Markets looked to be mixed on Thursday, ahead of a busy day of economic news and earnings reactions, but ongoing uncertainty about Greece's efforts to secure another round of funding.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index squeezed ahead more than eight points yesterday to 12,521.
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.11 cents to 100.51 cents U.S.
In Canada, Manulife Financial Corp. reported a smaller-than-expected loss of $69 million in the latest quarter, due to a charge related to goodwill. The insurer also announced that its chief executive officer will be leaving after holding the office since 2009.
U.S. index futures were up slightly with about half an hour before markets open, suggesting that stocks will gain strength at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 41 points or 0.3% to 12,884. Futures for the broader S&P 500 were up a point to 1,348.
Futures for the tech-rich Nasdaq Index were ahead 3.75 points, or 0.2%, to 2,548.50
In Europe, stocks were alsoup slightly. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% and Germany's DAX index was up 0.5% in afternoon trading. There, the Bank of England announced that it would expand its economic stimulus efforts by increasing the size of its quantitative easing program, while maintaining its key rate at 0.5%.
However, the situation in Greece remains a big uncertainty ahead of a meeting among euro-zone officials, with Greece still unable to agree on pension cuts that are seen as necessary to secure bailout funds.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 sagged 0.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was fairly flat.
In the United States, investors awaited the latest weekly initial jobless claims -- a source of recent encouragement on the employment situation there. Economists expect that claims held relatively steady, at 370,000.
Oil prices hiked 0.9% to $99.59 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices improved 0.3% to $1,737.50 U.S. an ounce.
