U.S. stock futures pointed to a negative open Thursday on worries about the U.S. banking sector and disappointing quarterly results from technology companies.

After markets closed Wednesday, Research In Motion Ltd. announced that it earned 84¢ a share in the first quarter, up 115% from last year, but analysts had expected earnings of 87¢ a share.

Also Wednesday, U.S. software giant Oracle Corp. said that the normally slow summer could become abnormally difficult amid a slowing economy.

In the U.S. banking sector, Citigroup Inc. may suffer US$8.9 billion of second-quarter writedowns, while Merrill Lynch & Co may incur US$4.2 billion of writedowns, according to an analyst report from Goldman Sachs & Co.

In today’s economic news, stronger gains in consumption and exports pushed U.S. gross domestic product higher in the first quarter.

Gross domestic product rose 1%, at an annual rate, the U.S. Commerce Department said in its third and final estimate, up from its previous estimate of a 0.9% increase. The revision was in line with Wall Street estimates.

Here at home, a new study from Statistics Canada said the rate of increase of the consumer price index (CPI) was 2.2% in 2007, marginally faster than the average of 2% a year earlier.

Of the eight major components in the CPI basket, price increases were driven up last year by food and shelter. Although consumer prices increased at a faster pace last year in Canada, the rate of increase was lower than in most industrialized nations, StatsCan says.

The Canadian dollar opened at US99.01¢, up 0.07 cent from Wednesday’s close.

Oil prices rose overnight. Light sweet crude oil was up 30¢ at US$134.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after dropping by US$2.45 in the previous session.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai composite index closed flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng pulled back 0.8%.

The FTSE 100 index was down 1.2% early in the afternoon in London, while the German DAX and Paris CAC-40 both receded 1.3%.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark index closed with modest gains Wednesday after a see-saw session.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 14,441.13, up 31.53 points, or 0.2%.

Energy stocks pulled back after oil prices fell. Light sweet crude for August delivery settled down $2.45 at $134.55 a barrel, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 25.21 points, or 0.98%, to 2,534.47.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose as the price of oil declined, and the Federal Reserve held its key interest rate steady

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.40 points, or 0.04%, to close at 11,811.83. The S&P 500 added 7.68 points, or 0.58%, to 1,321.97. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 32.98 points, or 1.39%, at 2,401.26.