North American markets are likely to be mixed Monday following disappointing results from Citigroup at the start of a busy earnings week, and an increase in the price of oil after Hurricane Emily threatened oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mid-afternoon in Singapore, light, sweet crude for August delivery rose 64¢ in active trade to US$58.73 a barrel before easing slightly to $58.65. Friday’s closing price in New York was $58.09

Here at home, Statistics Canada said foreign investment in Canadian securities surged in May with non-residents purchasing $1.7 billion worth.

Meanwhile, Canadians continued to increase their holdings of foreign securities but by only $305 million, substantially less than in the previous three months.

Separately, StatsCan said sales at large retailers cooled slightly in May, slipping 0.3% from April. This was the first decline in sales at large retailers in 2005. In 2004, the government agency said..

In today’s earnings news, Citigroup Inc., the largest U.S. financial institution, reported a second-quarter profit below Wall Street expectations as short-term interest rates affected several businesses and new bankruptcy legislation caused a short-term spike in filings and boosted credit costs. The firm said quarterly net income totalled US$5.07 billion, or 97¢ per share, up from US$1.14 billion, or 22¢ per share, a year earlier.

Bank of America Corp., the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, said that second-quarter earnings rose 12% from last year, driven by growth in card income and service charges. The company, which recently agreed to buy credit card giant MBNA Corp., said net income rose to US$4.3 billion, or $1.06 per share, from US$3.85 billion, or 93¢ per share, during the year-ago period.

In today’s M&A news, Whirlpool made a preliminary offer of US$1.33 billion, or $17 a share, to buy rival Maytag, setting off a three-way fight for the appliance maker.

On Friday, Toronto stocks were paced by gains in technology stocks and New York exchanges were buoyed by positive economic news.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 24.06, or 0.24%, to close 10,148.95.

The IT sector enjoyed a 0.72% gain, while the telecommunications services group appreciated 1.09%

Toronto stocks ended the week down by a third of a percentage point after touching near five-year highs during Thursday’s session.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 10.23, or 0.60%, to 1,721.20.

In New York, the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average gained 11.94, or 0.11%, to finish 10,640.83; the tech heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 3.96, or 0.18%, to close 2,156.78; and the broad based S&P 500 index lifted 1.42, or 0.12%, to end 1,227.92.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.8%, the Nasdaq gained 2.1%, and the S&P 500 lifted 1.3%.