Global markets were mostly higher as investors looked to assess earnings from heavyweight technology companies and as anxiety lingered over the uncertain tenure of U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.

Wall Street futures were mixed after markets closed higher yesterday, recovering from a slide after initial reports that U.S. President Donald Trump was likely to fire Powell soon.

TSX futures were little changed after Canada’s main stock market closed up yesterday.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Choice Properties REIT.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Netflix Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories and U.S. Bancorp.

TSMC, the world’s main producer of advanced AI chips, has posted a 60-per-cent jump in second-quarter profit to record levels that handily beat market forecasts.

“I think the most likely outcome is for Powell to stay on until the end of his term next year. Having said that, this is not the first time, so there are going to be episodes of volatility in the dollar as a result of political noise,” said Carlos Casanova, UBP’s senior economist for Asia.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.61 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.45 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.72 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.83 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.6 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.08 per cent.

Oil prices edged up on signs of easing trade tensions, stronger than expected economic data from the world’s top oil consumers and renewed risks in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures gained 0.3 per cent to US$68.67 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 0.5 per cent at US$66.69.

“Oil thinking has been distracted from the Middle East, and the reminders of Israel’s attacks into Syria and the drone attacks on oil infrastructure in Kurdistan are timely and once again add a little fizz to proceedings,” said John Evans, analyst at PVM Oil Associates.

In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.5 per cent at US$3,330.21 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.7 per cent to US$3,335.70.

The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 72.68 US cents to 73.09 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.3 per cent against the greenback over the past month. 

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, gained 0.37 per cent to 98.75. 

The euro slid 0.44 per cent to US$1.1592. The British pound fell 0.14 per cent to US$1.3402.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.468 per cent.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has abandoned its roughly US$46-billion effort to take over 7-Eleven parent Seven & i Holdings Co., blasting its Japanese rival for failing to engage in meaningful talks toward a potential deal. Seven & i shares closed 9 per cent lower on Thursday.

Japan trade balance for June.

Euro area releases June inflation data

8:30 am ET: Canada international securities transactions for May.

8:30 am ET: U.S. weekly initial jobless claims.

8:30 am ET: U.S. retail sales for June. Consensus is for a 0.1 per cent rise, or 0.3 per cent when excluding autos and gas.

8:30 am ET: U.S. import prices for June. Consensus is for a 0.3 per cent year ov per center year increase.

10 am ET: U.S. business inventories for May.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press