North American stocks may decline Thursday morning, hurt by weak reports on the U.S. trade gap, import prices and unemployment claims.

The U.S. Commerce Department said today the U.S. trade deficit grew in August by 1.8% to US$59.03 billion from July’s slightly revised US$57.96 billion. Economists called for an August deficit of US$60 billion.

The U.S. Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 2,000 to 389,000, after seasonal adjustments, in the week that ended Oct. 8. Wall Street expected a drop of 40,000 claims to 350,000.

Separately, the Labor Department said overall import prices rose 2.3% in September, their fastest surge in nearly 15 years. The rise in prices far exceeded Wall Street expectations of a 1% increase.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said the country’s merchandise trade surplus with the world came in at almost $5.6 billion in August, in large part because of soaring natural gas prices. But Statistics Canada revised the July trade surplus downward to $4.9 billion from the original $5.8 billion it reported.


Ahead of U.S. inventory data, light sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down by 2¢ at US$64.10 a barrel by midday in Europe.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 14.5 points, or 0.11%, to 13,449.24.

In Hong Kong, shares edged up as gains by major stocks cushioned selling in property companies on concerns about interest rate hikes. The Hang Seng Index rose 46.81 points, or 0.3%, to 14,621.83.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.22¢, down 0.23 of a cent.

In today’s earnings news, third-quarter profit at Calgary-based Nexen soared on higher oil and natural gas prices, the company said Thursday.

Nexen said it made $615 million in Q3, or $2.30 a share, compared to a profit of $220 million, or 84¢ a share in the same quarter last year.

In other business news, the president and CEO of Ballard Power Systems Inc. has left the company. Ballard said late Wednesday the departure of Dennis Campbell was mutually agreed upon and effective immediately.


On Wednesday, Toronto stocks sank as the energy sector dropped despite a lift in the price of oil. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 127.39 points, or 1.20%, to 10,493.11.

Though crude futures finished up 0.9% at US$64.12 a barrel, the energy sector lost 3.17%.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange finished down 30.43 points, or 1.44%, to 2,089.87.

In New York, markets were down as investors processed what it saw as poor corporate news from Apple Computer Inc.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 36.26 points, or 0.35%, to 10,216.91. The broad-based S&P500 fell 7.19, or 0.61%, to 1,177.68, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 23.62, or 1.15%, to 2,037.47.

Despite reporting a huge increase in profit over last year, Apple saw its share price fall as investors were disappointed with revenue numbers.