Signals are mixed for North American markets amid numerous earnings reports combined with a weak sales outlook from Cisco Systems and plans to restate earnings at General Motors.

Cisco reported after regular trading Wednesday that its net income fell1 9.7% in its fiscal first quarter, dragged down by expenses related to stock compensation. The technology company issued a sales forecast for its fiscal second quarter that missed consensus expectations, expecting only a 8% rise.

GM said it must restate financial results for 2001 and possibly subsequent years.

In today’s economic news, the U.S. trade imbalance ballooned 11% during September, setting a record as sales of civilian aircraft plunged while purchases of natural gas and consumer goods climbed.

The U.S. deficit in international trade of goods and services widened to $66.11 billion from a revised $59.35 billion in August, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The August shortfall was previously estimated at $59.03 billion. Exports fell 2.6%, while imports rose 2.4%, pushing the September trade gap way above expectations.

Economists had forecast a deficit of $61.20 billion.

Prices of good imported into the U.S. fell in October for the first time in five months, reflecting declining crude-oil prices.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 326,000 in the week that ended Nov. 5, the first increase since the week ended Oct. 1. Claims for the week ending Oct. 29 were revised as a drop of 6,000 to 324,000 after previously being estimated down 8,000. The four-week moving average fell by 16,250 to 334,250.

Later this morning, the University of Michigan is expected to release its mid-November index on consumer sentiment, which is expected to rise to 76.2 from 74.2.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said Canada’s trade surplus with the world hit $7 billion in September as both exports and imports hit record highs. The government agency revised the August surplus to $6.4 billion from $5.6 billion.

Crude-oil prices fell 48¢ to US$58.45 a barrel in early trading Thursday as investors weighed Wednesday’s U.S. inventory data and as the International Energy Agency trimmed its world oil demand view by 60,000 barrels in 2005 and 140,000 barrels a day in 2006.

In this morning’s earnings news, ING Canada reported a 22% increase in summer-quarter revenue, with a 24% rise in earnings.

Telus Corp. reported a 21.4% jump in third-quarter profit to $190.1 million as growth at its mobility division lifted revenues up 6%.

Four Seasons Hotels Inc. said it lost US$11.4 million or 31¢ a share for the three months ended September 30.

In overseas trading, European markets edged higher behind gains for insurers Aetna and ING, as well as struggling conglomerate Siemens. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 ended 0.1% higher at 14,080.88.

Toronto stocks ended higher Wednesday, as a strong day in gold and financial stocks offset weakness in the energy group.

The S&P/TSX composite index advanced 40.32 points, or 0.38%, to close at 10,656.54.

Volume on the senior exchange was 243 million shares.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 5.40 points , or 0.27%, to 2,038.27.

On Wall Street, an early rally was squelched by news of suicide bombing attacks on three hotels in Jordan, causing at least 23 deaths.

The Dow Jones industrial average eked out a gain of 6.49 points, or 0.06%, to 10,546.2. The S&P 500 rose 2.06, or 0.17%, to 1,220.65, and the Nasdaq composite index inched up 3.74, or 0.17%, to 2,175.81.