North American stocks are poised to climb Friday after mixed data on U.S. wholesale inflation and retail sales.

The U.S. Labor Department said the December producer price index for finished goods rose 0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis, versus an unrevised 0.7% decrease in November. Excluding food and energy costs, the core PPI increased 0.1% last month, matching November’s gain. Wall Street economists had expected the overall PPI to rise 0.4% in December and that the core PPI would rise 0.2%.

The U.S. Commerce Department said December retail sales increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% after rising an upwardly revised 0.8% in November. Economists called for a 0.9% advance in December retail sales.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said new motor vehicle sales continued to recover in November, increasing by 3.1%.

The Canadian dollar traded up 0.21 of a cent to US86.21¢ in early action.

In business news, CHUM Ltd. said its first-quarter profit increase 13.2% to $24.3 million, led by TV advertising income.

Tyco International’s board approved a plan to separate into three publicly traded companies by the first quarter of 2007 for a total cost of about US$1 billion. The Bermuda conglomerate also lowered its first-quarter earnings outlook.

Boston Scientific made a sweetened US$25.55 billion bid for Guidant and gave the medical-device maker’s board until Friday afternoon to declare it the victor in its takeover contest with Johnson & Johnson.

And after Thursday’s closing bell, International Business Machines said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a formal probe of how the technology giant disclosed earnings and expenses for stock options.

Crude-oil prices rose 6¢ to $64 a barrel in early trading Friday.

European markets were lower on Friday, stung by broker downgrades and falling energy stocks.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 9.76 points, or 0.06% , to end at 16,454.95, its highest since September 2000.

In Hong Kong, shares rose for a ninth day. The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 68.6 points, or 0.4%, to 15,787.97.

Toronto stocks ended lower Thursday as a negative session in technology and telecom stocks weighed down the wider market.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 25.85 points, or 0.22%, to 11,595.18.

Volume on the senior exchange was 338 million shares.

Nine of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down. The information technology group was the biggest decliner, dropping 1.04%.


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 17.41 points, or 0.75%, to 2,343.49.

In New York, stocks fell on jitters over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and brokerage downgrades of JP Morgan Chase and Coca-Cola Inc.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 80.52 points, or 0.73%, at 10,962.92, and sliding below 11,000.

The S&P500 index finished down 8.11 points, or 0.63%, at 1,286.07. The Nasdaq composite index fell 14.52 points, or 0.62%, at 2,316.84, its first losing session of the year.