U.S. stock futures pointed lower Friday ahead of another round of gloomy economic data.

U.S. consumers lowered spending in September and lifted savings as they dealt with falling equity prices and uncertainty about their jobs.

Personal income rose at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.2% compared to the month before, the Commerce Department said today. Income increased a revised 0.4% in August; originally, income for that month was seen 0.5% higher.

September personal consumption fell 0.3% compared to the month before. Economists had expected personal spending to fall by 0.2% in September after being unchanged in August.

A second report this week on consumer sentiment, from the University of Michigan, is due at 10:00 ET, and the Chicago manufacturing PMI for October also will be released.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s economy contracted by 0.3% in August, a turnaround from the growth of 0.7% seen in July.

The Canadian dollar opened at US81.80¢, down 0.30 cent.

In today’s earnings news, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. reported third-quarter net income of $91.3 million, up from $63.2 million a year earlier although the global engineering firm’s revenue slipped to $1.69 billion from $1.79 billion.

Fortis Inc. had third-quarter earnings of $49 million, as revenue increased to $727 million from $651 million.

In commodities news, light, sweet crude fell $2.74 to $63.22 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold declined US$10.30 to US$728.20

Overseas, the Bank of Japan defied expectations a bit, cutting rates to 0.3% from 0.5%, rather than the 0.25 percentage-point cut than many expected.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 5% and the Hong Kong Hang Seng index declined 2.5%.

The FTSE 100 index was down 2.2% early in the afternoon in London, while the German DAX slipped 0.2% and the French CAC-40 fell 1.9%.

Commodity prices took a hit on Thursday, but North American stock markets managed to post gains, including a third consecutive day of growth for Toronto’s benchmark index.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished the day up 364.65 points, or 3.73%, at 9,856.21.

In New York, news that the decline in U.S. GDP during the third quarter was smaller than expected helped markets in New York rally Thursday.

A gain on the Dow Jones industrial average marked the blue-chip index’s sixth daily gain for the entire month of October. It finished 189.73 points higher, or 2.1%, to 9,180.69.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 41.31 points, or 2.5%, to 1,698.52, and the S&P 500 increased 24 points, or 2.5%, to 954.09.