North American stocks are pointing to a flat open Monday after Ford Motor announced it would restate its results going back to 2001, and AT&T’s earnings missed Wall Street’s forecast.

Here at home, Canadian investors will get a chance to react to more consolidation in the oil sector.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced a $7.7 billion offering to buy the 22% of its Shell Canada Ltd. subsidiary that it doesn’t already own.

Ford posted a preliminary net loss of US$5.8 billion, or $3.08 a share, for the third quarter, as the No. 2 U.S. auto maker continues to battle high costs and sluggish sales in its home market. Ford also said it would restate financial results from 2001 through the second quarter of 2006 to correct the accounting for certain derivative deals. Ford expects the restatements to affect the preliminary third-quarter results.

AT&T reported a 74% rise in third-quarter net profit of US$2.17 billion, or 56 cents a share, amid strong revenue growth and an expansion of its wireless operations. But the results missed analysts’ forecast of a per-share profit of 58 cents.

Xerox’s net income surged in the third quarter, as the printer maker’s results got a boost from a tax-related gain. Total revenue rose 2% to US$3.84 billion.

American Express, and Texas Instruments are also scheduled to report earnings today.

Crude-oil prices fell 78¢ to US$58.55 a barrel, amid market doubts about a pledge by OPEC to cut production.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada reported that retail sales advanced 1.0% to $33.4 billion in August, led by a second consecutive advance in new car dealer sales.

The Canadian dollar opened at US88.66¢ down 0.23 of a cent.

Overseas, European stock markets edged lower, with London’s FTSE 100 shedding 0.1%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average ended up 0.8% at 16,788.82 as investors turned upbeat on blue chips.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 23.7 points, or 0.13%, to 18,089.85.

The Toronto stock market closed slightly lower Friday. Energy shares led the retreat as oil price fell.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 25.05 points, or 0.21%m at 12,035.57. On the week, the benchmark gained 127 points, or 1.1%.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index edged up 3.28 points, or 0.13%, to 2,456.69.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 9.36 points to 12,002.37 after closing above 12,000 Thursday for the first time.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index added 1.36 points to 2,342.3, while the S&P 500 rose 1.64 points to 1,368.60.

For the week, the Dow gained 0.35%, S&P 500 rose 0.22% and the Nasdaq shed 0.64%.