North American stocks are likely to slump at the open Tuesday as oil prices continue to set new record highs.

In Asia, crude oil prices hit a new high over US$54, fuelled by continuing worries over supply in Nigeria and reduced output in the hurricane-hobbled Gulf of Mexico.

On Monday, crude oil prices closed at US$53.64, the fifth straight record in the 21 years that oil futures have traded in New York.

The corporate reporting season will hit full stride today with earnings updates from Intel Corp. and Yahoo! Inc.

In today’s earnings news, Merrill Lynch & Co. posted an 8% decline in third-quarter profit, hurt by a slump in the firm’s global markets and investment-banking business amid a slow summer on Wall Street.

The financial-services firm said it earned US$920 million, or US93¢ a share, compared to US$1 billion, or US$1.00 a share, a year earlier.

Other big names reporting later in the week included General Motors Corp. and Citigroup Inc. In all, more than 100 companies were scheduled to report by week’s end.

There are no major economic reports from Canada or the United States scheduled for release today.

Asian stock markets closed mostly lower on concerns about rising oil prices.

The Japanese Nikkei fell 147.54 points or 1.3% to 11,201.81. In Hong Kong, shares closed lower on worries about rising oil prices. The Hang Seng slipped 53.54 points or 0.4% to 13,251.59.

Shares edged higher in New York on Monday, shrugging off another record high for oil prices, as investors looked cautiously ahead to the start of a new earnings season.

With the bond market closed for the Columbus Day holiday and no major economic news to digest, stock trading was light.

The Dow Jones industrial Average was up 26.77 points or 0.3% to 10,081.97, The Nasdaq composite index gained 0.5% or 8.79 points to 1,928.76. The S&P 500 added 0.20% or 2.25 to 1,124.39.

In London, the Canadian dollar was down 0.44 of a cent at US79.43 on Tuesday morning.. On Friday, before Canada’s Thanksgiving Day long weekend, the loonie had closed at US79.87, up 0.59 of a cent.

Toronto stocks finished flat Friday as investors responded to a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report and record high oil prices. The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 10.49 points or 0.12% at 8,814.89 on volume of 273 million shares.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index bucked the downtrend to rise 18.86 points or 1.13% to 1,696.15.