TSX to head higher

U.S. futures were positive as the Dow Jones industrial futures gained 23 points to 15,319, the Nasdaq futures rose 17 points to 3,318 and the S&P 500 futures climbed 3.75 points to 1,731.5.

There was positive news from the world’s second-biggest economy as China’s growth rebounded in the latest quarter to 7.8 per cent from a two-decade low of 7.5 per cent in the second quarter, helped by government stimulus measures.

Copper prices advanced in the wake of the data from China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal. The December contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose two cents to US$US$3.31 a pound.

Oil also advanced with the November contract in New York 79 cents higher to US$101.46 a barrel.

December gold bullion lost $6 to US$1,317 an ounce after running ahead more than $40 on Thursday.

In earnings news, General Electric’s net income fell nine per cent in the third quarter to $3.19 billion, or 31 cents per share, on revenue of $35.7 billion. Ex-items, GE earned 40 cents per share, five cents higher than forecast and its shares rose 2.1 per cent in pre-market trading.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley says that its third-quarter earnings almost doubled as the firm’s equity sales and trading revenue rose. The bank earned $1.01 billion, or 50 cents a share, after stripping out an accounting charge, a dime higher than analysts forecasts. Its shares gained 3.2 per cent in pre-market trading.

And after the close Thursday, Google Inc. posted earnings of nearly $3 billion, or $8.75 per share, for the three months ended in September. If not for its expenses for employee stock compensation, Google said it would have earned $10.74 per share, topping the average estimate of $10.36 per share among analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue for the third quarter rose 12 per cent from last year to $14.9 billion. After subtracting commissions paid to Google’s ad partners, Google’s revenue stood at $11.9 billion, about $227 million above analysts’ predictions and its stock surged 9.16 per cent to $970.50.

North American markets closed mainly higher Thursday and the TSX closed above 13,000 for the first time in more than two years amid relief that U.S. lawmakers had reached an agreement to end the partial government shutdown and extend the debt limit, thus averting a possible default.

But investor relief has been checked by concerns over the cost of Washington’s drawn-out political battle and the likelihood of another high stakes standoff early next year when the short-term increase to the debt ceiling runs out.

European bourses also advanced as London’s FTSE 100 index gained 0.46 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.23 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 0.46 per cent.

In Asia, the solid Chinese data pushed Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 0.9 per cent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 0.4 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 bucked the trend, dropping 0.2 per cent.