North American stocks looks set to open higher Friday, bolstered by strong earnings out of Google, a day after the broader market plunged.

Google shares were up more than 11% in pre-market trading after the Internet search engine said third-quarter profit rose more than sevenfold and revenue roughly doubled.

Crude-oil futures continued to decline on the New York Stock Exchange, with the December futures contract dipping below US$60 a barrel to US$59.76 in early trading Friday.

There are no major U.S. economic releases due out Friday.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said spending in retail stores fell by 0.3% to $31.2 billion in August. The August decline follows two months of strong sales.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.95¢, up 0.06 of a cent.

Stocks were lower in Europe, as the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%. Markets in Asia finished marginally higher, with the Hong Kong Hang Sang index rising 0.6%. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average finished up less than one point.

Toronto stocks were pummeled Thursday, sunk by a sell-off in the energy sector and a market that has turned bearish after months of gains.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 235.05, or 2.25%, to 10,190.73.

Since the start of October, the benchmark index of the TSX has fallen by 821 points, or 7.5%.

Volume on the senior exchange was 301 million shares.

All the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy sector falling a whopping 5.76%.

The November contract for light sweet crude ended down $1.38, or 2.2% at US$61.03 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

EnCana Corp. was down $4.80, or 7.79%, to $56.85 after the company dampened rumors that it was a takeover target for global energy giant Shell Oil Ltd.

Talisman Energy fell $4.75, or 8.83%, to $49.05 after agreeing to pay $2.5 billion in cash for Paladin Resources, a U.K. company with assets in the North Sea.

Imperial Oil was down $9.70 to $96.85. It was the first time Imperial shares had traded below $100 in four months. Imperial’s drop came as it reported record Q3 earnings.

Talisman Energy fell $4.75 to $49.05. It announced an agreement to pay $2.5 billion for Britain’s Paladin Resources.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished down 29.88 points, or 1.50%, to 1,962.94.

In New York, markets took a hit with disappointing corporate news from Pfizer and Ebay.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 133.19 points, or 1.28 %, to end at 10,280.94. The S&P500 index was down 17.94 points, or 1.50%, at 1,177.82. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 23.13 points, or 1.11%, at 2,068.11.