North American stocks may open lower Thursday as U.S. retail-sales suggests same-store sales growth won’t be as strong in February as it was in January.

Same-store sales for the industry are seen slowing to 2.9% growth in February, down from 5.1% in January, hurt in part by a snowstorm in the Northeast earlier in the month, according to Thomson Financial.

Crude-oil futures rose Thursday as traders focused on Nigeria and other geopolitical threats to oil supplies, despite U.S. government data that showed growing inventories. Light sweet crude for April delivery rose 74¢ to US$62.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.

The Canadian dollar added to its 14-year high early Thursday. The loonie opened at US88.14¢, up 0.07 of a cent.

In today’s earnings news, CIBC said its first-quarter profit fell by 18%, as the year-before results were boosted by the sale of certain investment holdings.

The bank said net income was $580 million, or $1.62 a share, for the quarter ended January 31, compared with $707 million, or $1.94 a share, in the year-before period.

Swiss Reinsurance Co., the world’s second-largest reinsurance company, said Thursday its net profit for 2005 dropped 41% because of record claims from hurricane Katrina and other disasters. The company earned 1.45 billion Swiss francs (US$1.11 billion) for the full year, compared with a profit of 2.48 billion francs in 2004. It faced claims of 3.1 billion francs (US$2.37 billion) last year, it said in a statement.

The European Central Bank raised its key interest rate to 2.5%, after hints from President Jean-Claude Trichet about the strengthening economy in the euro zone and worries about inflation.

The increase from 2.25% was the second quarter-point raise in four months by the bank after it held steady for more than two years.

The German DAX 30 index climbed 0.1% at 5,871, the French CAC 40 index rose 0.2% at 5,065 and the UK’s FTSE 100 index added 0.5% at 5,874.

Asian stock markets closed mixed. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index dropped 54.7 points, or 0.3%, to 15,909.76.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index climbed 64.36 points, or 0.4%, to 15,882.45.

On Wednesday, Toronto stocks rallied, driven higher by advances in energy and mining issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 106.24 points, or 0.91%, at 11,794.58.

The energy group surged 2.31%.

Overall, eight of the TSX index’s 10 main groups closed higher. The tech sector rose 1.86% with telecoms up 0.77%.

BMO Financial Group, which released its first quarter results early after partial results were released in error, saw its shares lose 72¢ to $68.25.

BMO earned $630 million, up from $602 million last year and raised its dividend to 53¢.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 29.16 points, or 1.15%, to finish at 2,560.97.

U.S. stocks rose as gains in network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. and other tech shares helped drive the Nasdaq Composite index up more than 1% in a rebound from Tuesday’s sharp losses.

Cisco jumped 4.1% to US$21.06 and pushed other tech shares higher.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 33.25 points, or 1.46%, at 2,314.64. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 60.12 points, or 0.55%, at 11,053.53. The S&P 500 was up 10.58 points, or 0.83%, at 1,291.24.