North American stocks are likely to slip Thursday morning, pressured by Ford Motor’s revised quarterly loss, U.S. mixed retail sales and a rise in initial jobless claims.

Ford said it lost more than twice as much in the second quarter as previously reported due to pension-related losses.

Most major U.S. retailers posted mixed July same-store sales Thursday, adding to concerns about the health of U.S. consumers’ spending power.

In economic news, the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims increased by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 315,000 in the week ended July 29. The latest gain was above Wall Street forecasts of an increase of just 7,000.

Data on U.S. service-sector sentiment and factory orders are due at 10:00 ET.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US88.88¢, up 0.15 of a cent.

Crude-oil prices declined as Tropical Storm Chris weakened. Crude futures were down 81¢ to US$75 a barrel.


In other earnings news, Nortel Networks swung to a second-quarter profit of US$366 million, from a year-earlier loss of US$33 million.

Magna Entertainment Corp. reported its second-quarter loss narrowed slightly to $26.3 million from $26.9 million in the same period a year ago.

Torstar Corp. said its profit fell 28% in the second quarter to $25.6 million from a year earlier, as revenues slipped $12.6 million to $390 million.

Sprint Nextel said quarterly profit fell 38% on merger costs, and the company modestly revised its 2006 forecast on expectations of lower revenue from its wireless business.

Manufacturing-and-services conglomerate Tyco International said its fiscal third-quarter profit declined 27% as charges outweighed higher revenue.

Starbucks said fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 16%.

The European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3% on Thursday, the fourth such increase in eight months as it tries to curb inflation. The decision follows a similar move earlier in the day by the Bank of England, which raised its key interest rate a quarter of a percentage point to 4.75%.

Most European stock markets were lower.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 6.08 points, or 0.04%, to finish at 15,470.37 points.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 15.67 points, or 0.1%, to 17,048.42.

Toronto stocks finished higher Wednesday, as the rising price of oil and a strong day in the materials sector led the wider market forward.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 62.21, or 0.52%, to 11,969.86.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index moved up 23.32, or 0.89%, to 2,650.44.

In New York, strong corporate earnings news overshadowed continuing investor uncertainty over the direction of inflation and interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average lifted 74.20 points to 11,199.93. The Nasdaq composite index gained 16.82 to 2,078.81 and the S&P 500 moved up 7.63 at 1,278.55.