North American markets are headed for a flat open Thursday as investors weigh oil’s latest push higher, and digest a fresh batch of earnings reports and Canadian and U.S. trade reports.

Crude oil pushed back through the US$54 a barrel level in Asian trading after a pipeline explosion in Mexico.

In this morning’s earnings news, General Motors said its profit rose by 3.5%, but the company cut its full-year forecast, blaming weak overseas operations. GM said it plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs in Europe, 19% of its work force there.

Nokia’s net fell 20% after the mobile-phone giant lowered prices on its popular handsets to win back market share. It offered a cautious outlook.

Citigroup’s profit rose 13%, as strength in fixed-income trading and debt underwriting offset weakness in equity capital markets. Bank of America’s net jumped 29% despite a charge for merger-related layoffs.

In economic news, Statistics Canada said Canada’s merchandise trade surplus rebounded in August to the second highest level in three and a half years as imports fell at a faster rate than exports.

StatsCan said exports declined slightly for a second month in a row, falling 0.4% to $37.8 billion on lower exports to the United States and Japan.

However, Canadian imports fell 4.4% from July as Canadian companies imported $30.2 billion worth of merchandise.

As a result, Canada’s merchandise trade surplus jumped by $1.3 billion to $7.5 billion.

South of the border, the U.S. trade gap widened to its second highest level on record in August as higher oil prices and demand for industrial supplies and foreign-made autos inflated imports. Import prices rose 0.2% in September.

Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 161.7 pointsor 1.44% to 11,034.29.

Shares in Hong Kong fell for a fourth consecutive session. The Hang Seng declined 136.20 points or 1.03% to 13,035.38.

U.S. markets lost three-quarters of a percentage point Wednesday as oil prices began to edge up again, while Canadian markets were lower as the price of gold continued to slide.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 56.22 points or 0.64% at 8,729.64, while the S&P/TSX Venture composite index was off 13.52 points or 0.81% at 1,662.35.

December gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division ended off US$2 at US$414.60 an ounce.Gold shares led the way lower on the TSX, losing 2.45%. Placer Dome, off 3.76% and Barrick Gold, off 2.4%, were among the bigger losers.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average managed to stay above the 10,000 mark, but not by much; it lost 74.85 points or 0.74% to 10,002.33. The Nasdaq composite index fell 4.64 points or 0.24% to 1,920.53 and the S&P 500 lost 8.2 points or 0.73% at 1,113.64.

The jump in oil prices sent U.S. stocks sharply lower, reversing a solid open on strong quarterly earnings from fast-food chain McDonald’s Corp. and tech companies Intel Corp. and Yahoo Inc.