North American stocks are expected to open weaker Thursday, with Research in Motion’s outlook and reduced hopes for a cut to U.S. interest rates weighing on investor sentiment.

Late Wednesday, RIM reported sales that just missed Wall Street forecasts and gave a profit forecast that disappointed some analysts. RIM’s net income surged to US$187.9 million for its fiscal fourth quarter.

The BlackBerry maker also announced that an informal probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission into its past stock-option accounting practices had been upgraded to a formal inquiry.

In today’s economic news, U.S. etailers posted strong growth in March same-store sales and generally topped analysts; expectations amid the run-up to Easter, with the holiday coming a week earlier than in 2006.

However, retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc. warned it may miss first-quarter earnings expectations.

Here at home, the cost of new housing was up 0.5% in February from the previous month, Statistics Canada reported. Compared on a year-over-year basis, contractors’ selling prices were up 10%, just below the 10.1% registered in January.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.9¢, up 0.17 of a cent from Wednesday.

In M&A news, Astral Media has struck a deal to acquire privately held Standard Radio for about $1.08 billion in cash and stock, becoming Canada’s largest radio broadcaster.

Magna International Ichairman Frank Stronach confirmed his company is in talks with Onex about teaming up to buy Chrysler.

In other earnings news, Genentech said first-quarter profit surged 68% and sales rose 43% from the same period a year ago even as sales of two of its key cancer treatments came in lower on a sequential basis.

Pier 1 Imports said that its fourth-quarter loss widened. The retailer’s same-store sales fell 11% in the period.

Crude-oil prices rose 89¢ to settle at US$62.90 a barrel, a day after weekly energy supply data showed a decline in gasoline stocks to their lowest level since October 2005.

Overseas, markets traded lower in Europe and Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Average finished 0.7% lower, as export-related shares lost ground.

The UK’s FTSE 100 Index lost 0.3% and the German DAX Xetra 30 Index eased 0.4% after the European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold Thursday, leaving the key policy rate at 3.75%, as expected.

Toronto stocks slumped Wednesday as worries over slower U.S. economic growth were complicated by minutes from last month’s U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that hinted at the need for further interest rate hikes.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 30.31 points, or 0.2%, at 13,400.99.

The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index lost 22.22 points to 3,252.45.

In New York, U.S. stocks dropped sharply in mid-afternoon when minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting showed policy-makers saw both greater risks of slower economic growth and uncertainty that core inflation would recede.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.23 points, or 0.71%, to end at 12,484.62. The S&P 500 dropped 9.52 points, or 0.66%, to finish at 1,438.87. The Nasdaq composite index declined 18.30 points, or 0.74%, to close at 2,459.31.