Global stocks were unsteady on Thursday after the U.S. economy contracted, although Wall Street was pointing in a positive direction and the dollar sprang up as a Bank of Japan growth forecast cut blamed on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs yanked the yen lower.

May Day public holidays around the world, including much of Europe, meant trading was thin.

Wall Street futures were in positive territory.

TSX futures were slightly down.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Aritzia Inc.; Bombardier Inc.; Cameco Corp.; Canadian National Railway Co.; Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.; and TC Energy Corp.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Amazon.com Inc.; Apple Inc.; Mastercard Inc.; and McDonald’s Corp.

“Let’s enjoy the ride while it lasts. Futures point to a positive U.S. open today, after both Meta and Microsoft posted stronger-than-expected earnings after the bell,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst with Swissquote Bank, wrote in a note.

“Apple and Amazon report after the bell today and will need to convince investors they can weather U.S. tariffs,” said Ozkardeskaya. “Trump backed off his plan to tax smartphones, after warnings that U.S.-made iPhones could cost up to $3,000. Still, Apple remains one of the most tariff-exposed Big Tech names, given its complex global supply chain and lagging AI progress.”

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.49 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.031 per cent, Germany’s DAX was up 0.32 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.5 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed at 1.1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.51 per cent.

Brent crude futures fell 59 cents, or 1 per cent, to US$60.47 a barrel as at 4:22 a.m. EDT. WTI crude futures fell 65 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to US$57.56.

“The oil market remains concerned about weakening oil demand growth over the coming months due to the trade tensions as well as a faster unwinding of the OPEC+ production cuts,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

In other commodities, spot gold fell 1.8 per cent to US$3,230.24 an ounce as of early this morning.

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

The day range on the loonie was 72.32 US cents to 72.55 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 2 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.35 per cent to 99.82.

The euro declined 0.06 per cent to US$1.1325. The British pound was down 0.02 per cent to US$1.3328.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.149 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell.

China’s markets closed.

Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting and outlook report

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian provincial GDP for 2024.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of April 26. Estimate is 227,000, up 5,000 from the previous week.

(9:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s S&P global manufacturing PMI for April.

(9:45 a.m. ET) U.S. S&P global manufacturing PMI for April.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI for April.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. construction spending for March. The Street expects a month-over-month increase of 0.3 per cent.

Also: U.S. and Canadian auto sales for April

With Reuters and The Canadian Press