U.S. stock-index futures pointed to a weaker open Thursday, as investors continued to digest Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s gloomy outlook for the U.S. economy.

Bernanke’s admission of a possible recession dragged U.S. stocks lower Wednesday.

The Fed chief appears before the Senate Banking Committee today at 10:00 ET.

The number of idled U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits surged last week, rising to its highest level in more than two years, a government report said today.

Initial claims for jobless benefits increased by 38,000 to 407,000, after seasonal adjustments, in the week that ended Mar. 29, the U.S. Labour Department said.

The four-week average of new claims last week increased by 15,750 to 374,500 from 358,750.

In earnings news, Research in Motion said its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled amid strong sales of its popular BlackBerry smart phones.

After markets closed Wednesday, the company reported net income of US$413 million, or 72¢ a share, and revenue of US$1.88 billion. That topped analysts’ expectations.

In today’s earnings news, Bombardier Inc. reported an annual profit of US$317 million, up from US$268 million in the previous year, on strong results from both its aircraft and rail divisions.

There are no major economic reports for Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US98.79¢, up 0.13 cent.

Commodity prices faded after Wednesday’s gains. Crude oil was down US$1.08 to US$103.75 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold slipped 70¢ to US$899.50 an ounce.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei index added 1.5%, gaining 200.54 points to 13,389.90, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.6%.

There were moderate declines in Europe, with London’s FTSE 100 down 34.8 points or 0.6% to 5,661.1, Frankfurt’s DAX dropping 0.6% and the Paris CAC 40 off 0.5%.

Toronto markets posted solid gains Wednesday on strong energy and gold prices, despite a grim outlook on the U.S. economy from Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 73.42 points, or 0.55%, at 13,514.14.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 10.99 points, or 0.44%, at 2,504.85.

South of the border, Bernanke’s gloomy outlook combined with reports of falling factory orders in February did not cheer investors and markets sunk in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 45.44 points, or 0.36%, to end at 12,608.92. The S&P 500 fell 2.65 points, or 0.19%, to close at 1,367.53.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed down 1.35 points, or 0.06%, at 2,361.40.