Wall Street stock futures were slightly higher Friday, with investors disgesting reports on U.S. personal income and spending.

Here at home, Bank of Nova Scotia said its third-quarter profit fell to $931 million, or 87¢ a share, from a year-before $1.01 billion. Loan loss provisions at the bank jumped to $554 million from $159 million a year ago.

The Canadian dollar was up for a second day, ahead 0.38 of a cent to US92.49¢ after jumping up just over a cent Thursday

In today’s economic news, Statisitcs Canada said the Industrial Product Price Index and the Raw Materials Price Index declined 0.5% and 3.8% respectively in July compared with June, mainly due to falling petroleum prices.

South of the border, Personal income was unchanged in July, while personal spending was up 0.2% with help from the popular Cash for Clunkers program.

Investors also get another reading on consumer strength as the University of Michigan releases the final results of its August sentiment survey.

In other earnings news, computer maker Dell Inc. reported better-than-expected results for its May through July quarter, even as profits fell 23% from a year ago.

In commodities news, crude oil futures rose 73¢ to US $73.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Friday after gaining $1.06 in New York a day earlier.

The December bullion contract rose US$5.80 to US$953.10

Overseas, Asia markets were mixed. The Japanese Nikkei rose 0.2%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.5%.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 index gained 1.04%, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 1.33% while the Paris CAC 40 advanced 1.46%.

On Thursday, strength in financial stocks helped the Toronto Stock Exchange recover from early-day losses, as three of the country’s biggest banks revealed their quarterly results.

The S&P/TSX composite index pulled into positive territory by the end of the session, finishing up 21.79 points, or 0.2%, at 10,933.96.

The financials group jumped 2.3%, led by a sharp 6.5% boost in shares of Royal Bank of Canada, which reported better-than-expected third-quarter results. Royal Bank’s stock closed at $56.55, up $3.46.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished slightly lower on Thursday, dipping 3.94 points, or 0.3%, to close at 1,182.15.

In New York, the main stock market indices finished higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended at 9,580.63, up 37.11 points, or 0.4%.

The S&P 500 index added 2.86 points, or 0.3%, to close at 1,030.98.

The Nasdaq composite index advanced 3.3 points, or 0.2%, to end at 2,027.73.

IE