North American stocks are poised to advance Thursday after strong results in the technology sector from International Business Machines and SAP.

IBM reported its strongest quarterly performance since 2002, with its profit up 12%, led by sales of IT services to corporations.

Software giant SAP said its profit rose a stronger-than-forecast 8%, helped by a low tax rate and market share gains.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman ben Bernanke returns for a second day of congressional testimony. On Wednesday, the Fed chief said inflation remains the Fed’s major concern, citing slower productivity growth as one risk.

In addition, the minutes from the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee’s last meeting will be released.

Here at home, wholesale sales posted a modest rebound in May with most sectors registering gains after April’s sharp decline. Statistics Canada reports overall sales rose 0.6% to $43.1 billion in May, offsetting some of April’s three% drop.

The Canadian dollar opened at US95.77¢, up 0.04 of a cent.

In other earnings news, Husky Energy reported Wednesday a 24% drop in second-quarter net income compared with the same time last year.

Fast-food restaurant operator Priszm Income Fund lost $1.9 million in the second quarter as sales sagged 4.2% to $113.4 million.

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. reported that its second-quarter profit more than tripled after introducing new products amid another robust period for stocks

Bank of America posted a 5.2% increase in quarterly net income amid strong capital-markets activity and noninterest income growth. Revenue climbed 7.4% to US$19.56 billion.

Dow Jones, whose board approved News Corp.’s US$5 billion bid for the company Tuesday, posted a 27% drop in second-quarter net income on stock-compensation and restructuring charges.

Motorola swung to a quarterly loss due to continued weakness in its ailing handset line, as sales from its mobile devices unit dropped 40%.

Continental Airlines posted a 15% increase in net income amid increased traffic and cost constraints.

Earnings reports are due Thursday from companies including Honeywell International, and after the close of trading, Google and Microsoft.

Crude-oil futures rose 48¢ to US$75.53 a barrel.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 up 0.7% in morning action and the Nikkei 225 up 0.6% in Tokyo.

Toronto stocks surged ahead Wednesday to a new record high, boosted by takeover speculation surrounding Canadian Pacific Railway and rising energy and gold-mining issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 201.65 points, or 1.4%, at 14,583.66. That’s the first time the index has cleared the 14,500 mark.

CP Rail acknowledged it has been approached by Brookfield Asset Management Inc. about a possible takeover but it said it had rejected the approach and is not in takeover discussions. The company’s shares were up $11.95, or 15.5%, at $89.

Rival Canadian National Railway was the second-biggest weighted gainer overall, up $3.35, or 5.8%, at $60.65, as it also attracted attention.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 14.04 points, or 0.43%, to 3,294.34.

In New York, U.S. stocks fell on deepening concerns that a crisis in subprime lending could spread and a warning from the Federal Reserve chairman that weakness in housing could hurt economic growth for some time.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 53.33 points, or 0.38%, to end at 13,918.22, a day after it hit an intraday high above the 14,000 milestone.

The S&P 500 was down 3.20 points, or 0.21%, to finish at 1,546.17. The Nasdaq composite index was down 12.80 points, or 0.47%, to close at 2,699.49.