U.S. stock futures moved higher Friday after banking giant Citigroup Inc. reported a smaller-than-expected loss of US$2.5 billion.

Citi’s results offset gloom from Google, Microsoft and Merrill Lynch, which disappointed investors with their quarterly results after the close Thursday.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said the value and volume of wholesale trade rose in May, due in large part to higher global demand for agricultural chemical products.

Current dollar wholesale trade rose 1.6% to $44.2 billion in May, the fourth gain in the last five months. When removing the effect of price changes, sales in constant dollars increased by 0.7% in May.

The Canadian dollar opened at US99.45¢, up 0.13 cent.

Light sweet crude for August delivery revived by $1.35 to US$130.64 per barrel Friday morning, after having settled under $130 for the first time in more than a month on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In this morning’s corporate news, MDS Inc. said is cutting 210 jobs in a restructuring of its MDS Pharma Services and MDS Analytical Technologies divisions. Restructuring charges and writedowns will cut this year’s net profit by $20 million, but the downsizing is expected to reduce costs by $20 million annually.

After markets closed Thursday Google’s reported a 35% jump in second-quarter profit, but missed Wall Street projections.

Microsoft’s quarterly profit jumped 42%, or 13% factoring in a hefty charge a year ago, but also missed Wall Street projections.

Merrill Lynch lost US$4.89 billion during the second quarter, hit by almost US$10 billion of writedowns and charges.

Overseas, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7% to 12,803.70.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.6% to 21,874.19.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index was flat near midday in London, edging up 1.3 points to 5,344.8. Germany’s DAX advanced 1.5% while the French CAC-40 gained 0.4%.

On Thursday, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index closed lower as natural resource shares were sideswiped by another sharp drop in oil prices, but the TSX financial sector surged ahead 3.3%, taking its cue from Wall Street.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 43.55 points, or 0.32%, at 13,460.25.

7.3%, to $44.98.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 25.45 points, or 1.1%, to 2,283.31.

In New York, U.S. stocks continued to rally as oil prices dropped sharply for a third day and U.S. banking giant J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. posted unexpectedly solid earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged 207.38 points, or 1.85%, to 11,446.66, while the S&P 500 rose 14.96 points, or 1.20%, to 1,260.32. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index climbed 27.45 points, or 1.20%, to 2,312.30.