North American stocks are poised to open mixed Tuesday after a sharp overnight rise in energy prices.

Crude-oil futures were up $1.33 to US$65.25 a barrel on political concerns in Iran and assaults on Nigerian oil facilities.

In earnings news, Continental Airlines posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss.

IBM and Intel, and Yahoo, will report earnings after the market closes today.

In M&A news, Boston Scientific intensified the bidding war for the medical-device maker Guidant, preparing a bid that would value the company at US$80 a share, or US$27 billion, which surpasses a previous offer by Johnson & Johnson that valued Guidant at US$71 a share.

Molson Coors Brewing Co. said it has sold 68% of its Brazilian unit for US$68 million in cash, but will retain a minority stake in the business. The company also warned that its fourth-quarter results will show lower sales volume and earnings per share, excluding special items, compared with the year-earlier period.


In economic news, Canada’s leading economic indicator rose 0.5% in December after it slowed to 0.4% in October and 0.3% in November, Statistics Canada reported today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US86.15¢, down 0.18 of a cent.

At 9:15 a.m. EST, the market will get a look at U.S. monthly industrial production and capacity utilization data will be released at 9:15 ET.

In overseas trading, European indices were lower. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 declined 0.4% and Germany’s Xetra Dax fell 0.9%.

Markets in Asia slumped overnight, as Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 2.8% to 15,805, the largest single-day point drop since May 2004.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.4%.

Toronto stocks set another all-time record Monday, powered by higher resource prices, while U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 116.15, or 1.00%, to 11,720.97. The close was just the most recent all-time high of the year. On the first trading day of 2006, the exchange broke through the old record of 11,388 from Sept. 1, 2000.

Volume on the senior exchange was 244 million shares.

Dofasco Inc. shares gained $6.60, or 10.03%, to $72.40 after Arcelor SA boosted its bid for the company to $5.5 billion, or $71 a share, topping a bid of $5.28 billion, or $68 a share, by ThyssenKrupp.

The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index finished up 24.87, or 1.05%, to 2,394.54.