U.S. stock futures edged higher Thursday following an analyst upgrade to tech bellwether Cisco Systems.

Cisco was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Citigroup.

In other technology news, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. said net subscriber account additions for the fourth quarter will be 15% to 20% higher than the 1.82 million forecast in December, due to strong holiday sales.

Meanwhile crude oil hovered close to US$100 a barrel, with the April light-crude contract down 8¢ at US$99.62.

Here at home, Canadian corporations earned record high operating profits of $262.5 billion in 2007, led by gains in the banking, retail, wholesale and petroleum refining industries.

Fourth quarter profit growth slowed to 0.5% following much larger increases in the preceding two quarters, Statistics Canada reported today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US98.62¢ this morning, down one-tenth of a cent after gaining two-fifths of a U.S. cent Wednesday.

Later this morning, the U.S. Conference Board will release reading of leading economic indicators for January.

In M&A news, deal news, ChoicePoint Inc. has agreed to be bought by U.K. publishing group Reed Elsevier for US$4.1 billion, including $600 million of assumed debt.

In today’s earnings news, J.C. Penney’s profit fell 9.9% as it stepped up promotional selling amid weaker consumer spending. The U.S. retailer offered a muted earnings forecast.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed up 2.84%.

In Europe, the EU Commission cut its growth forecast for the euro currency zone to 1.8% this year.

In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 added 1.28%, Germany’s DAX index rose 1.32% and France’s CAC-40 rose 1.36%.

On Wednesday, North American markets closed higher after a seesaw session despite the grim economic outlook put forward by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 103.95 points, or 0.77%, to end at 13,551.69.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 19.89 points, or 0.76%, to close at 2,642.49.

In New York, it was a bumpy ride for U.S. stocks. Stocks rallied in the afternoon on hopes that the Fed might make further cuts to interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial average moved up 90.04 points, or 0.73%, to end the day at 12,427.26.

The S&P 500 closed up 11.25 points, or 0.83%, at 1,360.03.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite head also gained, moving up 20.90 points, or 0.91%, to end at 2,327.10.