Wall Street stock futures pointed lower Thursday, as J.P. Morgan Chase’s better-than-expected results were offset by bankruptcy news in the U.S. commercial real estate sector.

J.P. Morgan Chase reported a 10% drop in net profit. The decline wasn’t as steep as markets had anticipated, a signal that things may be turning around for the troubled U.S. banking sector.

Meanwhile, U.S. mall owner General Growth Properties filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Here at home, manufacturing sales rose in February, reflecting increases in the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts industries, following widespread slowdowns and shutdowns in January, Statistics Canada said.

Manufacturing sales increased 2.2% to $42.9 billion, the first increase since July 2008, StatsCan said.

South of the border, South of the border, home construction took a bigger-than-expected drop in March. Housing starts fell 10.8% to a seasonally adjusted 510,000 annual rate compared to the prior month, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday. The drop was driven by lower apartment construction. Single-family starts were flat, after a slight increase the month before.

Economists had forecast a 7.4% decrease to an annual rate of 540,000.


Building permits in March decreased 9.0% to a 513,000 annual rate. Economists had expected permits to fall by 2.5% to a rate of 550,000.

Meanwhile, initial claims for state jobless benefits fell 53,000 to 610,000 in the week ended April 11, the U.S Labour Department said in a weekly report Thursday.

Wall Street economists had expected a 9,000 rise.

In other earnings news, Nokia said profit dropped 90% as the global economic slowdown and tough competition continued to hit phone sales.

Gannett and Southwest Airlines are among the companies scheduled to post earnings today, while tech bellwether Google reports after the close.

On the economic calendar, the Commerce Department reports about monthly housing starts, while the Labor Department will release weekly jobless claims data.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.1% and South Korea’s Kospi Composite was 0.3% higher.

European stocks turned higher with the Stoxx 600 rising 1.1%.

In commodities news, oil futures neared US$50 a barrel. Benchmark crude for May delivery rose 71¢ to $49.96 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Wednesday, the benchmark index of the Toronto stocks exchange shook off earlier losses, as gains in banking shares offset declines in resource issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 14.49 points, or 0.16%, at 9,246.11.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index shot up 11.02 points, or 1.13%, to finish at 1.13%.

In New York, stocks climbed after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report suggested the steep plunge in economic activity is beginning to level off.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.38%, or 109.44 points, to 8,029.62. The S&P 500 gained 1.25%, or 10.56 points, to 852.06. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 1.08 points, or 0.07%, to 1,626.80.

IE