North American stocks are set to climb at the open Thursday, with a wave of economic data and merger activity.

In M&A news, IntercontinentalExchange Inc. unexpectedly proposed a US$9.9 billion acquisition of CBOT Holdings Inc., an offer that ICE said is a 10.5% premium to CBOT’s current merger deal with Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.

In today’s economic news, U.S. wholesale prices rose 1.3% last month, more than double what was expected, amid jumps in food and energy. Excluding those volatile items, core prices rose 0.4%. Jobless claims fell by 12,000 last week.

Here at home, Statisics Canada reported that factory shipments fell for the first time in three months in January as petroleum refiners and manufacturers of transportation equipment, principally automobiles, extended maintenance down-time into the New Year.

Manufacturers shipped goods worth an estimated $48.6 billion in January, down 2.1% from the previous month and 2.1% less than in January last year, StatsCan said.

Separately, the government agency said Canada’s net external liabilities fell to their lowest level in more than a quarter-century during the last three months of 2006, the result primarily of a weakening Canadian dollar. Net liabilities hit $106.8 billion, down 17.4% from the third quarter, the fastest rate of decline on record.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.08¢, up 0.02 of a cent.

In today’s earnings news, Bear Stearns continued a string of strong earnings reports from investment banks, with net rising 7.7% in the fiscal first quarter, boosted by strong fixed-income revenue.

Oil prices gained on figures showing that supplies of U.S. gasoline and other refined products fell in the most recent week, and ahead of an OPEC meeting later in the day. Light sweet crude for April delivery rose 36¢ to US$58.52 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, mid-afternoon in Singapore.

Overseas, key European were up in early action. In morning trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.64%, Germany’s DAX index rose 1.71% and France’s CAC-40 added 1.29%.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed up 1.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.7%.

Toronto stocks closed flat Wednesday after a volatile trading session.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed with a loss of just 0.87 of a point at 12,808.73 as resource stocks ended flat and there was shakiness in the financial sector.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 23.40 points, or 0.77%, to 3,009.47.

In New York, markets came back from sharp losses to close higher.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 57.44 points, or 0.48%, to 12,133.49, after the blue-chip index at one point during the day sagged below 12,000 for the first time since Nov. 6.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 21.17, or 0.9%, to 2,371.74 while the S&P 500 index advanced 9.22, or 0.67%, to 1,387.17.