U.S. stock futures pointed higher Wednesday as Walt Disney & Co.’s earnings report added some good news to the mix after yesterday’s horrid fall.

Statistics Canada said the value of building permits hit another record high in 2007. Municipalities issued $74.3 billion worth of building permits in 2007, up 12.1% from $66.3 billion in 2006.

In the non-residential sector, the value of permits totalled $28.7 billion, up 13.8% from $25.2 billion in 2006.

In the housing sector, municipalities issued $45.6 billion worth of permits, up 11.0%. This result contrasted sharply with that in the U.S., where the number of new privately owned units approved fell by 25.3% in 2007.

The Ivey Purchasing Managers Index will be released today at 10:00 a.m. EST.

The Canadian dollar opened at US$99.53 this morning, up 0.24 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

Crude futures rose 32¢ at US$88.73 a barrel in premarket trading on the Nymex.

In earnings news, energy transportation giant Enbridge reported a 45% rise in fourth quarter net income, to US$248.6 million, and boosted its dividend by 7.3%, to 33¢ a share.

BCE Inc. announced that profits more than tripled in the fourth quarter, to $2.4 billion. Q4 revenue rose 0.4%.

Cigarette maker Rothmans Inc. reported a 22% rise in October-December profit on 11% sales growth. Net earnings were $29.4-million in the company’s third quarter, up from $24.1-million in the same period last year.

Asian markets fell as fears of a U.S. recession were spurred on by yesterday’s stock plunge in the U.S.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index fell 5.4%.

Japan’s Nikkei lost 4.7%.

In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 index is up 0.6%. The U.K. FTSE 100 is up 0.2% and the French CAC-40 index is up 0.6%

Stock markets across North America sank dramatically on the ISM data on U.S. service sector activity, which contracted sharply, increasing fears of a U.S. recession.

All of the ten main sub-groups saw losses.

The S&P/TSX Composite index lost closed down 326.21 points, or 2.46%, at
12,931.95.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed down 57.76, or 2.25%, at
2,509.97.

In New York, stocks plunged deeply on the ISM numbers and renewed fears of a
U.S. recession.

The Dow shed 370.03 points, or 2.93%, to end the day at 12,265.13.

The S&P 500 lost 44.18 points, or 3.20%, to close at 1,336.64.

And the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 73.28 points, or 3.08%, closing out the session at 2,309.57.