North American stocks are poised to open flat Friday after computer make Dell reported disappointing earnings and said it faces accounting issues.

Dell posted a 51% drop in fiscal second-quarter profit and disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission launched an informal investigation a year ago over its revenue-recognition practices.

In other earnings news, Gap said second-quarter earnings tumbled 53%, blaming aggressive markdowns that slammed the retailer’s margins, and said it was paring its full-year forecast.

In economic news, wholesale sales fell 0.6% in June, pulled down by lower sales in the automotive sector, Statistics Canada reported today. Wholesalers sold $41.5 billion worth of goods and services.

Weak wholesale sales in the past months sharply curtailed the growth for the quarter ending in June compared to the previous two quarters.

a report on U.S. consumer sentiment for August is due at 9:45 ET. The University of Michigan’s index is expected to decline to 83.6 from 84.7.

Crude-oil prices recovered some of the ground lost this week, with the benchmark contract up 64¢ to US$70.70.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.21¢, up 0.11 of a cent.

In other news, Swiss miner Xstrata plc getting rid of key Falconbridge Ltd. executives and board members, including CEO Derek Pannell, after a successful takeover of the Canadian metals miner.

In overseas markets, the United Kingdom FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.

In Asia, China raised interest rates for the second time this year in an effort to reduce a boom in lending and construction. The central bank raised the minimum rate that commercial banks charge on one-year loans in China’s currency, the yuan, by 0.27 of a percentage point to 6.12%, effective Saturday.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 85.14 points, or 0.53%, to 16,105.98.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index slid 42.35 points, or 0.2%, to 17,330.7.

Toronto stocks closed with modest gains Thursday, despite being held back most of the session by falling commodity prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 25.76 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 12,056.01.

Overall, seven of the 10 main TSX groups ended higher.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index dipped 12.66 points, or 0.48%, to close at 2,602.27.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks closed moderately higher on Thursday as the drop in oil prices countered a plummet in Merck & Co. following negative legal news surrounding the drugmaker’s Vioxx product.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 7.84 points, or 0.07%, to end at 11,334.96, while the S&P 500 gained 2.05 points, or 0.16%, to finish at 1,297.48. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 8.07 points, or 0.38%, to close at 2,157.61.