North American socks are expected to rise at the open Thursday, as investors react to data on U.S. jobless claims, personal income and spending as well as U.S. retailers’ November sales results.

Here at home, the pace of economic activity was largely unchanged in the third quarter, following a pronounced slowing in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said today.

Real gross domestic product advanced 0.4%, compared to 0.5% and 0.9% growth in the second and first quarters respectively, the government agency said. Economic production fell back 0.3% in September, after having advanced 0.2% in July and 0.3% in August.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.84¢, down 0.04 of a cent.

Major U.S. retailers reported mixed November same-store sales, but many said they see a positive holiday season. Wal-Mart confirmed a sales decline, saying it sees flat to 1% growth in December, but Federated and J.C. Penney posted gains.

In today’s earnings news, Royal Bank of Canada said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 142% to a record $1.26 billion. That capped a full-year profit of $4.73 billion, up 40% from the previous year.

In M&A news, West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. said it’s poised to become North America’s second-largest lumber producer when it completes a deal to buy 13 U.S. sawmills from International Paper for about US$325 million.

Inco Ltd. and Germany’s Sud-Chemie AG have agreed to join forces in forming a new company that will produce and market emission-control materials for the automotive industry. Interests in the new joint venture company, to be called Alantum, will be divided equally between Inco ECM GmbH, an indirect subsidiary of Inco Ltd., and Sud-Chemie.

Crude-oil prices rose 20¢ to US$62.66 a barrel, a day after a government report showed U.S. crude oil inventories declined for the first time in five weeks, falling by 300,000 barrels, against expectations for a rise of 2.1 million barrels.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher in London.

Overnight in Asia, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index rose 198.13 points, or 1.23%, to close at 16,274.33.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 179.55 points, or 0.96%, to 18,960.48.

Toronto stocks rallied Wednesday — on continuing strength in the resource sector, and despite a dip in the information technology index — hitting a new high in the process.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 137.29, or 1.10%, to 12,668.16, surpassing the old high of 12,644.90.

Seven of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with the energy index up 2.51%.

The S&P TSX Venture composite index gained 36.87 points, or 1.35%, to 2,761.31.

In New York, markets gained on weak numbers in the housing sector, giving investors hope that interest rates would stay low.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 90.28, or 0.74% to 12,226.73, the S&P 500 gained 12.76, or 0.92%, to 1,399.48, while the Nasdaq composite index lifted 19.62, or 0.81%, to 2,432.23.