TORONTO - The Toronto stock market looked set for another positive session Thursday as crude oil jumped above US$112 a barrel and investors were encouraged by positive U.S. earnings reports. The Canadian dollar moved higher as the U.S. dollar continued to weaken, up 0.69 of a cent to 105.59 cents US, its highest level since November, 2007. U.S. futures signalled a higher start to the final session of the trading week ahead of the Easter weekend with the Dow Jones industrial futures up 64 points to 12,460, the Nasdaq futures gained 26.75 points to 2,382 and the S&P 500 futures were ahead 8.1 points to 1,336.4. Oil prices continued to surge on U.S. dollar weakness and signs U.S. demand remains robust despite rising fuel costs. The June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 71 cents to US$112.16 a barrel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. oil supplies shrank by 2.3 million barrels last week while analysts had expected an increase of 1.6 million barrels. The EIA said inventories of gasoline and distillates also fell. Oil is up about 33 per cent since mid-February, sparked by a civil war in Libya and unrest in other Mideast countries. Weakness in the American currency also helped send metal prices higher as the June gold contract on the Nymex jumped $8.10 to US$1,507 an ounce while May copper rose two cents to US$4.36 a pound. Earnings news will also help power the session after Apple Inc. reported after the market close Wednesday that net income for its fiscal second quarter was US$5.99 billion, or $6.40 per share, well above expectations of US$5.37. Apple also beat on revenue, which came in at US $24.7 billion as Apple sold 4.7 million iPads. Its shares were up five per cent in pre-market trading in New York. General Electric Co. said Thursday that earnings jumped 77 per cent to US$3.43 billion or 31 cents a share in the first quarter, led by strong results in its financial services business. That was three cents better than analyst expectations and its shares gained 2.7 per cent in pre-market trading in New York. In Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (TSX:CP) said its net income dropped to $33.7 million in the period, a significant decline from $101 million in the same period a year earlier. On a per share basis, earnings were 20 cents, coming in two cents above analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters. President and CEO Fred Green says Canadian Pacific was faced with extremely difficult winter weather that caused outages and constrained its capacity and service. Manufacturer Celestica Inc. (TSX:CLS) reported that first-quarter profits rose to US$30 million or 14 cents a share, up from $28.5 million a year ago. The Toronto-based global manufacturer, which produces a variety of products for other companies, also said revenue increased to $1.8 billion, in line with analyst expectations and above the $1.52 billion posted a year earlier.

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