Futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Thursday as investors were upbeat a day after U.S. Federal Reserve showed faith in the world's largest economy and cut its massive bond-buying program.
The S&P/TSX composite index took on 45.87 points to close Wednesday at 14,651.87, as June futures climbed 0.2% on Thursday.
The Canadian dollar skidded 0.23 cents to 91 cents U.S. early Thursday.
Bombardier reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as it earned less from the sale of its aircraft.
Manulife Financial Corp said its first-quarter profit rose by more than 50% helped by a stronger investment performance.
Oil and gas producer Penn West Petroleum reported a 5% fall in gross revenue after production decreased 22%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fought its way higher 1.45 points to close Wednesday at 1,001.50
ON WALLSTREET
After the Dow Jones industrial average hit a record close Wednesday, another stream of earnings could encourage investors to push markets to new heights.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials inched up 11 points to 16,522. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.3 points at 1,878.20, and futures for the NASDAQ progressed 9.75 points, or 0.3%, to 3,583.
Domino's Pizza, Exxon Mobil, Kellogg, MasterCard, Viacom and T-Mobile will all report earnings before the bell. LinkedIn and Kraft Foods are set to report after the close, among others.
Sony Corp slashed its profit outlook and said it expected to report a first-quarter loss.
Shares of DirectTV spiked on talk that AT&T may be making a bid for the satellite TV company.
Economic data may also set the tone on Wall Street. The U.S. government revealed initial jobless claims jumped to 344,000 in the week ended April 26, down from 329,000 the prior week.
The ISM manufacturing index will come out at 10 a.m. ET. The Commerce Department will then release auto sales data in the afternoon.
Most of the major European markets were closed for a holiday Thursday, but the U.K. exchanges were open. The FTSE 100 edged higher, led by Lloyds Banking Group, which reported first-quarter results that impressed investors.
Most Asian markets were also closed, but Japan and Australia were open for business. Japan's Nikkei 225 index popped up by 1.3%, while Australia's ASX All Ordinaries index dipped by 0.7%.
Oil prices fell 79 cents to $98.95 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped $13.70 to $1,282.20 U.S. an ounce.
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