North American markets are expected to open little changed Thursday following Wednesday’s selloff.

In today’s economic news, U.S. initial jobless claims rose 17,000 to 327,000, after seasonal adjustments, in the week that ended March 5, the Labor Department said today.

The four-week average rose 5,750 to 312,500, compared with the more-than-four-year low that this average reached in the previous week. Averages below 350,000 typically indicate net job creation.

Later this morning, the U.S. Commerce Department is due to release the wholesale trade report at 10:00 ET. Economists look for an increase of 0.6% in wholesale inventories in January.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said industrial capacity utilization increased only marginally during the fourth quarter of 2004 as a result of weak exports. The drop in international demand had an especially strong impact on the manufacturing sector, where capacity utilization stalled.

StatsCan said industries operated at 86.0% of their capacity, compared with 85.7% in the third quarter. The fourth-quarter level was 1.2 points below the peak of 87.2% reached in the first quarter of 1988.

In a separate release, the government agency said Canadian businesses recorded their worst performance in labour productivity growth in eight years in 2004 as both economic activity, hit by the rising Canadian dollar, and the number of hours worked increased in tandem for a second year in a row.

StatsCan said productivity growth in Canadian businesses was a flat 0.0% last year. During the fourth quarter alone, productivity rose a marginal 0.2% from the third quarter.

In today’s earnings news, drug maker Biovail Corp., which is still under investigation over its past accounting practices, has swung to a fourth-quarter profit of US$46 million, from a year-earlier loss of US$96 million, amid record-high revenue.

The price of crude oil briefly pushed past the US$55 mark Wednesday, sending U.S. markets sharply lower, while financial, technology and mining shares helped lead Toronto markets to a triple-digit loss.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 108.20 points or 1.09% to 9,795.14, while the junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 8.43 points or 0.42% to 2,009.96.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 107 points or 0.98% at 10,805.62, diminishing hopes that the index would soon break the 11,000 mark. The broader gauges were also lower. The S&P 500 declined 12.41 or 1.02% to 1207.02. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 12.26 or 0.59% to 2061.29.

The Canadian dollar rose a fourth day against the U.S. dollar, the biggest fluctuation of any currency on Wednesday, as crude oil prices approached record highs. Combined with yesterday’s gain, the Canadian currency’s two-day increase is the most in more than 16 years. The loonie passed the US83¢ mark for the first time since Jan. 14, but had settled at US82.90¢, up 0.55 of a cent, late in the day.

Oil futures climbed 18¢ to US$54.77 after pushing as high as $55.65 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, just below last autumn’s record high. This came after the government’s weekly supply data showed a better-than-expected rise in crude inventories, but declines in supplies of gasoline and distillate fuel, which includes heating oil..

On the TSX, energy shares fell 1.8% despite the jump in crude futures. Mining shares were down 1.94% led by Noranda Inc., Canada’s biggest mining company, whose stock slid 36¢ or 1.55% to $22.94. The company, which produces copper, aluminum and zinc, will swap 1.77 shares for each Falconbridge Ltd. share at $41.24 a share, 5.6% more than yesterday’s close. Falconbridge gained $1.20 to $40.35.