North American stock markets appeared headed for a positive start amid an improved outlook from mobile handset maker Nokia and news that U.S. initial jobless claims experienced their biggest decline in nearly three years.

S&P futures edged up 0.30 to 1,119 while Nasdaq futures added 4 to 1,384.50.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of workers filing for state unemployment benefits plunged by 44,000 to 319,000 in the week ending Sept. 4. It was the biggest decline in initial claims since December 2001. Separately, Labor said prices paid for imports into the United States jumped 1.7 percent in August as imported petroleum surged 9.6%. It was the biggest increase in 20 months.

Also providing a boost was Nokia, which raised its outlook for the third quarter citing strong volume growth in mobile devices.

On Bay Street, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale was offering some good news. According to reports, he said in a speech Thursday morning that the budgetary surplus is expected to be larger than initially thought. That should be good news for the Canadian dollar and may help markets take their mind off rising interest rates.

Overseas, however, shares in Tokyo and Hong Kong fell as traders sold transportation and property issues, while several other markets slid in response to a deadly bombing in Jakarta. A car bomb exploded near the Australian Embassy in Jakarta on Thursday, killing eight people and wounding more than 160, officials said.

The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues declined 108.23 points, or 0.96%, to 11,170.96.

Hong Kong stocks dropped as traders sold property stocks amid fresh worries that developers planned to raise capital by selling new shares. The Hang Seng Index fell 107.76 points, or 0.8% to 12,942.2.

In business news early Thursday and after markets closed Wednesday:

  • Verizon Communications Inc. has signed a deal to sell its Canadian directory operations to investment firm Bain Capital in a deal worth $1.54 billion US. The directory operations, SuperPages Canada, is the country’s second-largest telephone directory publisher and is the official Telus phone book publisher.
  • -Sierra Wireless shares jumped 22% after the Vancouver-area company announced it will collaborate with American computer-chip giant Intel Corp. to develop communications technologies.
  • Geac Computer Corp. said its quarterly profit rose 44% to US$13.5 million as the software vendor benefited from higher revenues and improved profit margins.
  • Travel company Transat A.T. said it has swung to a $12.8-million profit from a year-ago loss.



In New York, Texas Instruments was moving higher after it said it expects third-quarter earnings above the midpoint of its current target range, but warned that sales could fall below its original forecast due to inventory reductions among its semiconductor customers. Also, Apple Computer was hit with a downgrade by Bear Stearns. The firm cut its rating on the pc maker to “peer perform” from “outperform,” saying the stock’s valuation already reflects multiple product catalysts and potential for strong December quarter.

On Wednesday, interest rates dominated the news, but it was oil prices and Coca-Cola that conspired to hold back North American markets.

At close, Toronto’ s S&P.TSX composite was off 14.57 points or 0.17% at 8354.8, while the TSX Venture Exchange held on for a 4.85-point or 0.32% gain at 1510.47. Volume on the TSX was more than 210.5 million shares.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 29.43 points or 0.28% to 10313.36, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 7.92 points or 0.43% to 1850.64. The S&P 500 closed down 5.03 points or 0.45% to 1116.27.

The Canadian dollar closed down 0.24 of a cent to US77.45¢ as the Bank of Canada announced it was raising its trend-setting overnight rate by 25 basis points to 2.25%. That pushed the bank rate up to 2.5% and major charted banks followed with quarter-point jumps in their various lending rates. Economists said they expect the central bank to raise rates again next month.

Investor sentiment had been improving this week as the price of crude oil retreated.

But that too failed to rouse markets Wednesday as the price of crude oil futures for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 54¢ lower at US$42.77 a barrel after going as low as US$42.40 US.