Most North American markets were up Friday morning with gold shares leading the way on Bay Street, and some encouraging economic news helping to keep Wall Street in the black.

At midday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite was up 18.40 points or 0.21% at 8764.04. The TSX Venture Exchange managed a slight gain, 1.81 points or 0.11% to 1658.43.

The Dow Jones industrials was down from its session high, but still in the black, up 33.11 points or 0.33% at 9927.56. The Nasdaq composite was up by 0.79 of a point or 0.04% to 1903.81, while the S&P 500 index advanced 2.41 points 0.22% at 1105.7.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.22 of a cent to US79.83¢ as manufacturing shipments were up in August for a ninth straight month. Statistics Canada said robust production in the durable goods sector, coupled with high industrial prices, contributed to shipments rising 0.8% from July to $50.8 billion. August’s showing marks the longest string of increases in manufacturing shipments since 10 consecutive advances were reported from April, 1987 to January 1988.

On Bay Street, gold shares were up 2.61% as gold futures firmed but held off session highs in volatile dealings on Friday morning, as the dollar plummeted to an eight-month low against the euro after a mixed bag of U.S. economic data. December gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division rose $2.20 to US$421.70 an ounce, moving between $418.70 and $423, which marked its highest since Tuesday.

Most banks were also up with the TSX financials sub-group advancing 0.56%. Most insurance companies, however, were still feeling the fallout from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s news Thursday that he is targeting the insurance sector.

CIBC was up nearly 2% to $73.21. The bank said Friday it will pay $19.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit with VISA credit card holders.

Energy stocks declined 0.06%. The price of crude oil for November on the New York Mercantile Exchange eased 23¢ to US$54.53 a barrel after moving up US$1.12 Thursday to a fresh record close.

On Wall Street, stocks got a boost from a stronger than expected retail sales report showed that higher oil prices aren’t scaring consumers away from spending.

Wall Street had worried that soaring oil and gasoline prices would prompt consumers to spend less. But the Commerce Department reported that retail sales jumped 1.5% in September, much more than the 0.6% gain economists forecast.

Investors worried about inflation received good news from the Labor Department, which said wholesale prices, as measured by the Producer Price Index, rose just 0.1% in September. While the PPI was up from the 0.1% decline in August, the figure was small enough to reassure Wall Street that inflation would not be a major problem for the foreseeable future.

Consumers, however, are still concerned about the state of the economy. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 87.5 in October, down sharply from the 94.2 figure in September and far lower than Wall Street’s expected reading of 94.

In earnings news, financial company Wachovia Corp. reported a 14% rise in third-quarter earnings due to gains in its high-end investment and wealth management businesses. Wachovia, which beat Wall Street forecasts by a penny per share, climbed 53¢ to US$47.82.

Charles Schwab Corp. rose 28¢ to US$8.75 after it posted a loss for the third quarter due to one-time charges related to restructuring and the sale of its capital markets business. Without the charges, however, the brokerage met Wall Street forecasts for its results.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 528.49 million shares, compared with 386.67 million at the same point on Thursday.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.47%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2%, Germany’s DAX index slumped 0.65%, and France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.17%.