U.S. stock futures advanced Friday as housing construction turned unexpectedly higher in April.

Housing starts increased 8.2% to a seasonally adjusted 1.032 million annual rate, driven higher by a surge in apartment building construction, the U.S. Commerce Department said Friday.

Economists had expected April starts to drop by 1.4% to a 934,000-unit annual rate. The 8.2% increase was the largest monthly climb since a 14.0% jump in January 2006.

Friday’s calendar also includes the University of Michigan’s consumer-confidence gauge for May, which is due around 10:00 ET.

Here at home, despite a slight decline in March, sales of new motor vehicles closed the first quarter of 2008 with their strongest gain since 1998.

Statistics Canada reported that consumers purchased 148,796 new vehicles in March, down 0.5% from February.

The Canadian dollar opened at US99.92¢, off 0.08 cent, after closing at parity against the greenback on Thursday.

The price of a barrel of oil jumped above US$127 in Friday-morning global commodity trading.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for June delivery hit a new peak of US$127.43 US. It later pulled back to US$127.07, up US$2.95 from Thursday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Rothmans Inc. said its full-year earnings by grew by 18% to $117.6 million as net sales at subsidiary Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. rose 8% to $670.6 million.

Overseas, the Nikkei 225 Index ended 0.2% lower, though most other markets rose in Asia.

Japan’s economy grew at a stronger-than-expected annual rate of 3.3% in the first quarter, its third consecutive quarter of growth.

The FTSE 100 Index climbed 1.4% in London.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark index hit another record high Thursday as rising oil prices and strong commodities stocks pushed the index higher.

The S&P/TSX Composite index closed up 201.75 points, or 1.38%, at 14,828.06. The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 8.40 points, or 0.33%, at 2,576.08.

In New York, U.S. markets rallied despite weak economic data.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 94.28 points, or 0.73%, at 12,992.66.

The S&P 500 closed up 14.91 points, or 1.06%, to close at 1,423.57.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed up 37.03 points, or 1.48%, at 2,533.73.