Wall Street stock futures suggested pointed to a lower open Thursday after disappointing government reports on U.S. retail sales and jobless claims.

U.S. initial claims for jobless benefits declined 24,000 to 601,000 in the week ended June 6, though continuing claims hit a 19th straight record high.

Separately, U.S. retail sales rose 0.5% during May, the third increase in five months, but much of the gain was attributable to a jump in gasoline-station sales thanks to higher pump prices. Excluding auto sales and gas station sales, retailers saw sales rise 0.1% in May.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said Canadian industries continued to reduce their rate of capacity utilization in the first quarter of 2009, operating at 69.3% of production capacity, down 5.6 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Economists had forecast a rate of 71.5%.

Investors are awaiting an announcement from Prime Minister Stephen Harper as to the condition of the Canadian economy.

As well, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney delivers a speech at the Conference of Montreal: “Rebalancing the Global Economy.”

The Canadian dollar opened at US90.62¢ up 0.37 of a cent from Wednesday’s close.

In commodities news, oil prices rose 66¢ to US$71.99 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index remained flat with gains of just 0.03%.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4%, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.5%, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.2%.

The Toronto Stock Exchange closed higher Wednesday after a volatile day of trading, as energy stocks rose on surging oil prices, overshadowing weakness in the telecommunications and information technology subindices.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 50.12 points, or 0.48%, to 10,597.98. Canada’s senior exchange had traded as high as 10,674.14 early in the session, but descended into negative territory, hitting a low of 10,523.23 in the afternoon, before lifting at the end of the day.

The S&P TSX Venture Exchange fell 1.57, or 0.14%, to 1,142.39

In New York, markets ended lower as investors remained concerned that the continuing surge in oil prices would hamper economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.04 points, or 0.27%, to 8,739.02, the broad-based S&P 500 index fell 3.28, or 0.35%, to 939.15, and the Nasdaq composite average dropped 7.05, or 0.38%, to 1,853.08.

IE