Wall Street stock futures were flat Wednesday as earnings reports from Time Warner and a profit warning from Costco Wholesale deflated early optimism.

Here at home, top executives of Research In Motion have a deal to settle a dispute with the Ontario Securities Commission over the company’s stock options.

The OSC announced Tuesday that a hearing will be held Thursday to consider the settlement that includes co-chief executives Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis and several other executives.

The Canadian dollar opened at 80.76 cents US on Wednesday, down 0.53 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Time Warner reported a US$16 billion loss for the fourth quarter after write-offs and said this year’s earnings would be about flat compared to 2008 levels.

Costco Wholesale warned that its fiscal second-quarter earnings would be substantially below analyst estimates and said it won’t provide new estimates for the rest of the year.

Kraft Foods lowered its 2009 outlook and said fourth-quarter net income fell 72%.

Technology shares could come under pressure after Panasonic warned of an annual loss of US$4.2 billion and said it would cut 15,000 jobs.

After the close, tech bellwether Cisco Systems is due to report quarterly results.

In other employment news, ADP estimated that 522,000 private-sector jobs were lost in January in the United States.

In commodities news, oil futures held over US$41 a barrel ahead of U.S. weekly energy inventories, and gold futures climbed back over the US$900 an ounce mark.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7%.

European indexes were higher in midday trading. The UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.6%, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.9%.

The benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange recovered from a mid-day drop to finish flat on Tuesday, with mixed results across the board.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained a modest 3.8 points, or 0.04%, to close at 8,628.63.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 3.57 points, or 0.4%, to end at 869.25.

In New York, stock markets experienced solid gains in Tuesday’s trading despite reports that auto sales were sharply lower in January.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 141.53 points, or 1.8%, to close at 8,078.36.

The S&P 500 index advanced 13.07 points, or 1.6%, to end at 838.51.

The Nasdaq composite finished the day at 1,516.30, up 21.87 points, or 1.5%.

IE