U.S. stock futures were lower Thursday, a day after a Federal Reserve-inspired rally.

North American markets closed higher Wednesday after Fed policy makers delivered a highly anticipated interest-rate cut. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-1 to cut the target for the federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.5%.

The Canadian dollar opened at US105.74¢, down 0.11 of a cent from Wednesday, as the U.S. greenback sank to a record low against the euro following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate-cut decision.

The U.S. dollar’s tumble helped push commodities prices higher. Oil prices surged above US$96 a barrel in electronic trading overnight, while gold prices topped US$800 an ounce.

In today’s U.S. economic news, personal income rose 0.4% in September, while growth in spending slowed to 0.3% growth. Meanwhile, inflation excluding food and energy was steady at a 1.8% annual rate, the U.S. Commerce Department reported.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week but the underlying trend worsened, suggesting sluggish growth in monthly employment.

U.S. jobless claims fell 6,000 to 327,000 on a seasonally-adjusted basis in the week ended Oct. 27, the Labor Department said Thursday. Claims for the Oct. 20 week were revised up to 333,000 from 331,000.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In today’s earnings news, Sprint Nextel’s third-quarter net income tumbled 77% as it continued to lose high-margin subscribers and warned of subscriber-growth troubles for the fourth quarter as well.

Credit Suisse Group said its quarterly net profit slipped 31%, and it had written down 2.2 billion Swiss francs (US$1.9 billion) for unsold leveraged loans and structured products such as mortgage securities.

Exxon Mobil posted a bigger-than-expected 10% drop in third-quarter net income on lower refining and chemical margins, as the company set a quarterly revenue record.

Overseas, the Nikkei 225 added 0.8% in Tokyo, while the FTSE 100 lost 0.5% in London.

The Toronto stock market surged ahead Wednesday, with investors pouring their money into resource issues, as news of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to lower its key lending rate led to a broad rally in the commodities market.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 312.92 points, or 2.19%, to 14,625.00.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange rose 28.72 points, or 0.92%, to 3,135.62.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 137.54 points, or 1.00%, to 13,930.01, the Nasdaq composite index gained 42.41, or 1.51%, to 2,859.12, and the S&P500 rose 18.36, or 1.20%, to 1,549.38.