North American stocks are set to open higher Thursday after two days of heavy losses, with major U.S. retailers Costco Wholesale and Limited Brands beating analyst estimates on May sales.

Among the U.S. retailers that reported early Thursday, Costco posted a higher-than-expected 7% rise in comparable-store sales. Limited Brands had a better-than-forecast 2% increase. Wal-Mart Stores posted a 1.1% increase excluding fuel sales, at the lower end of its 1% to 2% forecast.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar was off slightly from Wednesday’s close, trading down 0.12 of a cent at US94.40¢.

In earnings news, Transat A.T. reported a revenue increase of 15% to $911.4 million for its February-April quarter. Net income rose to $53.9 million from $42.8 million.

MDS reported a US$737 million quarterly profit after a US$792 million gain on the sale of its diagnostics division. MDS said revenue was US$273 million in the quarter ended April 30, up from US$242 million a year earlier.

ADC Telecommunications rose after the telecommunication company’s second-quarter results topped analyst expectations.

Oil futures rose 20 cents to US$66.16 a barrel in electronic trading.

Oversees, the New Zealand central bank hiked interest rates to 8%. The Bank of England, on the other hand, held rates unchanged.

The Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% in Tokyo, and the FTSE 100 rose 0.2% in London.

On Wednesday, North American stocks tumbled as rate hike worries on both sides of the border had investors in a bearish mood.

The S&P/TSX composite index sank 200.10 points, or 1.41%, to 13,941.59.

All 10 TSX main sub-groups were down.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 29.93 points, or 0.91%, to 3,249.20.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 129.79 points, or 0.95%, to 13,465.67, the Nasdaq composite index fell 24.05, or 0.92%, to 2,587.18, and the S&P 500 dipped 13.57, or 0.89%, to 1,517.38.