U.S. stock futures moved higher Friday as traders shrugged off Citigroup’s US$5.1 billion loss and after stronger-than-expected results from Google.

In this morning’s earnings news, U.S. banking giant Citigroup said it swung to a US$5.11 billion first-quarter loss, as it booked more than US$13 billion in writedowns amid surging credit costs. The bank also said it would cut an additional 9,000 jobs.

After markets closed on Thursday, Google reported a 31% rise in first-quarter profit to US$1.31 billion late Thursday and said growth in paid clicks -was much higher than recent speculation had suggested.

Here at home, wholesale sales reversed course in February as declines in a number of sectors erased all of January’s gains, Statistics Canada reported.

Sales by Canadian wholesalers fell 1.8% in February to $42.6 billion, StatsCan said.

Separately, the government agency said the composite leading index was unchanged in March, after a decline in February followed an increase in January.


The Canadian dollar opened up 0.29 cent at US99.08¢, after dropping more than a cent Thursday.

Crude oil eased 61¢ to US$114.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold declined US$4.60 to US$938.30 an ounce.

In Asia, Chinese stocks sank to their lowest level in more than a year while the Japanese market rose for a fourth straight day.

In Tokyo, auto and commodity plays led the Nikkei 225 index up 78.15 points to 13,476.15.

On the Chinese mainland, the Shanghai composite tumbled 128.07 points, or 4%, to 3,094.66, its lowest close since March 23, 2007.

European shares climbed Friday morning, paced by chemical stocks, while banks put in a mixed performance on reports that Royal Bank of Scotland could ask shareholders for money to shore up its capital position.

The UK’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.5% to 6,009.10, the German DAX 30 Index climbed 0.6% to 6,721.62 and the French CAC-40 Index advanced 0.7% to 4,895.48.

Financial issues climbed in Thursday afternoon trading, helping buoy Toronto stocks and allowing the benchmark index to close higher.

The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 16.02 points, or 0.11%, to close at 14,115.50.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 16.24 points, or 0.63%, at 2,590.79.

In New York, markets were generally unimpressed by the flock of earnings that came in today from Merrill Lynch, Pfizer and IBM.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.22 points, or 0.01%, to close out at 12,620.49. The S&P 500 rose 0.85 points, or 0.06%, to close at 1,365.56.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, however, fell 8.28 points, or 0.35%, to end the day at 2,341.83.