Stocks are likely to open lower Friday morning as investors move to lock in profits following yesterday’s strong rally on Wall Street.

In economic news, Statistics Canada said consumer prices increased in March, due to rising prices for gasoline.

The government agency reported that the 12-month increase in the consumer price index went up to 2.3% in March from 2.1% in February.

StatsCan said the all-items index, which excludes the eight volatile components identified by the Bank of Canada, rose by 1.9% between March 2004 and March 2005, a slight increase over the 1.8% rise of February.

In today’s earnings news, Eastman Kodak reported a loss for the first quarter on a cost-cutting charge and weaker sales.

After the bell Thursday, Google reported a nearly sixfold increase in first-quarter net income on revenue that nearly doubled. The results far exceeded the estimates of Wall Street analysts.

Also Thursday, Toronto stocks managed to eke out a small gain on, ignoring the rally south of the border. The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 27.67 points, or 0.30%, at 9,405.78.

Volume was 176 million shares

Resource shares were held back by weakness in gold prices and copper prices.


The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index climbed 12.64 points, 0.73%, to 1,748.08.

In New York, U.S. stocks soared, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining more than 200 points, as a regional Federal Reserve factory output survey eased worry about slowing economic growth and cell phone makers including Motorola gave strong earnings outlooks.

The blue-chip Dow was up 206.24 points, or 2.54%, to finish at 10,218.60. The broad S&P 500 Index was up 22.45 points, or 1.97%, to end at 1,159.95. The tech-laced Nasdaq Composite index was up 48.65 points, or 2.54%, to end at 1,962.41.