U.S. stock futures moved higher Thursday, with earnings from Nokia and Lockheed Martin helping to offset a US$7.1 billion trading fraud uncovered by French bank Société Générale.

In today’s earnings news, mobile phone maker Nokia, reported a stronger-than-forecast 44% profit rise. Strength in emerging markets and sales of high-margin multimedia devices boosted fourth-quarter earnings.

Lockheed Martin reported a 10% profit gain and raised its earnings outlook for the year.

In international banking news, Société Générale today revealed how a single trader was able to dupe France’s second-largest bank into losses of US$7.1 billion with his knowledge of bank control procedures. The bank separately reported a US$3 billion subprime-related write-down.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US98.54¢ this morning, up nearly nine-tenths of a cent from Wednesday’s close.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Bank of Canada releases an update to its Monetary Policy Report later this morning.

In other earnings news, Ford Motor sliced its fourth-quarter loss roughly in half to US$2.8 billion and the company said it is preparing to take further cost reductions because of the slumping U.S. market.

Online auctioneering firm eBay reported revenue and an earnings outlook that missed Wall Street expectations, despite a 53% rise in earnings and a 27% jump in revenue in the fourth quarter.

AT&T’s fourth-quarter net income rose 62% amid increased profits at its wireless business, but subscriber-growth slowed markedly in its broadband and video segments.

Crude-oil futures rose US$1.39 to US$88.38 a barrel ahead of U.S. weekly inventory data.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed up 2.06% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2.29%.

In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 3.93%, Germany’s DAX index surged 5.44% and France’s CAC-40 jumped 4.13%.

On Wednesday, Investors endured a roller-coaster session on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as stocks opened sharply lower, but reversed course in the afternoon as bargain hunters bought up bank shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 16.5 points, or 0.13%, at 12,657.38.

Six of the 10 main TSX groups advanced, led by a 3.81% rise in the heavyweight financials group.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed down 25.59 points, or 1.04%, at 2,440.34.

In New York, U.S. stocks tumbled early in the day, sparking concern that the emergency rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve hadn’t done the job, but markets made a comeback in the afternoon, erased earlier losses and managed to close up.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 298.98 points, or 2.5%, to shut down at 12,270.17.

The S&P 500 rose 28.10 points, or 2.14%, to finish the day at 1,338.60.

And the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also gained, rising 24.14 points, or 1.05%, to end the session at 2,316.41.