Wall Street futures trading and overseas equity markets losses indicate a weak start to North American stocks Wednesday.

News of the first Canadian case of mad cow disease confirmed in a decade – and a ban slapped on beef imports by the United States put pressure on stock markets Tuesday. The S&P/TSX finished lower, down 9.92 points to 6,732.11, catching up to losses experienced in New York on Monday.

Analysts however don’t expect the mad cow news to affect the bull run in the Canadian dollar which closed at US74.04¢, up 0.76 of a cent from last Friday. The Canadian dollar hasn’t closed above US74¢ since February 1997.

European bourses also show losses this morning with the FTSE off 1.3% early in the afternoon in London, down 52.9 points at 3,918.7. Frankfurt and Paris are each down 1.9%.

In overnight trading Japan’s Nikkei average declined 40.97 points to 8,018.51. Losers there included Canon, Toyota and Honda as the U.S. dollar continued its decline against the yen.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up 9.40 points to 9,059.80, and Taiwanese shares fell for a fifth straight session on worries over the spread of SARS.

In economic news, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that lower consumer spending in the automotive and general merchandise sectors drove total retail sales down 0.7% in March to $26.4 billion.

In a separate release, StatsCan reported that the composite leading index rose 0.1% in April after a 0.2% gain in March, continuing the string of small gains that began in the summer of 2002.

Household demand continued to grow enough to offset weakness in manufacturing, where export demand has slowed. Overall, four components posted gains in April, the same as in March. Four components fell while two were unchanged.

This followed sales increases in February (+1.8%), January (+0.8%) and December (+0.2%). Excluding sales by motor and recreational vehicle dealers, the largest component of the automotive sector, total retail sales remained unchanged in March.

In earnings news, CIBC is expected to announce its second quarter results this morning, and TD Bank releases its second quarter results on Thursday. Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank, and National Bank issue their latest financial reports next week.

CIBC’s results could be affected by recent dealings with Air Canada on the Aeroplan credit card deal. .

Growth could be strained at Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal, who both have large U.S. operations that could be affected by the state of the U.S. currency.

This morning financial markets await a congressional appearance (at 9:30 a.m. ET) by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan who is expected to comment on the weak American dollar.