North American markets are likely to trade lower at Friday’s open after International Business Machines reported it missed earnings expectations.

After markets closed Thursday, the computer giant said that while it had slight revenue growth, it had trouble closing deals at the end of the quarter. IBM shares dropped 3.8% in after-hours trading.

In today’s economic news, the U.S. Labor Department said overall import prices rose 1.8% in March, after rising 0.8% in February. The import price gain last month exceeded economists’ predictions for a 1.4% increase.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its Empire State survey of manufacturing activity in April fell to 3.1, compared with 20.2 last month.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said volatility in the transportation equipment sector pulled down manufacturing shipments 0.5% to $51.4 billion in February.

However, excluding the transportation equipment sector, the government agency said manufacturers maintained the strong pace seen in January with shipments edging up 0.3%.

In other earnings news,, General Electric said its earnings rose 25% in the first quarter, helped by a big gain from the sale of Genworth Financial stock, and double-digit earnings growth in nine of its 11 businesses.

Citigroup Inc., the world’s largest financial services firm, said Friday that first-quarter earnings rose 3% from a year ago, helped by 10% growth in corporate and investment banking revenue.

North American markets were awash in red ink Thursday, as gold and mining stocks pulled the Toronto Stock Exchange down and a cautious revenue outlook from Apple Computer Inc. helped pushed U.S. markets to a second-consecutive triple-digit loss.

At close, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 82.51 points or 0.87% to 9,409.61, while the S&P/TSX Venture composite index slid 31.40 or 1.77% to 1,741.69.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 125.18 points or 1.20% at 10,278.75. The S&P 500 index declined 11.74 or 1.00% to 1,162.05, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 27.66 or 1.40% to 1,946.71.

The Dow sank to a five-month low, reflecting the market’s anxiety about interest rates and the economy. Following a disappointing retail sales report for March, investors seemed intent on focusing on negative news, but with earnings season just barely under way, some analysts said it was too soon to assume the worst.