Wall Street stock futures pointed to a mixed start Thursday, ahead of sales reports from U.S. retailers and another wave of corporate results.

Retailers will be unveiling January same-store sales Thursday. Analysts have forecast a 2.3% drop for the sector — or a 5.7% drop excluding the results from retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores.

The U.S. economic calendar features data on weekly jobless claims, fourth-quarter productivity and December factory orders.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reported that municipalities issued $4.6 billion in building permits in December, down 3.9% from November.

This third consecutive monthly decline was the result of decreases in both the residential and non-residential sectors, StatsCan said.

In today’s M&A news, Missisauga, Ont.-based Certicom Corp. said it is backing a sweetened takeover bid from Research in Motion Ltd. RIM’s bid of $3 a share in cash tops an offer of $2.10 a share from California’s VeriSign Inc.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has invested US$2.6 billion in Swiss Re that could convert into a stake of more than 20% in the company.

In earnings news, Deutsche Bank AG reported a net loss of 4.8 billion euros (US$6.1 billion) in the fourth quarter. The quarterly loss, which was largely due to trading losses, compared with a net profit of 1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2007.

In other market news, TMX Group Inc. announced late Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase for cancellation 500,000 of its outstanding common shares, or approximately 0.67% of the common shares outstanding at Feb. 3, from an arm’s-length third party seller for$14,705,000.

Bombardier Aerospace said it is cutting 1,360 jobs, or about 4.5% of its work force.

Layoffs will take place at facilities in Montreal, Wichita, Kan. and Belfast, Ireland.

In this morning’s commodities news, oil futures traded above US$40 a barrel. Gold futures climbed US$14 an ounce.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.1% to 7,949.65. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 0.9% to 13,178.90, but closed well off its highs.

In Europe, the Bank of England cut interest rates by a half point to a record low 1% to help combat the UK’s deepening recession. The European Central Bank kept its rate unchanged at 2%.

Shares in Europe were lower ahead of the interest-rate decisions. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% in London and the German DAX lost 0.4%.

Strength in materials stocks helped the Toronto Stock Exchange advance on Wednesday, but weakness in bank stocks offset the day’s gains.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 64.46 points, or 0.75%, to end at 8,693.09.

The materials group surged 3.9% as gold futures moved higher. Financial stocks acted as a drag on the benchmark index, slipping 1.3% in Wednesday’s trading.

Junior companies advanced, pulling the S&P/TSX Venture composite index up 20.8 points, or 2.4%, to close at 890.05.

Stock markets south of the border retreated on disappointing earnings news.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 121.7 points, or 1.51%, to 7956.66.

The S&P 500 fell 6.28, or 0.75%, to end at 832.23.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 1.25 points, or 0.08%, to 1,515.05.

IE