North American stocks are expected to open higher Thursday as oil prices edge lower and investors mull over U.S. retail sales.

Crude-oil futures fell 34¢ to US$74.85 a barrel in early trading Thursday, a day after oil prices surged past $75 a barrel to a record on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Wal-Mart posted weak June sales, in line with its most recent forecast, while Target was strong. AnnTaylor and American Eagle surged, while Gap and Abercrombie slumped.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada reported that the value of building permits surpassed the $5 billion mark for a sixth straight month in May.

The government agency said Canadian municipalities issued $5.4 billion in permits, up 6.9% from April and fuelled mainly by intentions in the non-residential sector.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.21 of cent at US89.78¢, after losing 0.36 of a cent on Wednesday.

South of the border, the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims decreased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 313,000 in the week ended July 1. Wall Street had expected unemployment claims to rise by 2,000 in the latest week.

The Institute of Supply Management’s June services index is seen weakening to 59.6% from 60.1%.

In M&A news, Open Text Corp. late Wednesday announced a bid to acquire rival Hummingbird Ltd. for about US$28 per share.

In Europe, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England both decided to leave short-term interest rates unchanged.

Asian stock indexes were mixed as anxiety about North Korea’s missile launches.

Japanese stocks to fell for a second day following Wednesday’s missile launches by the hermit kingdom, with the Nikkei index down 202.54 points or 1.3% to 15,321.40.

But Hong Kong rose on broad gains led by China Mobile, which was up 2.1%. The Hang Seng index advanced 173.81 points or 1.1% to 16,440.99.

North American stocks closed lower Wednesday, as markets reacted to concerns over North Korea’s missile testing and worries about interest rate hikes.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 106.44 points, or 0.91%, to 11,626.44.

All 10 TSX main sub-groups were down.


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index dipped 4.93 points, or 0.19%, to 2,659.69.

On Wall Street, provocative moves by North Korea and concerns that inflation is on the rise had investors in a bearish mood.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 76.20 points, or 0.68%, to 11,151.82. The S&P 500 closed off 9.28 points, or 0.72%, at 1,270.91 and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 37.09 points, or 1.7%, to 2,153.34.