North American stocks are looking to open Thursday as investors digest two big Canadian corporate deals.

In today’s M&A news, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. announced it has agreed to pay about US$4.1 billion for Anadarko Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Iamgold Corp.has made an offer to acquire Cambior Inc. for $1.33 billion in a friendly stock-swap deal that would create a new major gold miner worth about US$3 billion. “The new Iamgold will be the 10th-largest publicly traded primary gold producer in the world,” Iamgold said Thursday.

In economic news, shipments from Canadian factories hit their highest level so far in 2006 in July, but the gain was mainly the result of strong increases in commodity prices, Statistics Canada said today. Manufacturers shipped goods worth $49.9 billion, up 0.8% from June.

Separately, StatsCan said Canada’s net liability to foreign residents increased by $12.5 billion in the second quarter, mostly as a result of valuation changes from a rising Canadian dollar.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.49¢, up 0.23 of a cent.

South of the border, U.S. retail sales in August posted the weakest showing in two months as worried consumers tightened their spending habits. The U.S. Commerce Department reported retailers saw a 0.2% increase last month following a much bigger 1.4% rise in July. It was the weakest performance since sales had actually fallen by 0.5% in June.

In earnings news, Bear Stearns reported a 16% increase in profit thanks to strong performance from its sales and trading units, continuing a string of better-than-expected results from major investment-banking firms.

European indexes rose in early action.

In Tokyo, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues rose 192.34 points, or 1.22%, to 15,942.39 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 26.59 points, or 0.2%, to 17,183.45 points, after gaining 262 points Tuesday and Wednesday.

Toronto stocks rallied Wednesday as commodity prices rebounded and investors bought back in after significant recent losses.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 98.29, or 0.84%, to 11,777.20.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with the energy sector rebounding 2.49% after several sessions of pullbacks.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index picked up 4.08 points, or 0.16%, to 2,605.55.

In New York, markets moved higher on stronger corporate reports and investor optimism over the domestic economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 45.23 points at 11,543.32, the S&P 500 rose 4.96 points to 1,318.07, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 11.85 points to 2,227.67.