Wall Street stock futures turned higher on Thursday following the release of better-than-expected earnings reports.

Ford Motor Co. posted a US$2.3 billion quarterly net profit, mainly due to debt restructuring.

Dow component AT&T , reported a 15% slide in second-quarter earnings, but it revenues beat Wall Street estimates. AT&T posted a profit of US$3.2 billion, or 54¢ share compared with US$3.77 billion, or 63¢ a share in the same quarter a year ago.

In Canadian earnings news, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said weak market conditions led to an 80% drop in profit for the second quarter.

The company reported net earnings of US$187.1 million, or 62¢ a share compared to year-earlier net earnings of US$905.1 million, or US$2.82 a share.

Oil and gas giant EnCana Corp. reported earnings of US$239 million, or 32¢ a share for the quarter ended June 30, down 80% from year-earlier net earnings of US$1.2 billion, or US$1.63 a share, due to low natural gas prices.

In today’s economic news, U.S. initial jobless claims climbed by 30,000 to 554,000 last week, slightly less than economists, on average, expected.

The U.S. Labour Department said the tally of continuing claims fell by 88,000 to the lowest level since April 11.

In commodities news, light sweet crude for September, dropped 16¢ to US#65.24 a barrel.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 3% to 19,817.70, its highest finish since September. Japan’s Nikkei 225 average finished up 0.7% at 9,792.94

In Europe, markets were mixed. The UK’s FTSE 100 index was off 0.1% at 4,488.0, Frankfurt’s DAX index was up 0.1% at 5,0126.4 and the CAC-40 index in Paris was up 0.1% at 3,305.2.

On Wednesday, the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange finished lower for a second consecutive day, led by weakness in resource stocks.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished at 10,432.35, down 82.97 points, or 0.8%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished higher, gaining 8.81 points, or 0.8%, to close at 1,123.45.

U.S. stock markets finished with mixed results, as declines among energy producers and bank stocks offset better-than-expected earnings reports in other sectors.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 34.68 points, or 0.4%, to end at 8,881.26.

The S&P 500 index slipped by just half a point to finish at 954.07,

The Nasdaq composite index extended its winning streak to an 11th consecutive session, edging up 10.18 points, or 0.5%, to 1,926.38 on Wednesday.

IE