The Toronto stock market appeared set for a higher start to the trading day Wednesday amid higher commodity prices and positive earnings reports from resource giant Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX) and Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP).

The Canadian dollar was up 0.07 of a cent to 97.52 cents US.

U.S. futures were also higher amid well-received earnings from corporate heavyweights Ford Motor Co. and Boeing.

The Dow Jones industrial futures were ahead 35 points to 14,679, the Nasdaq futures climbed 3.8 points to 2,826.8 and the S&P 500 futures rose 2.75 points to 1,576.25.

Barrick beat estimates as it posted US$923 million or 92 cents per share of adjusted earnings in the first quarter, down from US$1.1 billion or $1.10 per share in the comparable period last year. Net income before adjustments was $847 million or 85 cents per share, down from $1.04 billion or $1.04 per share in the first quarter of 2012.

Those results beat the consensus estimate of 85 cents per share or $852 million of adjusted earnings and 81 cents per share or $865 million of net income. Its shares were up 2.9 per cent in pre-market trading in New York (NYSE:ABX).

Canadian Pacific had $217 million or $1.24 per share of net income in the first quarter, while revenue was up nine per cent to a quarterly record of $1.495 billion. The railway’s operating ratio, a key measure of efficiency, improved to 75.8 per cent, which Canadian Pacific said was a record for the company. CP chief executive Hunter Harrison says it was Canadian Pacific’s best first quarter in the company’s history.

In the U.S., Ford says net income rose 15 per cent in the first quarter to $1.6 billion amid record North American profits. Ford beat Wall Street’s forecast with earnings of 40 cents per share, up from 35 cents in the first quarter of 2012. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of 37 cents per share.

Revenue rose 10 per cent to $35.8 billion, beating Wall Street’s forecast of $33.5 billion and Ford shares rose 0.52 per cent in pre-market trading.

Boeing’s first-quarter net income rose 20 per cent to $1.1 billion, or $1.44 a share, from $923 million, or $1.22 a share, a year ago. The Chicago-based company said quarterly core earnings per share rose 24% to $1.73 from $1.40 a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings per share of $1.49 on revenue of $18.83 billion. The commercial-airplane and defence company reaffirmed its 2013 guidance and shares rose 3.2 per cent in pre-market trade.

After the markets closed Tuesday, Apple handed in results that narrowly beat estimates, with earnings coming in at $10.09 a share, nine cents better than analysts forecast. Apple also beat on revenues, which were US$43.61 billion for the quarter, against the $42.31 that analysts expected.

Several factors are weighing down earnings for the company, including slowing sales of the high-margin iPhone.

Apple shares were down 2.6 per cent in pre-market trading. The tech giant’s share price has slid more than 42 per cent from its peak in September.

The TSX closed flat Tuesday with traders inclined to do little amid economic data from China that showed the country’s manufacturing sector barely in expansion territory during April.

But New York racked up solid advances amid a strong earnings report from chemical company DuPont helped and a strong report of new home sales in March.

April has not been kind to the TSX. The main Canadian stock index is down about three per cent year to date, led by steep losses in mining stocks as slowing global growth has raised a new round of demand concerns and pushed commodity prices sharply lower.

Commodity prices were higher Wednesday as the June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 33 cents to US$89.51 a barrel.

May copper improved by five cents to US$3.15 a pound and June bullion gained $13.40 to US$1,422.20 an ounce.

European bourses were positive as London’s FTSE 100 index gained 0.22 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.59 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 0.6 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, stocks rallied in the wake of the big gains recorded in Europe and the U.S. the previous day. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.3 per cent to its highest close since June 2008, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9 per cent.

Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks also climbed on expectations that the central government might take action to boost the Chinese economy after recent data showed growth lagging in the world’s No. 2 economy.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.7 per cent, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.6 per cent and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 2.2 per cent.