The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that U.S. and Canadian stock indexes closed modestly higher on Tuesday, as investors scrutinized a mixed bag of earnings at big U.S. companies and digested comments from Federal Reserve policy-makers for clues about possible interest-rate cuts. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that investors were also monitoring more weakness in U.S. regional banks that have considerable exposure to the commercial real estate sector. Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari said the U.S. central bank is "not done yet" with inflation although he noted it had come down quickly with three-month and six-month inflation data "basically" at the Fed's 2-per-cent goal. Also, Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester said that if the U.S. economy performs as she expects, this could open the door to rate cuts. Earlier, Fed chair Jerome Powell had dashed any hopes for a March rate cut. Overall S&P 500 earnings are expected to have risen 8.1 per cent in the fourth quarter from the year-ago quarter. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended at 20,957.74, up 85.85 points. Industrials and financials both made gains. The energy sector rallied as the price of oil settled at $73.31 (U.S.) a barrel.