Signals were mixed for North American stock markets Thursday as investors prepared to digest the next round of quarterly earnings reports.

Crude oil futures rose Thursday, despite a report showing U.S. crude supplies increasing for the eighth consecutive week. Light sweet crude for May delivery rose 35¢ to US$56.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in European morning trading.

Overnight in Asia, markets closed mixed.

The Japanese Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues fell 16.17 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 11,810.99.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 40.09 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 13,602.35.

The Canadian dollar opened at US81.9¢, down 0.01 of a cent. On Wednesday, the loonie declined 0.21 of a cent to US81.91¢.

In this morning’s business news, Nortel Networks is paying US$10 million or a stake in Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd. of India, known for its telecom outsourcing work. The size of the stake was not disclosed.

In economic news, the report on U.S. wholesale trade for February will be released at 10:00 ET.

On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX composite bounced back into positive territory Wednesday, while U.S. markets ended the day mixed.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite was up 53.94 points or 0.56% at 9,673.01, while the S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 16.29 points or 0.87% to 1856.07.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average added 27.56 or 0.26% to 10,486.02. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.18 of a point of 0.01% to 1,999.14 while the S&P 500 index gained 2.68 points or 0.23% to 1,184.07.

In New York, investors began to shift their focus from oil prices to company news as first-quarter profits started to roll in.

Analysts said Wall Street is likely to pay particular attention to the results of industrials and financial companies as it eyes the impact rising interest rates have had over the course of 2005’s first quarter.

Alcoa Inc., whose quarterly results signal the start of the U.S. corporate reporting season, said Wednesday that first-quarter earnings fell from a year earlier because of restructuring charges and other items.

Computer maker Dell backed its guidance for the fiscal first quarter on Wednesday and said it expects annual sales to reach US$80 billion.