North American stocks are pointing to a mixed start Thursday after eBay’s and Nokia’s surprisingly strong results and big losses at Ford Motor.

EBay reported a stronger-than-forecast 29% rise in quarterly sales late Wednesday. The Internet auctioneer also increased its projection for 2007 revenue.

Nokia rose in European trading after the world’s top handset maker posted a better-than-forecast 19% profit rise on 13% revenue growth.

Ford posted a fourth-quarter loss, capping off a year that involved a major restructuring and resulting in a record net loss of US$12.7 billion for all of 2006.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.85¢, up 0.03 of a cent.

South of the border, the U.S. Labor Department today said that new claims for unemployment insurance jumped 36,000 to 325,000 in the week ended January 20. The new claims figures were well above expectations of a 20,000 increase.

Data on U.S. December existing-home sales are due at 10:00 ET.

In other earnings news, Qualcomm posted a 5% profit rise.

Lockheed Martin’s fourth-quarter net income jumped 28% amid profit gains in its aeronautics and information-technology segments, and the company boosted its 2007 earnings forecast.

AT&T said its net jumped 17% amid strong growth in wireless and Internet revenue.

Siemens reported its operating profit and revenue in the first quarter rose more than anticipated and the company announced it was planning an initial public offering of its automotive supply unit.

Crude-oil prices fell 7¢ to US$55.30 a barrel, a day after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected increase in gasoline stockpiles and a surprise increase in distillates.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 fell 0.07% in London.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower after hitting a six-and-a-half year high during the session. The index shed 49.1 points, or 0.28%, to 17,458.30. During the session, it hit 17,617.64, its highest since July 2000.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 151.22 points, or 0.7%, to 20,669.83.

Toronto stocks racked up strong gains for a second session Wednesday.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 99.86 points, or 0.77%, to 13,010.73 as energy stocks recovered from early losses and financial and telecom stocks pulled ahead.


The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved up 6.45 points to 2,884.25.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose sharply on Wednesday, driving the blue-chip Dow Industrial average to a record high, as earnings reports from Yahoo Inc. and Sun Microsystems renewed optimism about tech company profits.

The Dow Jones industrials rose 87.97 points, or 0.7%, to a record high close of 12,621.77.

The Nasdaq composite index advanced 34.87 points, or 1.43%, to 2,466.28 and the S&P 500 index gained 12.14 points, or 0.85%, to 1,440.13.