Signals for North American stock markets are mixed Monday in advance of today’s federal election and an announcement from Ford Motor Co. on its plan to cut thousands of jobs.

Earlier Monday, Ford said it earned US$124 million in the fourth quarter, up 19% from the year before thanks to cost reductions and improved profits in its luxury division. But the company earned US$2 billion for the year, down 42% from a year earlier.

Bank of America Corp. said fourth quarter earnings fell to US$3.77 billion, or 93¢ per share, from US$3.85 billion, or 94¢ per share, a year earlier.

In M&A news, Onex Corp. and mall developer Mitchell Goldhar have submitted an offer for Hudson’ Bay Co. that is lower than Jerry Zucker’s but has fewer strings attached, the Globe and Mail reported Monday.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada said retail sales advanced at the fastest rate of growth in four months in November, and nearly double the pace of the previous month. Retail sales increased 1.1% in November from the previous month to a record high $31.3 billion.

New motor vehicle sales were again a strong contributor to these gains.

Overnight in Asia, markets closed lower.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 336.04 points, or 2.14%, to close at 15,360.65 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The index has lost 6.7% since the start of last week.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 197.31 points, or 1.26%, to 15,464.77.

On Friday, Toronto stocks dropped, despite a slight rise in energy stocks, as the broader market, and particularly the IT sector, headed into negative territory.

Meanwhile, U.S. stocks were walloped by disappointing earnings from Citigroup Inc. and General Electric Co. and higher energy prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 87.30, or 0.75%, to 11,605.67.

For the week, the benchmark index gained a paltry 0.85 points.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index closed nudged ahead 1.94 points, or 0.08%, to 2,423.12.

In New York, stocks plunged on disappointing earnings from Citigroup Inc. and General Electric Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 213.72 points, or 1.96%, to 10,666.99.

The S&P500 Index was down 23.74 points, or 1.85%, at 1,261.30, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was down 54.21 points, or 2.36%, at 2,247.60.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.7%, the S&P 500 slid 1.9% and Nasdaq declined 2.85%.