U.S. stock futures edged higher Friday ahead of raft of economic data.

Later this morning, the U.S. Commerce Dept. reports on wholesale inventories for July. Economists expect a drop of 1%, compared with a 1.7% decline the previous month.

As well, the University of Michigan issues its preliminary report on consumer sentiment in September, and the U.S. Treasury Department releases its monthly budget statement for August.

Here at home, StatsCan reports on the new housing price index for July. Economists expect a drop of 0.1% from the previous month.

In corporate news, shareholders approved mortgages provider Xceed Mortgage Corp.’s plan to become a federally regulated Schedule 1 bank, the company said Friday.

The shareholders also approved a change in the company’s name to Xceed Bank and Banque Xceed, the company said in a statement.


Asian markets were mixed overnight. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.4% to 2,1161.42, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 average ended 0.7% down at 10,444.33. S

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 5,009.4, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.5% to 5,621.1 and Paris’s CAC-40 was 0.7% higher at 3,732.1.

On Thursday, the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange surged more than 150 points after the Bank of Canada suggested that the economy could outperform its projections in the second half of this year.

The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 154.83 points, or 1.4%, to close at 11,155.00.

Junior companies on the Venture Exchange also experienced strong gains on Thursday. The Venture index added 13.84 points, or 1.1%, to close at 1,249.49.

In New York, U.S. stocks were bolstered by promising economic data released on Thursday. The Labour Department said that new jobless claims fell more than expected to 550,000 last week and total unemployment rolls dropped.

The main U.S. stock market indices finished at their highest levels so far this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 80.26 points, or 0.8%, to end at 9,627.48.

The S&P 500 index added 10.77 points, or 1%, to rest at 1,044.14.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 23.63 points, or 1.2%, to 2,084.02.

IE