North American stocks are set to advance at the open Monday after a solid start to the U.S. holiday shopping season.

U.S. Thanksgiving weekend sales in stores surged 22% from a year ago to about US$27.9 billion, the National Retail Federation said. The NRF is predicting a 6% rise in spending for the entire 2005 holiday season.

Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s largest retailer, said November sales will rise 4.3%, up sharply from 0.7% gain recorfed in November 2004.

Uncertainty over a possible federal election call this evening weighted on the Canadian dollar. The loonie opened at US85.46¢, down 0.05 of a cent.

In U.S. economic news, a report on October existing home sales is expected at 10:00 ET. Wall Street is calling for sales to be unchanged from the previous month.

In M&A news, oil and gas producers Harvest Energy Trust and Viking Energy Royalty Trust said that they have agreed to merge into a combined that would create Canada’s fourth-largest energy royalty trust.

The combined trust would retain the Harvest name and have an initial enterprise value of more than $4 billion, the companies said.

German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG bid $4.8 billion in cash in a friendly offer for Dofasco Inc., topping an earlier bid by Arcelor SA of Luxembourg.

The board of H Dofasco has approved ThyssenKrupp’s $61.50-per-share bid and is recommending shareholders accept it.

ThyssenKrupp’s bid is 9.8% higher than Arcelor’s offer.

Air Canada’s parent company is proceeding with a trust conversion and spinoff for its Jazz regional carrier.

ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. and Jazz Air Limited Partnership said Monday a preliminary prospectus has been filed with all securities regulatory authorities in Canada for an initial public offering of units of Jazz Air Income Fund.

In world banking news, HSBC Holdings said Chairman John Bond will resign in May after seven years in the position and that he will be replaced by CEO Stephen Green.

Crude-oil prices slipped $1.21 to US$57.50 a barrel in early trading Monday as fears of a spike in demand were eased by forecasts of warmer weather early this week in the northeastern U.S.

Overseas, European markets headed higher, led by technology stocks, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 also posted gains, closing up 0.3% at 14,784.29.

Toronto stocks ended lower Friday, retreating from big gains in the previous session, as investors took profits.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 79.25, or 0.72%, to 11,002.57.

Eight of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with financials losing 1.01%. Telecommunications services were down 1.88%,

Hudson’s Bay Co. told shareholders to turn down a $1-billion takeover bid from South Carolina businessman Jerry Zucker.

HBC shares closed Friday at $15.09, unchanged from Thursday’s close.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange finished down 2.24 points , or 0.11%, to 2,064.67.

In New York markets closed at 1 p.m. ET as part of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite index hit fresh 4-1/2-year closing highs, while the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average ended at its highest level since March.

The Dow gained 15.53, or 0.14%, to 10,931.62, the tech heavy Nasdaq gained 3.03, or 0.13%, to 2,263.01, and the broad based S&P 500 moved up 2.64, or 0.21, to 1,268.25.

For the week, the Dow added 1.5%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each gained 1.6%.