North American stocks may open higher Wednesday after U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in November as the holiday season kicked off.

Sales advanced by a seasonally adjusted 1% from the previous month, the U.S. Commerce Department said today.

Wall Street had expected a smaller gain. Economists had forecast overall retail sales rising just 0.2% in November.

Canadian industries cut back their use of production capacity between July and September to its lowest point in three years, Statistics Canada reported.

Industries operated at 84.2% of their capacity during the third quarter, down from 85.1% in the second, the government agency said. It was the third consecutive quarterly decline and the first time since the third quarter of 2003 that the rate has fallen below 85%.

Separately, StatsCan said new motor vehicle sales continued to soften in October, resulting in a second consecutive monthly decrease.

The Canadian dollar opened at US86.87¢, up 0.06 of a cent.

In today’s earnings news, Patheon Inc. swung to a fourth-quarter loss of US$22.4 million from a year-earlier profit of US$8.4 million after hefty restructuring charges and manufacturing problems in Puerto Rico.

Crude futures dipped slightly ahead of inventories data due out later today and after the International Energy Agency left its global oil-demand forecast unchanged at 84.5 million barrels a day in 2006. The January-dated light crude contract fell 20 cents to US$60.82 a barrel in electronic trading.

OPEC is also due to make a decision on oil output Thursday.

Key European indexes rose in early action.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index rose 55.15 points, or 0.33%, to finish at 16,692.93 points.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index dropped 188.98 points, or one%, to 18,718.19.

In Toronto, weakness in the resource sectors offset gains in the financials group. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 19.70 points, or 0.15%, to 12,858.48.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy sector off 0.46%.


The S&P TSX Venture composite index fell 33.20, or 1.18%, to 2,772.32

In New York, markets moved lower in reaction to the Fed statement and continuing concern over the slowing U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.90 points, or 0.10%, to 12,315.58, the Nasdaq composite index dipped 11.26, or 0.46%, to 2,431.60, and the S&P 500 lost 1.48, or 0.10%, to 1,411.56.