North American stocks look set to open lower Monday as U.S traders return from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The are no major U.S. or Canada economic reports due out Monday.

The Canadian dollar opened at US88.19¢, up 0.14 of a cent.

Crude futures hovered below US$60 a barrel in electronic trading, with gold futures trading around US$637 an ounce.

U.S. retailers will be in the spotlight as early reports show retail sales on Black Friday to be 6% higher than last year, at almost US$9 billion.

Wal-Mart over the weekend reported that U.S. same-store sales in November fell 0.1%, its first drop since 1996.

In earnings news, Germany’s Bayer reported a 35% decline in profit on the costs of integrating Schering.

Liquidation World Inc. warned of lower fourth-quarter results. On Friday, the company said it expects a loss of between 15¢ and 18¢ per share.

Also Friday, Telus Corp. said it no longer plans to convert into an income trust, citing the federal government’s plan to begin taxing new trusts.

European stock markets were slightly lower.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei index rose 150.78 points, or 0.96 per cent, to finish at 15,885.38 points.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 56.29 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 19,204.01.
Toronto stocks closed lower Friday, as weakness in the broader market offset a strong day in the materials index.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 13.82, or 0.11%, to 12,631.08.

Seven of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, but the materials sector moved up 0.88%, largely on the strength of gold stocks.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 45.21 points, or 1.68%, to 2,736.88.

In New York, markets moved modestly higher, with volume lower than usual, as the exchanges closed in the early afternoon following yesterday’s Thanksgiving Day break.

The Dow Jones Industrial Index fell 46.78, or 0.38%, to 12,280.17, the Nasdaq composite index dropped 5.72 points, or 0.23%, to 2,460.26 while the S&P 500 index lost 5.15, or 0.37%, to 1,400.94.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.5%, the Nasdaq gained 0.6%, and the S&P 500 ended largely unchanged.