U.S. stock futures slid Friday after chipmaker Qualcomm predicted that this year’s profit will grow as little as 1%, and Wachovia gave the latest warning of subprime losses.

Qualcomm predicted fiscal-year earnings to rise between 1% and 4%. Fiscal fourth-quarter profit at the maker of chips for cellphones rose 84%.

U.S. bank Wachovia said that it expects to take an additional US$1.1 billion pretax hit as conditions continue to deteriorate in the subprime mortgage market.

In today’s economic news, Canada’s trade balance with the world contracted to $2.6 billion in September, its lowest level since December 1998, as exports declined and imports increased.

Exports decreased 2.3% to $37.7 billion in September, the lowest level since October 2006, Statistics Canada said.

Imports rose 2.2% to $35.1 billion, with energy products the prime force behind the rise.

The Canadian dollar topped US$1.08 overnight, but opened at US$1.0651, off 0.33 of a cent from Thursday’s close.

South of the border, the U.S. rade gap narrowed unexpectedly to US$56.45 billion in September, despite record prices for imported crude, as foreign demand for food products and industrial supplies helped export growth outpace imports.

As well, the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence survey for November will be released later this morning.

In earnings news, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. reported quarterly net income of $224 million, up from $103 million a year ago. The holding company of Air Canada said the airline had a record operating profit of $351 million.

In other business news, Merck announced that it agreed to pay about US$4.85 billion to settle a significant portion of the claims over injuries allegedly linked to its Vioxx painkiller after insisting for years that it would fight all 27,000 cases filed rather than compromise.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 declined 0.5% in London while the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.2% in Tokyo.

Toronto stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday after bargain hunters emerged late in the trading session.

The benchmark index closed up 10.41 points at 14,128.59, with six sectors of the 10 TSX groups higher and two flat.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index was down 40.09 points to 3,068.86.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 33.73 points, or 0.25%, to end at 13,266.29. The S&P 500 was down just 0.85 of a point, or 0.06%, at 1,474.77. The Nasdaq composite index was down 52.76 points, or 1.92%, at 2,696.00.