Wall Street stock futures pointed to a higher open Thursday after a government report showed initial jobless claims fell, but claims lasting more than a week rose.

Initial claims for jobless benefits fell 4,000 to 570,000 in the week ended Aug. 29, the U.S. Laborr Department said in its weekly report. But in a sign that the jobless continue to struggle to find work, claims lasting more than one week rose 92,000 to 6,234,000.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar was up 0.55 of a cent to US91.06¢.

In commodities news, the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 96¢ to US$69.01 a barrel.

In today’s earnings news, Wi-LAN Inc. reduced its loss to $1.3 million or, 1¢ a share, in the latest quarter, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $3.5 million, or 4¢ a share in the third quarter fiscal 2008.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng added 1.2% while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock average lost 0.6%.

In Europe, stocks rose after the European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1%.

The UK’s FTSE 100 was i[ 0.29%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.63% and the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 0.38%.

On Wednesday, financial sector stocks continued to retreat, but a surge in materials shares helped the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange finish higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 11.54 points, or 0.1%, at 10,701.32.

The materials group jumped 6.4% and the sub-gold index surged more than 10% as gold futures reached their highest level in three months.

The financials group finished down 2% on Wednesday.


The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index advanced with steady momentum throughout Wednesday’s session, to close up 21.65 points, or 1.9%, at 1,184.89.

In New York, The main U.S. stock market indices finished lower for a fourth consecutive session after a report showed that the U.S. private sector shed a greater-than-expected 298,000 jobs in the month of August.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29.93 points, or 0.3%, to 9,280.67.

The S&P 500 index shed 3.29 points, or 0.3%, to 994.75.

The Nasdaq composite index slipped 1.82 points, or 0.1%, to rest at 1,967.07.

IE