Wall Street stock futures moved higher on Thursday after an analyst upgrade of General Electric shares.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded GE, saying there appears to be less likelihood that the company will be forced to sever its GE Capital business.

In today’s earnings news, Dow Chemical swung to a second-quarter loss of US$435 million. Exxon Mobil reported a 66% slide in second-quarter profit.

Sluggish oil prices also led to a 95% drop in profit at Petro-Canada in the second quarter.

Canadian Pacific Railway reported net income of $157.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, up 2% from year-earlier profit of $154.7 million.

Here at home, prices for industrial products and raw materials rose in June, Statistics Canada reported. Both gains were due to a strong increase in petroleum prices.

Separately, StatsCan said total non-farm payroll employment fell by 64,000 in May, down 0.4% from April, bringing total losses to 423,900 since the peak in October 2008. The proportion of industries experiencing job losses edged down in May to 63%.

In commodities news, benchmark crude for September delivery was down 15¢ to US$63.20 a barrel by late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract fell US$3.88 to settle at US$63.35.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 98.58, or 0.5%, to 20,234.08, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 51.97, or 0.5%, to 10,165.21.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 was up 44.02 points, or 1%, at 4,591.55 while Germany’s DAX rose 41.19 points, or 0.8%, to 5,311.51. The CAC-40 in France was 27.96 points, or 0.8%, higher at 3,393.58.

On Wednesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was weighed down by a broad-based selloff in commodities, including a 6% plunge in oil prices that dragged the energy group lower.

The S&P/TSX composite index shed 115.21 points, or 1.1%, to close at 10,455.33.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished higher on Wednesday, after adding 3.63 points, or 0.3%. It closed at 1,131.74.

In New York, the main stock market indices finished with mild losses after Wednesday’s session, with the bulk of losses among energy stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 26 points, or 0.3%, to end at 9,070.72.

The S&P 500 index closed down 4.47 points, or 0.5%, to close at 975.15.

The Nasdaq composite index finished at 1,967.76, down 7.75 points, or 0.4%.

IE