A trio of earnings reports from Canadian banks and key economic data from the United States gave investors plenty to digest before Thursday’s open.

Royal Bank of Canada said third-quarter profit rose to $1.6 billion, or $1.05 a share, up from $1.3 billion, or 92¢ a share, in the year earlier period.

National Bank of Canada said its profit increased 6% during the third quarter of 2009. The Montreal-based bank is reporting net income of $303 million, or $1.78 a share, up from year-earlier profits of $286 million, or $1.73 a share.

TD Bank Financial Group reported third-quarter net income of $912 million, or $1.01 a share, down from year-earlier profits of $997 million, or $1.21 a share.

South of the border, the U.S. Commerce Department said U.S. GDP fell at a 1% rate in the second quarter. The report is unchanged from first reading last month.

Meanwhile, U.S. initial jobless claims fell 10,000 in latest week to 570,000, the U.S. Labour Department said. Continuing claims fell to 6.1 million.

Economists had expected claims to slip to 565,000 and the second-quarter GDP to be revised lower to show a 1.5% contraction from a 1% contraction that the government previously estimated.

In other earnings news, U.S. luxury home builder Toll Brothers s said it lost nearly $500 million in the quarter ended July.

In commodities news, benchmark crude for October delivery was down 31¢ to US$71.12 a barrel by midday in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.32 of a cent to US91.41¢.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1% while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 average slid 1.6%.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index added 0.03%, Frankfurt’s DAX was down 0.4% and the Paris CAC 40 inched up 0.09%.

On Wednesday, Stock markets in Canada and the U.S. finished mainly flat.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished at 10,912.17, down 8.36 points, or less than 0.1%.

Shares of CIBC tumbled 5.3% on the news that the bank earned profits of $434 million in the quarter ended July 31. Its stock finished at $65.01, down $3.64.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index also finished with little change on Wednesday, edging up 2.42 points, or 0.2%, to close at 1,186.09.

The main stock market indices in New York were mainly unchanged at Wednesday’s close, despite the release of positive economic data showing growth in U.S. home sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 4.23 points to 9,543.52.

The S&P 500 index finished at 1,028.12, up just a small fraction of a point.

The Nasdaq composite index rose by a fifth of a point to finish at 2,024.43.

IE