North American stock markets are poised to climb Thursday amid news of multi-billion deal in the airline industry.

Qantas Airways said it has accepted a takeover offer worth A$11.1 billion (C$10.2 billion ) from a consortium that includes Australia’s Macquarie Bank and Canadian conglomerate Onex Corp.

In today’s economic news, Canadian factory shipments hit their lowest level in nearly two years in October, mainly because of falling petroleum prices and a slowdown in the food and transportation equipment sectors.

Statistics Canada reported that manufacturers shipped goods worth an estimated $47.7 billion, down 0.1% from September and the lowest level since December 2004.

After taking price fluctuations into account, the volume of shipments was down 0.6% to $43.7 billion, the lowest volume of shipments in nearly four years.

Separately, StatsCan reported that Canada’s net liability to foreign residents fell to its lowest point in a quarter century at the end of September.

Net external liability (the difference between the value of our international liabilities and our international assets) reached $131.9 billion at the end of the third quarter, down 12.5%, or $18.8 billion, from the end of the second quarter.

It was the lowest level since the end of 1980, when international assets represented only half of international liabilities.

The Canadian dollar opened at US86.41¢, down 0.04 of a cent.

South of the border, U.S. import prices rose 0.2% in November despite a drop in petroleum costs. Jobless claims fell by 20,000 last week.

In earnings news, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns posted big increases in quarterly profit, bolstered by strength in investment banking and trading. Both firms said annual profit rose to a record.

Oil prices rose and European indexes were up in early action.

Oil prices rose above US$62 a barrel Thursday as OPEC delegates said they had agreed in principle to leave production unchanged for now but set the stage for a likely cut of half a million barrels a day in February.

Light sweet crude for January delivery rose 63¢ to US$62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe.

In Asia, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index rose 136.27 points, or 0.82%, to 16,829.2 points/

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 201.21 points, or 1.1%, to 18,919.4.

Toronto stocks moved higher Wednesday, powered ahead by strength in the resource sector and a good session in the technology group.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 51.84 points, or 0.40%, to 12,910.32.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with the energy index surging 1.15%.


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 14.29 points, or 0.52%, to 2,786.61.

In New York, markets posted modest gains on encouraging economic news offset by higher energy prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished ahead by 1.92 point at 12,317.50, after touching an all-time record high of 12,368 during intra-day trading.

The S&P 500 gained 1.66 points to close at 1,413.22, while the Nasdaq composite index lifted by 0.81 of a point to 2,432.41.