Toronto's main stock index looked set to open lower on Thursday as commodities fell on recent dollar strength, while miners may see some support from Glencore and Xstrata merger talks.
The Canadian dollar inched down 0.02 to 100.12 cents U.S.
Among Canadian stocks to watch this morning, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., which said on Wednesday that profit was more than halved in the fourth quarter as outages at a major processing unit cut production.
Bank of Nova Scotia announced plans to raise $1.5 billion in a public share offering to boost its capital level and pay for previously announced acquisitions.
Investors in the U.S. awaited the latest unemployment data and comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday, while continuing to watch developments on Greece's debt talks.
Dow futures slid seven points to 12,646, while S&P futures dipped 0.5 points to 1,319.30.
Futures for the tech-rich Nasdaq Index faded one point, to 2,486.50. Stock futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Investors welcomed signs Wednesday that Greek officials appeared to be making progress toward a debt-reduction agreement with private-sector creditors and a second bailout.
Investors will be watching for further progress as the week draws to a close, in the hope that a deal is reached.
Back in the United States, tech shares will react to Facebook's long-awaited Initial Public Offering filing, which came after the closing bell Wednesday. The social network's valuation is still speculative until it actually starts trading, but it's attempting to raise $5 billion U.S. with its IPO.
The U.S. Labor Department released its latest data on initial unemployment claims and productivity this morning.
Initial unemployment claims for the week ended Jan. 28 are expected to total 375,000, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
At 10 a.m. ET, Bernanke heads to Capitol Hill to testify about the Fed's economic outlook before the House Budget Committee. Investors will be tuning in to get more clarity on central bank's pledge last week to keep interest rates ultra low until the end of 2014.
European stocks were little changed in midday trading. Britain's FTSE 100 edged lower 0.1%, while the DAX in Germany added 0.2% and France's CAC 40 was flat.
Asian markets ended higher. The Shanghai Composite climbed 2%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 2% and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8%.
Oil for March delivery slipped 68 cents to $96.93 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery added 50 cents to $1,750 U.S. an ounce.
