North American stocks are expected to slide at Friday’s open after International Business Machines’ earnings disappointed some investors and Motorola reported a plunge in profit.

IBM’s fourth-quarter net income rose 11% as revenue rose 7.5%, reflecting a rebound in Big Blue’s services business and continued strength in software. Despite the results, which were stronger than analysts had expected, IBM stock fell 5% in after-hours trading Thursday.

Motorola, which has been hurt by disappointing margins in its mobile-devices unit, today said fourth-quarter net income plunged 48%. Revenue rose 17% to $11.79 billion.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada reported that the economic picture for Canada’s wholesalers brightened slightly in November, thanks to a modest increase in the automotive sector and a pre-Christmas boost for wholesalers of personal and household goods.

The government agency said wholesalers sold an estimated $41.6 billion worth of goods in November, a gain of only 0.1% from October. But it did halt a mini-slide of two consecutive months.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.16¢, down 0.08 of a cent.

South of the border, the economic calendar includes the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence survey for January.

In other earnings news, General Electric’s fourth-quarter net income more than doubled and the Dow component forecast continued growth in 2007, saying the global environment remains positive for the company. The conglomerate also announced it’s restating its financial results from 2001 to 2005 and the first three quarters of 2006.

Citigroup posted a 26% decrease in fourth-quarter net income due to a year-earlier gain, but investment income jumped as the financial-services giant continues its fight to post sizable growth amid rising costs. Revenue increased 15% to US$23.83 billion.

In M&A news, United Kingdom banking giant Barclays agreed to buy U.S. mortgage originator EquiFirst Financial for US$225 million in cash.

Crude-oil prices rose 10¢ to US$50.58 a barrel a day after the U.S. Department of Energy reported stockpiles rose much more than analysts expected.

Key European indexes fell in early action.Germany’s DAX-30 index was down 0.3% in late morning trade.

Most Asian markets advanced, but Tokyo’s stock prices dipped amid selling in the oil, banking and electronics sectors.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 60.49 points, or 0.35%, to 17,310.44.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 50.21 points, or 0.3%, to 20,327.72.

Toronto stocks dropped Thursday, weighed down by falling oil and gold prices. Meanwhile, U.S. markets also closed lower, with the Nasdaq falling significantly due to weakness in the technology sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 89.73 points, or 0.70%, to 12,640.68.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy index giving up 1.14%.

The S&P TSX Venture composite index dipped 17.12 points, or 0.60%, to 2,838.63.

In New York, markets fell, with the Nasdaq composite index dropping on disappointing earnings guidance from Apple Computer Inc. Apple stock dropped 6.3% despite posting strong earnings for the past quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 9.22 points at 12,567.9, the Nasdaq fell 36.21 points, or almost 1.5%, at 2,443.21, while the S&P 500 index closed off 4.25 points at 1,426.37.