European stocks rose and most Asian markets surged as investors mulled tentative signs of progress in Iran peace talks, and forecast-beating results from Nvidia and averted labour action at Samsung had mixed effects on chipmaker stocks.

Wall Street futures were mixed after major U.S. and Canadian indexes closed higher on Wednesday.

TSX futures pointed lower.

In Canada, investors are getting results from CAE Inc., Lightspeed Commerce Inc. and Silvercorp Metals Inc.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Deere & Co., Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Walmart Inc. and Zoom Video Communications Inc.

“Nvidia’s earnings announcement may have triggered little enthusiasm in its own stock, but LG Electronics rose 26% in Korea and Hyundai Mobis surged more than 21%,” wrote Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst with Swissquote.

“What’s less exciting is the macro backdrop. Oil dropped 5% yesterday after Donald Trump said they were finalizing a deal with Iran. But if history is any guide, we’ve heard that before.”

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.35 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 was little changed, Germany’s DAX rose 0.50 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.34 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 3.14-per-cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished 1.03-per-cent lower.

Oil prices fell, extending losses from the previous session as investors monitored peace talks between the United States and Iran.

Brent crude futures dropped 0.8 per cent to US$104.20 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were down 0.6 per cent, at US$97.66.

“We’ve been in this situation multiple times before, which ultimately led to disappointment,” ING analysts said in a note on Thursday, forecasting an average Brent price of US$104 a barrel in the current quarter.

In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at US$4,536.72 per ounce. U.S. gold futures for June delivery added 0.1 per cent at $4,537.90

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

The day range on the loonie was 72.57 US cents to 73.01 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.49 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, was little changed at 99.08. The dollar was pegged at $1.3768.

The euro was flat at US$1.1623. The British pound was little changed at US$1.3441.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.581 per cent.

Japan’s trade deficit, core machine orders and PMI

Euro zone PMI, consumer confidence and labour costs

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. initial jobless claims for week of May 16. Estimate is 210,000, up 1,000 from the previous week.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. housing starts for April. The Street expects an annualized rate decline of 6.5 per cent.

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. building permits for April. Consensus is an annualized rate rise of 0.9 per cent.

9:45 a.m. ET: U.S. S&P Global PMIs for May.

10 a.m. ET: U.S. quarterly services for Q1.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press