North American stocks are expected to slip Friday morning after a profit warning from Advanced Micro Devices.

Shares of AMD face pressure after the technology company warned that its profit and revenue will be lower than expected in the fourth quarter, a sign that a price war for microprocessor chips with Intel Corp. has intensified.

In today’s economic news, U.S. retail sales rose a higher than expected 0.9% in December,but demand for November was lowered sharply.

Separately, U.S. port prices rose 1.1% last month.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.22¢, up 0.23 of a cent.

In other earnings news, Samsung Electronics’ net profit fell 8% in the fourth quarter as prices tumbled faster than expected in cellphones and flash memory chips. The company signaled a rough start to 2007.

Oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel Friday as traders bought up contracts after a plunge in the previous session sent crude to its lowest price in more than a year and a half.

Light sweet crude for February delivery gained $1.01 to US$52.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.3% to lead a broad Asian stock market rally.

The FTSE 100 eased 0.1% in London trade, a day after a surprise quarter-point rate rise by the Bank of England.

Toronto stocks moved higher Thursday, despite weakness in the energy sector due to the tumbling price of oil, as investors bought into the materials sectors and the technology and telecommunications issues.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones hit a record close on lower oil prices and investor enthusiasm over the U.S. economy’s continued strength.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 62.35, or 0.50%, to 12,519.90.

The Canadian dollar closed down 0.03 of a cent at US84.99¢.

The S&P TSX Venture composite index gained 27.85 points, or 1.01%, to 2,794.30.

In New York, markets moved higher on a strong day among tech firms and enthusiasm over the economy overall.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 72.82 points, or 0.59%, to 12,514.98, the Nasdaq moved ahead 25.52, or 1.04%, to 2,484.85, and the S&P500 gained 8.97, or 0.63%, to 1,423.82.