North American stocks are poised to rebound Friday, with flat core producer prices in the United States and a decline in U.S. April retail sales rekindling hopes the Federal Reserve Board will cut interest rates.

U.S. retail sales fell in April, the U.S. Commerce Department reported today, signaling economic weakness at the start of the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department said its producer price index, a measure of wholesale prices, rose 0.7% in April. The core PPI, which excludes food and energy, was unchanged for the second month in a row. Wall Street expected an increase of 0.6% in the overall PPI and 0.2% in the core.

Here at home, the Canadian unemployment rate held steady at 6.1% in April.

Statistics Canada said today that, when adjusted for comparability, Canada’s employment growth has outpaced that of the country’s biggest trading partner, the United States, during the first four months of this year.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.61¢, down 0.38 of a cent.

In today’s earnings news, Air Canada reported a reduced first-quarter net loss to $34 million, from a year-earlier $126 million, as passenger revenue rose seven per cent and overall operating revenue climbed 5.8 per cent to $2.53 billion.

Goldcorp reported a 32% rise in first-quarter profit as revenue rose 77% over a year ago thanks largely to last November’s acquisition of Glamis Gold.

American International Group reported a 29% profit rise, as its property and casualty insurance business avoided big losses and after it maintained premium growth.

In M&A news, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings raised its offer for Chicago Board of Trade owner CBOT Holdings, leading CBOT to continue to urge shareholders to support an acquisition by CME despite an unsolicited rival bid from IntercontinentalExchange.

Oil prices rose after a report from the International Energy Agency raised concerns about the market’s ability to meet an expected jump in demand for oil products. Light sweet crude for June delivery rose 35¢ to US$62.16 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.

Key European indexes were down in early action while oil prices rose.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index shed 183.24 points, or 1.03%, to finish at 17,553.72.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 278.06 points, or 1.3%, to 20,468.21.

Toronto stocks finished lower on Thursday for a second straight session, as slumping mining shares offset strength from news of a big Russian investment in autoparts maker Magna International.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 42.03 points, or 0.3%, at 13,853.13.

Six of the 10 TSX main groups were lower, led by a 0.9% slump in the resource-heavy materials issues.

Magna International shares jumped $6.42, or 7.4%, to $93.65 on news of a $1.54 billion investment in the autoparts maker from Russian billionaire and automotive entrepreneur Oleg Deripaska.

Magna, which is looking to buy a stake in DaimlerChrysler’s struggling Chrysler Group, also reported a 2.8% rise in first-quarter profit on stronger revenues.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved down 34.75 points to 3,322.21.

In New York, U.S. stocks fell as disappointing retail sales and a widening trade deficit aroused worries about the economy a day after the Federal Reserve expressed continued concerns about inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 147.74 points, or 1.11%, at 13,215.13.

The S&P 500 was down 21.11 points, or 1.4%, at 1,491.47. The Nasdaq composite index was down 42.60 points, or 1.65%, at 2,533.74.