The Canadian Press

North American stock markets headed for a weak open after the latest reading on fourth quarter U.S. economic growth slightly exceeded expectations.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 5.9%, a bit better than the original 5.7% reading.

U.S. futures weakened slightly after the report, with the Dow Jones industrial futures eased 12 points to 10,304, the Nasdaq futures declined 3.2 points to 1,810.2 while the S&P 500 futures dipped 1.1 points to 1,101.2.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.06 of a cent to US94.34¢ US.

Commodity prices were little changed with the April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange off 3¢ to US$78.14 a barrel.

The April gold contract was down a dime to US$1,108.40 an ounce while May copper was unchanged at US$3.21 a pound.

On Thursday, the TSX gained 110 points after CIBC (TSX:CM) and National Bank (TSX:NA) kicked off the quarterly earnings season for the big banks by beating expectations.

However, U.S. indexes were lower as jobless insurance claims rose unexpectedly for a second week in a row while durable goods orders, outside of the volatile transport sector, widely missed expectations.

Investors were also worried about Greece’s debt crisis.

On Friday, solid Japanese and British economic data helped shore up investor optimism.

Britain’s statistics office revised up its estimate of U.K. economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 0.3% from 0.1%.

Other figures showed that Japanese factory output, a key measure of economic health, rose by a better-than-expected 2.5% in January from the previous month.

In earnings news, Cascades Inc. (TSX:CAS), the Quebec-based paper and packaging company, reported a $41-million net loss in the fourth quarter, due primarily to the writedown of a pulp mill and the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations. The quarter’s revenue also fell to $952 million from $1.02 billion, due to a significant drop in most of the company’s selling prices and the appreciation of the Canadian dollar.

Private equity firm Onex Corp. (TSX:OCX) said Thursday it earned $40 million in its fourth quarter, reversing a $348 million loss a year ago. Quarterly revenues decreased 9% to $6.2 billion.

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. (TSX:TCM) said Thursday it earned $26 million in its latest quarter as sales fell more than 40% due to a lower price for molybdenum. The company, which reports in U.S. dollars, said the profit amounted to 18¢ a share compared with a loss of $23.8 million or 19¢ per share in the last three months of 2008.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.2%, to 10,126.03 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1%.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.67%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.68% while the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 0.88%.