North American markets are expected to be flat this morning, restrained by poor-to-mediocre economic news on both sides of the border.

Statistics Canada said this morning that motor vehicles sales fell in December to their lowest monthly level in five years. Consumers purchased 117,373 new motor vehicles. SatsCan said the drop was because of weak sales of North American-built passenger cars and of trucks, including minivans, sport-utility vehicles, light and heavy trucks, vans and buses.

StatsCan says that on the basis of preliminary figures from the auto industry, the number of new motor vehicles sold in January is estimated to have increased about 1.5%. But on a year-over-year basis, January’s sales were down as a result of five consecutive declines in the last part of 2003.

StatsCan also reported that the composite price index for non-residential building construction in the fourth quarter was 119.8, up 0.5% from the third quarter and 2.9% from the fourth quarter of 2002. The year-over-year percentage change was the lowest measured since an increase of 2.7% in the first quarter of 2003.

In the U.S., the federal Commerce Department said retail sales fell unexpectedly in January as auto demand suffered a sharp drop there; it was the lowest in 11 months. Retail sales decreased by 0.3% to $322.87 billion, says Commerce. It was the first decline since September. Sales rose a revised 0.2% in December, and jumped 1.1% in November.

The U.S. Labour Department says initial jobless claims rose by 6,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 363,000. Economists had expected claims to drop by 11,000.

Investors will be absorbing these reports on the heels of a seemingly upbeat assessment of the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. During his testimony before Congress yesterday, he predicted that new-jobs growth would soon take off. But he also said that the Fed can “afford to be patient” in raising interest rates.

In Europe at midday, leading indices in London, Frankfurt and Paris were all higher, showing increases between 0.2% and 0.5%.

In Asia, Thursday trading on Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 93.86 points, or 0.9%, to 10459.26. Hong Kong shares ended higher, too, buoyed by yesterday’s gains on Wall Street. The Hang Seng Index closed up 100.37 points, or 0.74%, at 13625.13.

Yesterday in Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 16.22 points, or 0.19%, to 8,767.73. In New York, the Dow industrials climbed 123.85, or 1.17%, to 10737.70. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 1.07%, or 12.22 points, to 1157.76, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 14.33, or 0.69%, to 2089.66.