Wall Street futures suggested a positive start for regular trading Friday, but that was before the release of a report that showed the U.S. economy was surprisingly weaker during the first quarter than previously thought.

Today’s report may keep investors on the sidelines ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on June 29-30.

Gross domestic product increased during January through March at a 3.9% annual rate, revised down from an earlier estimated 4.4%, the Commerce Department said this morning.

The new GDP projection was quite a bit weaker than expectations on Wall Street.

Later this morning, traders will get to see the final report from the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment for June. Economists forecast a reading of 95.0, compared to a preliminary reading of 95.2. As well, U.S. May existing home sales data will be released; a decline of 2% is expected, down from a gain of 2.5% in April.

Here at home, consumer spending in retail stores fell 0.8% in April to $28.4 billion, Statistics Canada reported today. April’s decline followed a period of strong growth in the first three months of 2004, in which sales advanced by at least 1% in each month.


Asian stock markets closed higher overnight. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 36.25 points to 11,780.4. In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng rose 21.84 points to 12,185.52.

On Thursday, the S&P/TSX composite Index dropped 44.64 points to 8,530.77. The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index exchange gained 20.03 points, or 1.30%, to finish at 1,580.32.

In the U.S., stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday after investors digested a mixed batch of economic data and chose to sit tight ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates next week.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 35.76 points to 10,443.81. The S&P 500 shed 3.44 points to 1,140.62, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite Index fell 5.41 points to 2,015.57.