North American stocks are expected to open higher after hurricane Rita was downgraded to a Category 4 storm, and forecasters said the storm could shift away for the Houston area and spare major refining areas.

Crude-oil prices fell 76¢ to $66.50 a barrel in early trading Friday.

No major economic data from either Canada or the United States are scheduled for release today.

In earnings news, after markets closed Thursday software giant Oracle posted a small increase in profit for its fiscal first quarter as the company struggled to gain sales of both database and business-applications software.

Alcoa, the world’s largest aluminum producer, sharply cut its third-quarter profit forecast because of higher energy and raw-material costs, as well as lower selling prices for aluminum.

In other business news, Falconbridge Ltd. has adopted a poison pill to thwart undesired takeovers and stop Swiss miner Xstrata PLC from scooping up any more of the company’s stock. The shareholder rights plan will prevent any attempt to seize control of Falconbridge other than an offer made to all shareholders, the company said in a release Thursday.

Overnight in Asia, Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday.

Hong Kong shares retreated for a third-straight day. The blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 35.98 points, or 0.24%, to 15,143.97.

Toronto stocks fell Thursday, as prices for oil and gold retreated.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 86.39, or 0.79%, to 10,870.75.

Volume on the senior exchange was 347 million shares.

The TSX energy sector fell 1.62%, while the gold sub-group closed 2.12% lower.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished edged lower 2.42, or 0.12%, to 2,082.38.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 44.02 points, or 0.42%, to end 10,422.05, the S&P 500 index was up 4.43 points, or 0.37%, to finish at 1,214.63 and the Nadaq edged up 4.14 points, or 0.20%, to close at 2,110.78.