Most global indicators were negative for North American stock markets Friday as investors weighed the impact of a drop in profit at Microsoft Corp.

Late Thursday, Microsoft reported a 28% drop in earnings late Thursday despite revenue growth that exceeded forecasts.

In other earnings news, General Motors Corp. said late Thursday it will make a net profit in the fourth quarter but will delay reporting 2006 financial results because of accounting errors and other issues.

In today’s economic news, U.S. durable-goods orders rose 3.1% in December, boosted by a sharp increase in orders for commercial aircraft, though demand climbed across the board. Business-equipment spending rebounded.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.47¢, down 0.1 of a cent.

Oil prices edged up Friday after tumbling a day earlier because of doubts that OPEC members are making the production cuts they promised last year. Light sweet crude for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 27¢ to US$54.50 a barrel in electronic trading by midday in Europe.

In other market news, the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. said Friday it won’t raise its offer to take over the London Stock Exchange ahead of the deadline this weekend.
Overseas, key European indexes fell in early action.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 36.37 points, or 0.21%, to finish at 17,421.93.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index shed 388.7 points, or 1.9%, to 20,281.13.

Toronto stocks ended a two-day rally and finished lower on Thursday on profit taking in energy and materials shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 83.45 points, or 0.64%, at 12,927.28.

Overall, eight of the 10 TSX index main groups fell. The energy sector led the decline, dropping 1.8% along with U.S. crude, which ended below US$55 on profit-taking and as increased stockpiles countered the impact of cold weather on prices.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 14.40 points, or 0.50%, to finish at 2,869.85.

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower, as falling oil prices prompted selling in the energy sector and a rise in bond yields revived worries about rising interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 119.21 points, or 0.94%, to at 12,502.56. The S&P 500 was down 16.23 points, or 1.13%, to finish at 1,423.90. The Nasdaq composite index was down 32.04 points, or 1.30%, to close at 2,434.24.