 0.65%, to 11,907.65.

Eight of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up.

Rogers Communications reported second-quarter earnings of $277.5 million, up from $19.2 million a year ago. Rogers gained $4.09, or 8.46%, to $52.44.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index lifted 13.35 points, or 0.51%, to 2,627.12.

In New York, investor pessimism over the U.S. economy coupled with inflation fears fuelled a downturn.

Wall Street’s Dow Jones industrial average closed down 59.95 points to 11,125.73. The Nasdaq composite index lost 29.48 to 2,061.99 and the S&P 500 was down 5.74 at 1,270.92.