* Updated for initial jobless claims and gross domestic product information
Stock market futures are up in the U.S. and Canada and European bourses have risen on Thursday, as investors take an optimistic look at the latest round of economic reports.
North American markets will likely take their direction from two sets of data out of the U.S., which reports its latest GDP figures and unemployment claims prior to the market open.
Economic news out of Europe pleased the markets, with the latest data showing inflation has fallen to 2.4 per cent and that German retail sales rose last month. At the same time, a poll of Irish voters showed that the country is ready to vote today in favour of tough fiscal measures to ease the euro zone debt crisis.
Asian markets charted a different course on Thursday. During May they have registered the biggest monthly drop since 2008, Bloomberg reports. The region is feeling the effects of the economic malaise in Europe. In India the problems are being made worse by a dysfunctional political system. Economic growth in India slowed more than expected in the first quarter. The 5.3 per cent reading represents the weakest expansion in nine years.
Markets: China's Hang Seng index down 0.3 per cent
Japan's Nikkei 225 index down 1.1 per cent
London's FTSE 100 index up 1 per cent
France's CAC 40 up 0.7 per cent
Germany's DAX index up 0.4 per cent
Spain's IBEX 35 index up 0.5 per cent
Commodities: Oil up 88 cents (U.S.) at $88 a barrel
Gold down 0.1 per cent at $1,563.71 an ounce
Copper unchanged at $3.39 a pound
Canadian dollar up 0.14 of a cent to 97.30 cents
Economic data: (Eastern times)
8:30 a.m. The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits in the week of May 26 is expected to match the prior week's figure of 370,000 claims. This data will be a precursor to Friday's much more significant report of new jobs created in the U.S. in May.
Initial jobless claims rose by 10,000 during the week, to 383,000, slightly more than expected. The latest figures could point to a slowdown in job growth.
8:30 a.m. The preliminary report on U.S. first-quarter GDP is expected to show expansion slowed to 1.9 per cent, down from 3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. Advanced figures release in April suggested that first-quarter GDP had actually risen by 2.2 per cent. The final figures don't get released until June 28.
The Commerce Department said gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of only 1.9 per cent in the first quarter. That compares with an original reading of 2.2 per cent made a month earlier in the advance report.
Stocks to watch: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce beat analyst expectations, reporting quarterly revenue growth of 2 per cent and a rise in profit of 6 per cent.
CGI Group Inc. said it has agreed to buy Anglo-Dutch IT services company Logica for $2.6-billion in a deal to secure more business with blue-chip clients globally. The price reflects a 60 per cent premium to Logica's last closing share price.