Wall Street stock futures pointed higher Wednesday despite a report showing a steep drop in employment in the U.S. private sector last month.

The ADP report on employment showed U.S. the private sector shed 697,000 jobs in February. The official government report February nonfarm payrolls comes out Friday. It is expected to show a similarly steep drop in employment and an increase in the U.S. jobless rate.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US77.52¢ Wednesday, up 0.07 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Laurentian Bank of Canada reported net income of $25 million, or 91¢ a share, for the first quarter ended Jan. 31, compared to net income of $19.1 million, or 68¢ a for the first quarter of 2008.

Mavrix Fund Management Inc. posted a net loss of $985,004, or 11¢ share, for the fourth quarter. That compared to loss of $1.3 million, or 15¢ a share, a year ago.

Big box retailer Costco Wholesale said its fiscal second-quarter net income dropped 27%.

In international banking news, U.S. Bancorp slashed its quarterly dividend 88% to 5¢ a share as the bank looks to preserve cash.

Swiss banking giant UBS AG said that former Swiss President Kaspar Villiger will replace Peter Kurer as chairman of the board next month in an attempt to bring the bank back to profitability and deal with a major U.S. tax evasion probe.

In commodities news, light, sweet crude rose US$1.51 to US$43.16 a barrel in electronic premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S weekly energy inventories are due later today.

Overseas, China’s Shanghai Composite surged more than 6%, pushed higher by a strong reading for a gauge of Chinese manufacturing sentiment.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.9%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 2.5%.

In the Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 was up 1.6%, Germany’s DAX index jumped 2.5%, and France’s CAC-40 was up 2%.

After fluctuating widely between gains and losses, the Toronto Stock Exchange finished lower on Tuesday, dragged down by deteriorating financial stocks.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 55.89 points, or 0.7%, to close at 7,631.62.

Financial stocks shed 3.1% on Tuesday.

Bank of Nova Scotia shares remained flat after the company reported first quarter earnings of $842 million, up 1% from a year ago. Scotiabank shares closed at $27.02.

The Bank of Montreal saw its stock rise 2.4% after the bank reported a profit of $225 million, down 12% from a year ago thanks to charges related to challenging capital markets. BMO shares rose $0.65 to $27.64.

The Canadian dollar remained flat, closing at US77.45¢.

In New York, the main indices also failed to hang onto gains on Tuesday afternoon, finishing the day lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 37.27 points, or 0.5%, to 6,726.02.

The S&P 500 dipped 4.49 points, or 0.6%, to close at 696.33. It is the first time the index has closed below 700 points since October 1996.

The Nasdaq composite index declined 1.84 points, or 0.1%, to end at 1,321.01.

Tuesday close: TSX ends lower after volatile session