North American markets are facing mixed indicators Friday, while Royal Bank of Canada reported an increase in third quarter profit and hiked its dividend.

Royal said third-quarter profit jumped 19% to $1.4 billion despite storm clouds on global financial markets.

In today’s economic news, the U.S. Commerce Department said July durable-goods orders jumped by 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted US$230.7 billion, surpassing Wall Street forecasts for a 1% rise in durable orders.

A report on U.S. new-home sales in July is expected to show a decline of 2% to a seven-year low of 820,000 annualized units from 834,000 in June. The housing data are due at 10:00 ET.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US94.99¢, up 0.23 of a cent.

In other earnings news, Clothing retailer Gap reporting a 19% profit rise on cost-cutting and raising its annual earnings outlook.

In M&A news. Home Depot was reported to be close to accepting about US$1.2 billion less for the sale of its wholesale distribution arm to three private-equity firms.

Crude-oil futures climbed a cent to $69.84 a barrel.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 fell 0.02% in London, Germany’s DAX index shed 0.38% and France’s CAC-40 declined 0.15%.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.41%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%.

Toronto stocks ended moderately lower Wednesday, as a drop in the materials index offset gains in both the energy and financials indices.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 12.03, or 0.09%, to 13,451.11.

TD Bank shares rose $1.06, or 1.53%, to $70.49 as the country’s second-largest bank reported a third-quarter profit of $1.1 billion, a jump of 39% over the same period last year.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gave up 1.51 points, or 0.06%, to 2,586.60.

In New York, markets closed largely unchanged, as investors remained very cautious in the face of concerns over the still-unfolding credit crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended essentially flat, losing 0.25 of a point to finish at 13,235.88, the Nasdaq composite index gave up 11.10, or 0.43%, to close at 2,541.70, and the S&P500 lost 1.57, or 0.11%, to finish at 1,462.50.