North American markets look set to open mixed Thursday as oil prices edged higher.

Oil prices rose this morning, despite positive U.S. inventory data, as traders remained wary about possible supply woes after forecasters predicted a busy hurricane season that could hurt Gulf of Mexico output. Light sweet crude for September delivery rose 17¢ to US$61.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The economic calendar is light, with only U.S. weekly jobless claims on deck.

The U.S. Labor Department said new applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 1,000 to 312,000 for the week ending July 30.

The showing was even better than economists were expecting before the release of the report. They were predicting claims for jobless benefits actually would rise.

There are no major data releases from Statistics Canada today.

Investors are looking forward to Friday’s release of the July employment reports in both Canada and the United States.

The Bank of England lowered interest rates by a quarter point, its first cut in two years. The ECB left its rates unchanged, as expected.

In the UK, the FTSE 100-share index fell 0.4%. Most major indexes in Europe were lower, including Frankfurt;s Xetra Dax, which declined 0.8%, and Paris; CAC-40, also down 0.8%.

Markets were also lower in Asia, as Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.8% to close at 11,981.80 and Hong Kong’s Hang Sang index slipped 0.1%.

In today’s earnings news, Air Canada’s parent company, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc.,reported a second-quarter profit of $168 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $510 million.

On Wednesday, Toronto stocks drifted lower as the heavily weighted financials group was dragged down by the news of CIBC’s massive Enron settlement.

The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 22.43 points, or 0.21%, to end at 10,598.79.

Financial stocks fell 1.10% in response to the late Tuesday news of CIBC’s US$2.4 billion settlement of an Enron shareholder class-action suit. CIBC shares fell $6.09, or 7.55%, to $74.55.

Toronto Dominion Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada are also named in the Enron suit, though no agreements have been reached. TD stocks lost 98¢, or 1.73%, to $55.79, while RBC fell 1.62, or 2.04%, to $77.76.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 15.38, or 0.85%, to 1,821.78.

In New York, markets were mixed as investors factored in lower oil prices, a disappointing economic report and corporate news from Time Warner and Adidas.

The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.85, or 0.13%, to 10,697.59; the tech heavy Nasdaq fell a meager 1.34 points, or 0.06%, to 2,216.81; and the broad based S&P 500 index rose 0.92, or 0.07%, to 1,245.04.

The U.S. Institute for Supply Management index of service-sector activity fell to 60.5 in July, down from 62.2 in June, disappointing analysts who had been expecting a reading of 61.

Time Warner fell 0.9% to US$17.27 after the media conglomerate said it will set aside US$3 billion to settle lawsuits filed by investors over the 2000 merger with America Online Inc. The company also posted earnings that, ex one-time charges, were short of analysts’ expectations.

German sports apparel company Adidas-Salomon AG will purchase Reebok International Ltd. for US$3.8 billion, or US$59 per share in attempt to better position itself against market leader Nike Inc. Reebok surged ahead 30% to US$57.14, while Nike gained 1.3%.