Despite big losses on equity markets yesterday, Wall Street index futures are indicating a modestly positive opening. Investors are turning their attention to earnings reports due out from some major players.

On Wednesday, the markets got a jolt the U.S. Federal Reserve, which held short-term interest rates at four-decade lows, but stated that it will be “patient” about raising interest rates. This is a shift from its previous declaration that rates would remain low for “a considerable period.”

Wall Street’s major stock indexes dropped more than 1.3% as a result, and bond yields rose sharply. The Canadian dollar was adversely affected and it is continuing its decline today, trading at US75.16¢, down 0.29¢ to its lowest level in more than a month, after losing 1.17¢ Wednesday. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed down 52.47 points, or 0.61%, at 8,535.71.

There is some good economic news for investors today. The Labor Department says initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 last week to a 342,000. This matches economist expectations. They will now be looking to next week when the latest numbers on job creation will be released. Federal Reserve policy makers consider the pace of job growth much too slow; that’s one of the reasons they have said they will be disinclined to raise interest rates until they see a much stronger labor-market recovery.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada says manufacturers’ prices were up 0.3% in December following two months of decrease. Compared with December 2002, prices fell 3.4%, largely as a result of the continuing effect of a strong Canadian dollar against the US dollar. Without the dollar’s influence, the Industrial Product Price Index would have risen 1.0% rather than falling 3.4% from a year ago.

In a separate report, StatsCan says that average weekly earnings of payroll employees increased slightly in November to $693.37 (+$2.00). The new level is up 0.9% from November 2002. The year-over-year growth is due largely to earnings increases in the construction, manufacturing, retail trade, education services, health care and social assistance and public administration sectors.

In early market news, Petro-Canada posted a smaller profit, while Suncor Energy Inc., the has posted a higher profit. The tech sector will be in the spotlight today after yesterday’s after announcement from Celestica Inc.’s that chief executive Eugene Polistuk will quit immediately. After the market closed yesterday the electronics maker reported a loss in line with expectations.

Nortel Networks Corp. is set to report quarterly results, with analysts expecting a profit of 2¢ per share. Other companies expected to release financial results on Thursday include Great-West Lifeco Inc. and Sun Life Financial Services of Canada Inc.

Asian equity markets closed lower Thursday, after the Fed announcement.. Japan’s Nikkei average lost 73.03 points, or 0.7%, to 10,779.44. In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index closed down 97.77 points, 0.7%, at 13,334.01.

At midday European markets are down. The FTSE 100 index is off 1%, losing 45.5 points to 4,422.6.