Wall Street stock-index futures surged Thursday after Wells Fargo said that it expects record first-quarter earnings.

The bank said that it expects to report record net income of approximately US$3 billion, or 55¢ a share, for first quarter.

Wells Fargo’s comments came amid a report in the New York Times that the 19 banks undergoing government stress tests had all passed, and added steam to a morning rally in bank stocks.

Here at home, Canada’s economy shed 61,000 jobs in March, Statistics Canada said, all in full-time work.

The unemployment rose 0.3 percentage points in March to 8%, the highest rate in seven years.

The Canadian dollar opened at US80.91¢, up 0.09 of a cent from Wednesday’s close.

South of the border, initial claims for state jobless benefits decreased 20,000 to 654,000 in the week ended April 4, the U.S. Labor Department said. That was the biggest drop since the beginning of the year and more than double Wall Street expectations.

In other financial news, ING NV, the Dutch bank and insurer, said Thursday it plans to sell operations it says could raise up to 8 billion euros (US$10.6 billion).

The move is an increase from a previous target announced in January to raise 3 billion euros. So far, ING has sold its Canadian operations for 1.4 billion euros.

In commodities news, light sweet crude oil for May delivery rose US$1.73 to US$51.11 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 3.7%.

In Europe, the Bank of England has kept official interest rates on hold at 0.5%. Thursday’s decision was widely expected by economists.

In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.9%, and France’s CAC-40 increased 0.5%.

Markets will be closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday.

On Wednesday, climbing commodity prices helped pull the materials-rich Toronto Stock Exchange higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 144.53 points, or 1.6%, to close at 8,969.28.

All of the main groups on the TSX posted gains except for the consumer staples group, which dipped 0.1%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture index slipped 1.78 points, or 0.2%, to close at 950.70.

The loonie edged up US0.03¢ to close at US80.82¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks also moved higher on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 47.55 points, or 0.61%, to finish at 7,837.11.

The broad S&P 500 index added 9.61 points, or 1.2%, to end at 825.16.

The Nasdaq composite rose 29.05 points, or 1.9%, to 1590.66.

IE