Stock markets appear set to shake off the effects of Wednesday’s tumble, amid signs that Italy and Greece are taking concrete steps to deal with debt and political uncertainty.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index looked ready to open higher on Thursday, with stocks such as Research In Motion and Enerplus making early waves.
RIM, the BlackBerry maker was investigating reports some users experienced delays, but said on Wednesday it was not fighting an outage similar to the one that took down its service for four days last month.
Enerplus, the oil and gas company, swung to a third-quarter profit helped by higher realized prices.
Elsewhere, copper miner Quadra FNX announced its third-quarter net profit jumped more than seven-fold
The Canadian dollar traded at 98.08 U.S. cents.
U.S. stock futures pointing towards a stronger open.
Dow futures gained 86 points, or 0.7%, to 11,818, while S&P 500 futures rose 13.7 points, or 1.1%, to 1,239.30.
Across the pond, France's CAC 40 rose 0.7%, while Germany's DAX gained 0.9%. Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed at 5,457.04 points.
Fears that Italy, the third-largest economy in Europe, could default on its $2.6-trillion U.S. debt had sent stock markets plunging Wednesday as Italy's key borrowing rate spiked far above the 7% threshold.
On Thursday, Italy successfully sold five billion euros worth of 12-month bonds at 6.087%, amid reports that the European Central Bank was buying the debt. That compares with 3.57% in the last such auction last month.
Many market observers expect that a technocratic government led by economist Mario Monti, a former European competition commissioner, will succeed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who said he would step down earlier this week. Italy is under pressure to prove it can push through the reforms so that it can carry and repay its debts. Its president has pledged reforms will be passed soon, likely by Saturday, after which Berlusconi will resign.
German Bund futures erased earlier gains to fall 43 ticks. The premium investors demand in holding 10-year Italian government bonds rather than German counterparts fell after hitting a record 576 basis points earlier.
The euro traded 0.4% higher at $1.3585 U.S., rising off its lowest levels in a month.
Greece is also in the process of choosing a new prime minister, with former European Central Bank vice president Lucas Papademos considered the front-runner. His main task will be to lead a coalition government in securing continued bailout funding and a new $177-billion U.S. rescue package for Greece from Europe and the International Monetary Fund.
Oil for December delivery was up $1.53 at $97.27 U.S. a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold lost $20.20, falling to $1,771.40 U.S. an ounce.
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