Wall Street futures are indicating a positive start to trading this morning after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims went up last week, but the overall number of claims remained below the comfort level of 400,000.

Initial jobless claims rose 11,000 to 365,000, says the Labor Department. It’s the highest level in three weeks but it is also the ninth consecutive week that the number has been below 400,000.

The only economic release in Canada today is a Statistics Canada report on the value of building permits for the first 10 months of 2003. Builders took out a total of $4.3 billion worth of permits in October, down 4.9% from September. StatsCan says it was still well ahead of last year’s level, despite declines in intentions in October in both the residential and the non-residential sectors.

Housing permits fell 3.3% from September’s record level to $2.8 billion, the result of a drop in intentions for both single- and multi-family dwellings. The value of non-residential permits declined 7.7% to $1.5 billion, their lowest level since March. This was a result of decreases for industrial and institutional projects, says StatsCan.

Retail stocks may benefit from good news from Wal-Mart Stores, which is reporting that sales at its stores open at least a year rose 3.9% last month, within the company’s forecast range. The retailer says same-store sales at its flagship Wal-Mart division rose 3.7%, while same-store sales at its Sam’s Club unit rose 4.7%.

The European central bank announced its decision to keep interest rates steady earlier today. Economists are saying European rates are likely to stay unchanged into next year. The Bank of England also left interest rates unchanged.

Following the news, European bourses are narrowly mixed. London’s FTSE 100 index is off slightly, slipping 14.5 points to 4,377.5. Frankfurt’s DAX is up 0.2%. The Paris CAC40 is flat.

In Asia Japan’s Nikkei stock average gained 103.60 points to 10,429.99. The exchange was led by technology shares due to hopes U.S. chip giant, Intel, will report positive mid-quarter results today. Hong Kong shares declined 18.53 points at 12,342.65.

On Wednesday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index finished up 32.28 points at 7,959.88. The Canadian dollar traded down 0.44 of cent to US76.51¢.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose a mere 19.78 to 9,873.42. The Nasdaq composite index topped the crucial 2,000 mark yesterday, but eventually closed down 19.82 points to 1,960.25. The S&P 500 index slid 1.89 to 1,064.73.