Although it’s likely to be a quiet day on Canadian equity markets, with traders south of the border at home stuffing their Thanksgiving turkeys, Statistics Canada is giving investors some positive news to chew on.

Canada’s current account surplus with the rest of the world increased $2.3 billion to $7.3 billion in the third quarter, says StatsCan. This exceeds economist expectations of a an increase to $6 billion and it is the highest surplus since the second quarter of 2001. An improved surplus on goods trade was the main factor, along with lower deficits for trade in services and investment income.

In a separate report, StatsCan says that corporate profit growth resumed in the third quarter, despite the crippling effects of the August power outage in Ontario. Operating profits rose 3.7% to $41.6 billion. They had risen for five consecutive quarters, prior to the second quarter’s 8.5% slide, prompted by a downturn in crude oil prices.

Profits of motor vehicles and parts manufacturers were up in the third quarter, but remained substantially below the levels posted in the third quarter of 2002. Excluding the motor vehicle and parts industry, the manufacturing sector profits actually declined in the third quarter. Retailers enjoyed an upbeat quarter, as sales and profits increased across the board.

In business news affecting the market, Hudson’s Bay Co. will be reporting its quarterly results from its Bay and Zellers department stores.

Meanwhile, overnight in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei average edged up 18.55 points to 10,163.38, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 10.68 to 12,075.99.

In London at midday, the FTSE 100 index is off 10.20 points to 4,360.1. Frankfurt’s DAX is up 0.6%. The bourse in Paris is flat.

Stock markets didn’t gain much ground on Wednesday, despite data confirming a pickup in the U.S. industrial sector and American consumer confidence. A 4.3% rise in gold stocks pushed up Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index 38.05 points to 7,860.39.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average added 15.63 points to 9,779.57 in light trading. The Nasdaq composite index added 10.27 points to 1,953.31. The S&P 500 crawled up 4.56 at 1,058.45 after encouraging economic data failed to ignite buying.

The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will be closed Thursday and will be open for just a half-day of trading on Friday.