Strong earnings from Google are expected to lift North American stocks at the start of trading Friday, despite a new record high for crude oil above US$73 a barrel.

The price of oil touched a new record above US$73 a barrel Friday amid concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and declining U.S. gasoline stocks, but then fell back as traders took profits. Light sweet crude for June delivery opened in electronic trading at a high of US$73.50 a barrel.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada said retail sales slipped by 0.4% in February to $31.6 billion. February’s retail sales decline was the first after four consecutive months of sales increases.

Separately, the government agency said wholesale sales declined in February after advancing strongly in the previous two months. The broad-based declines caused total sales to fall 1.1% to $41 billion.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.95, up 0.21 of a cent.

In today’s earnings news, falling revenue and massive restructuring charges pulled Ford Motor Co. to a first quarter loss of US$1.19 billion US

Ford’s sales and revenue slipped to US$41.06 billion from US$45.14 billion.

Late Thursday, Google Inc. said its first-quarter profit rose 60%, soaring past analyst estimates as the company’s Internet-leading search engine solidified its position as the web’s most popular advertising vehicle.

Also Thursday, Nortel Networks said it plans to add US$350 million to an earlier revenue restatement forecast of US$866 million over three years.

European indexes rose in early action but Asian markets were mixed.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 index added 86.43 points, or 0.5% to close at 17,403.96 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng index fell 32.19 points, or 0.19%, to 16,912.15.

Toronto stocks tumbled Thursday, after hitting an all-time high during the previous session, as the price of gold and oil fell and investors locked in profits.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 173.66 points, or 1.39%, to 12,313.66. At its worst level of the day, the index was off 190 points.
Statistics Canada reported the inflation rate for March remained at an annual rate of 2.2%

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index fell 64.04, or 2.05%, to 3,053.56.

In New York, markets were mixed on corporate news.

The Dow industrials ended up 64.12 points at 11,342.89, its best close since January 2000. The Nasdaq Composite fell 8.33 points to 2,362.55. The S&P 500 Index was up 1.53 points at 1,311.46.

The Dow was given a big boost by GM, which reported a much smaller quarterly loss and higher sales. Its shares gained $2.06, or 10%, to US$22.63.