Wall Street futures are up this morning ahead of earnings reports from tech bellwethers Intel, Apple and Yahoo, which are expected to be positive.

Meanwhile the U.S. Commerce Department is reporting good news for investors. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in November to US$38.01 billion from US$41.77 billion in October. Economists had expected a rise to US$42 billion. The November figure was the lowest deficit since $35.20 billion recorded in October 2002.

In a separate report the U.S. Labor Department is reporting that producer prices rose by 0.3% in December, reversing a decline of 0.3% in November. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the “core” figure fell by 0.1%, matching a decline of 0.1% in November.

The news from Statistics Canada is not quite so positive. StatsCan says continued export weakness and a slight rise in import resulted in Canada’s merchandise trade surplus declining in November for the second straight month. Companies exported $32.1 billion in merchandise, down 1.1% from October, while importing goods worth $27.8 billion, up 1.7%. The trade surplus fell from more than $5.1 billion in October to just over $4.3 billion in November.

It’s not all bad news for Canada, though. Canadian merchants received a holiday bonus in the form of higher than expected consumer spending in December.

According to Moneris Solutions Corp., Canada’s largest processor of debit and credit card transactions, debit and credit card spending across all retail categories in December was up 8.9% year- over-year. Pre-holiday season industry estimates predicted sales growth of between 3% and 6%.

Extrapolating from Moneris’ market share, Canadian consumers spent $2.19 billion more at retail locations in December 2003 than they did the previous December.

The next piece of economic data for the day comes out at 14:00 ET, when the U.S. Federal Reserve releases the Beige Book, its anecdotal survey of regional U.S. economies.

In Asia, overnight, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average finished 13.32 points higher, or 0.12%, at 10,863. Hong Kong shares fell after losses by banking giant HSBC Holdings erased gains elsewhere on the Hang Seng, which shed 75.77 points, 0.6%, to finish at 13,320.88.

In Paris, the CAC40 index has gained 31.72 points, or 0.9%, to 3,607.9. Frankfurt’s Xetra DAX index is up 26.58 points, or 0.7%, to 4,022.80. In London, the FTSE 100 is up 21.20 points, or 0.5%, to 4,461.30.

In business news, Calgary-based Talisman Energy says it plans to spend a record $2.35 billion on exploration and development this year.

Discount carrier WestJet Airlines announced it is shifting its eastern hub to Toronto from Hamilton as it expands service across the country.

On Tuesday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index finished down 0.03 point at 8,380.34, though, TD Bank rose $1.55 to $44.60 after confirming talks to merge its TD Waterhouse U.S. brokerage with ETrade Financial.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange fell 21.6 points to 1,795.38.

The Dow Jones industrials index fell 58 points to 10,427.18. The Nasdaq composite index fell 15.34 at 2,096.44; the S&P 500 index retreated 6.01 points to 1,121.22.