Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market headed for a positive open on Thursday amid a strong quarterly earnings report from American bank J.P. Morgan Chase.

The Canadian dollar moved up 0.42 of a cent to 97.12 cents US.

U.S. futures advanced after J.P. Morgan Chase reported that second-quarter net income soared 77% to US$4.8 billion or US$1.09 a share, well above estimates of 67 cents a share.

J.P. Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said the company reduced its reserves to cover failed loans by US$1.5 billion in this quarter but that loan losses “remain at extremely high levels.”

Its shares were up about 1% in pre-market trading in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial futures rose 27 points to 10,333, the Nasdaq futures rose 6.5 points to 1,857.75 and the S&P 500 futures climbed 4.1 points to 1,095.2.

Big gains were kept in check as investors prepare for key U.S. reports on jobless insurance claims, inflation and manufacturing that will shed more light on the pace of recovery.

The TSX lost 53 points and the Dow industrials rose four points on Wednesday as a solid quarterly earnings report from tech bellwether Intel was overshadowed by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which lowered its 2010 gross domestic product forecast by 0.2 percentage points to a range of 3.0% to 3.5%. The move suggested Europe’s debt and fiscal crisis could undermine expansion of the world’s No. 1 economy.

The TSX should also get support from the resource sectors as oil and metal prices advanced even as figures from China showed its rapid growth is slowing as the impact of its massive stimulus eases and Beijing clamps down on a credit boom. The world’s third-largest economy grew by 10.3% in the second quarter over a year earlier, down from the first quarter’s 11.9% expansion.

The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 22 cents to US$77.26 a barrel.

The August bullion contract on the Nymex rose $6.60 to US$6.60 an ounce while the September copper contract in New York gained a penny to US$3.02 a pound.

Investors also took in a better than expected earnings report from aluminum company Alcoa Inc. earlier this week.

And the technology sector will be in focus later Thursday, with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Google Inc. due to report their latest quarterly figures.

“Forecasts for the latter have not been encouraging, with at least three analysts cutting estimates and Wall Street decidedly cautious about prospects for the Internet giant, particularly in relation to its cost-per-click advertising business _ despite the company having beaten revenue expectations in five of the previous seven quarters,” said Will Hedden, a sales trader at IG Index.

In Asia, the Fed revision helped push Japan’s Nikkei index down 1.1%.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.06%, the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.53% while the Frankfurt DAX was ahead 0.34%.

In other corporate news, a Calgary-based technology begins trading its shares publicly for the first time Thursday after completing a US$660-million IPO in Canada and the United States. Smart Technologies Inc. priced its 38.8 million shares at US$17 each. They’ll be listed on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:SMA).

Opti Canada Inc. (TSX:OPC), a partner in the Long Lake oilsands project in northern Alberta, reported a big loss in its latest quarter as the company took a hit on its hedging contracts and faced higher operating costs and currency losses. Opti lost $152 million or 54 cents a share in the second quarter. That compares with a loss of $9 million or four cents a share for the same 2009 period.