Wall Street futures are mixed this morning and the economic news is mediocre, pointing to a flat start to the day’s trading.

The U.S. Labor Department is reporting consumer prices posted only a modest gain in December, largely due to a rise in food and energy prices. Excluding those volatile categories, core inflation remained at historically low levels The consumer-price index rose 0.2%, reversing a 0.2% decline in November. The core index, which excludes food and energy prices, climbed 0.1%.

In annual terms, consumer prices increased 1.9%, the smallest rate in two years. This affirms the Federal Reserve perspective on inflation that there is no need to raise interest rates.

In another report, the U.S. Commerce Department is reporting that retail sales rose 0.5% in December, the second straight month of gains. Sales got a boost from a 1.6% rise in demand for motor vehicles and parts dealers. Excluding auto-related buying, overall retail sales would have gone up by 0.1%. Economists had expected a 0.8% rise in overall sales, and a 0.4% gain excluding the auto component.

In a third report, jobless claims fell by a seasonally adjusted 11,000 to 343,000 in the week that ended Saturday, says the Labor Department. This is modestly good news. After a recent, disastrous report on job creation in December — only 1,000 jobs — a drop in jobless claims will be heartening for investors. Economists had expected a drop of just 3,000

Here at home, Statistics Canada is reporting bad news in truck sales. There was a steep decline in sales in November caused overall sales of new motor vehicles to fall 3.2% from October. This decline was the fourth in a row, making for the longest string of monthly declines in more than twenty years.

StatsCan is reporting good news in investment in non-residential building construction. It remained virtually unchanged in the fourth quarter (-0.3%), following the record level achieved in the previous quarter ($6.6 billion). “This excellent result, combined with the previous highs established during the first three quarters, produced a total annual investment in 2003 of $26.0 billion, an increase of 5.7% from 2002.,” says StatsCan.

In business news, Research In Motion Ltd. Announced late Wednesday that it is increasing its new issue of common stock to 10.5 million shares and is pricing them at $US78.25 a share.

In Europe at midday, London’s FTSE100 is flat at 4,461.6. In Paris, the CAC40 Index is up 2.86 points, or 0.1%, to 3,615.41. Frankfurt’s Xetra DAX Index has climbed 1.96 points, or 0.1% to 4,057.17.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average lost 197.85 points, or 1.82%, to close at 10,665.15. In Hong Kong, prices edged down as investors took their cues from Tokyo’s plunge and held off major bets ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. The Hang Seng Index shed 71.07 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 13,249.81.

On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX composite index gained 23.43 points to 8,403.77. The TSX Venture Exchange fell 21.36 points to 1,774.02.