Wall Street stock futures were flat Thursday after worries over a potential bankruptcy of ailing U.S. lender CIT Group Inc. overshadowed better-than-expected earnings from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

In today’s earnings news, J.P. Morgan Chase reported a 36% rise in second-quarter net profit on strong investment-banking results.

The New York-based bank said it earned US$2.72 billion, or 28¢ a share, up from US$2 billion, or 53¢ a share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 4¢ on revenue of US$25.89 billion.

The bank’s results follow strong earnings from Goldman Sachs earlier in the week.

Today’s U.S. economic calendar features initial weekly jobless claims, and the July confidence index of U.S. home builders.

Here at home, there are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada.

The Canadian dollar edged lower to US89.41¢, down from US89.74¢ on Wednesday.

In other earnings news, oil giant Nexen Inc. reported a a sharp drop in both profits and revenues as a result of a more than 50% drop in commodity prices.

The Calgary-based company reported net income of $20 million, or 4¢ a share, for the quarter ended June 30, down sharply from profits of $380 million, or 72¢ a share, recorded in the same quarter last year.

Mobile phone company Nokia posted a 66% drop in second-quarter net profit. Nokia also changed its mobile device operating margin forecast for the second half, saying it now sees it at the same level as in the first half rather than in the teens, and said it no longer expects to gain market share in the second half of the year but for it to remain flat.

In commodities news, crude-oil futures were down 68¢ at US$60.86, while gold futures fell US$4.30 to US$935.10.

In international banking news,Lloyds Banking Group said Thursday it would cut another 1,200 jobs to reduce costs and rationalize operations after the government-backed merger of Lloyds TSB and Halifax/Bank of Scotland.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average gained 74.91 points, or 0.8%, to 9344.16 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 103.21, or 0.6%, at 18,361.87.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX were off about 0.3%, with France’s CAC-40 index was down about 0.1%.

On Wednesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange surged ahead, gaining more than 2% as energy and resource stocks benefited from a rally in commodity prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished at 10,215.46, up 229.31 points, or 2.3%.

In New York, U.S. stocks also enjoyed strong gains, including a rally in technology stocks and blue-chip financials.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 256.72 points, or 3.1%, to end at 8,616.21.

The S&P 500 index rose 26.84 points, or 3%, to 932.68.

The Nasdaq composite index soared 63.17 points, or 3.5%, to 1,862.90.

IE