Wall Street stock futures pointed to a lower open Thursday even after the release of a better-than-expected reading on U.S. retail sales.

U.S. retail sales figures for January rose 1%, the first increase in seven months.

Sales in December decreased 3.0%, which was a revision down from an originally estimated 2.7% decline.

Meanwhile, U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 8,000 last week but remained at a very high 623,000, near quarter-century highs. Total jobless claims lasting more than one week hit a fresh record, inching closer to the five-million mark.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US80.34¢ on Thursday, down 0.12 of a cent from Wednesday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Nexen Inc. recorded a loss of $181 million, or 35 cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008. The loss reversed year-earlier profits of $194 million, or 37 cents a share.

Sunlife Financial Inc. said quarterly earnings slid to $129 million, or 23¢ a share, down from year-earlier profits of $555 million, or 97¢ a share.

The company reported quarterly revenue of $4.7 billion, down from $5.4 billion reported during the same period in 2007.

In commodities news, the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 69¢ to US$35.25.

The April bullion contract in New York was down $2.70 to US$941.80 an ounce.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 3%.

In afternoon trading, the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 1.5%, Germany’s DAX index fell 2.3%, and France’s CAC-40 fell 1.8%.

After starting the day on a positive note, Toronto’s benchmark index slipped into negative territory by Wednesday’s close, dragged down by weakness in energy and financial stocks.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 80 points, or 0.9%, to close at 8,737.89.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture index advanced 9.17 points, or 1%, to finish at 911.26.

In New York, equities shook off Tuesday’s steep losses to finish higher on investor optimism surrounding the U.S. government’s economic stimulus package.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 50.65 points, or 0.6%, to end at 7,939.53.

The S&P 500 index gained 6.58 points, or 0.8%, to close at 833.74.

The Nasdaq composite rose 5.77 points, or 0.4%, to 1,530.5.

IE