TORONTO – The Toronto stock market was set for a higher open Tuesday after resource giant Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) kicked off a slew of second-quarter earnings from corporate America with profit and revenue that beat expectations.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.11 of a cent at 94.81 cents US.

U.S. futures were also higher after Alcoa said Monday that it earned seven cents a share, a penny better than forecast. Revenue came in at $5.85 billion, surpassing expectations of $5.8 billion and its stock was one per cent higher in after hours trading.

The Dow Jones industrial futures advanced 40 points to 15,200, the Nasdaq futures gained 9.75 points to 2,968.5 while the S&P 500 futures were ahead six points at 1,641.5.

Alcoa said strong demand for lightweight aluminum in autos and airplanes helped it cope with weak metal prices.

Alcoa has customers in many industries, making it a gauge of the global economy’s health.

Traders also took in earnings news from pharmacy chain operatorJean Coutu Group (TSX:PJC.A). The Quebec-based company said quarterly net income was $108.6 million or 51 cents per share, down from $397.3 million or $1.81 per share in the fiscal 2013 quarter, mainly due to much smaller gains from the sale of shares in U.S. pharmacy chain Rite Aid compared with the year-earlier period.

Revenue was almost unchanged from a year ago at $681.6 million.

Elsewhere on the corporate calendar, executives at smartphone maker BlackBerry (TSX:BB) are expected to be in the hot seat today as the company holds its annual meeting. The company reported a loss for its most recent quarter, when most analysts had expected BlackBerry to turn a profit, and chief executive Thorsten Heins said that further losses were expected in the next quarter. Its stock closed Monday at $10.10, well off its 52-week high of $18.49.

Prices were mixed on commodity markets with August crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange down eight cents to US$103.06 a barrel.

Copper prices fell further on demand concerns, with the September contract down five cents to US$3.05 a pound.

Gold prices got some lift from data showing that China’s inflation rate rose in June but was well below the government’s target in a sign of weak demand amid an economic slowdown.

Consumer prices were up 2.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, higher than the previous month’s rate but below the 3.5 per cent official target for the year. The June figure was driven by a 4.9 per cent rise in food costs.

The August bullion contract in New York gained $13.40 to US$1,248.30. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation.

Analysts suggested that the positive mood on markets indicated that some of the concerns over an imminent scaling back of the Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus have eased. Rather than fearing the end of the stimulus, investors appear to be encouraged by the prevailing trend of improving U.S. economic news, the latest being June job creation data that beat expectations.

Over the past few weeks, markets have been extremely volatile due to expectations of an imminent reduction in the Fed’s bond-buying program. The consensus in the markets now is that the Fed will first reduce the amount of financial assets it buys in September.

The publication on Wednesday of the minutes of the last Fed policy meeting in June and a speech the same day by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will be monitored in that context.

European bourses advanced amid news that Greece’s eurozone partners have agreed to give the country the next batch of bailout cash it needs to avoid bankruptcy.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.82 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.94 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 climbed 0.56 per cent.

Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index surged 2.6 per cent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.5 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi inched up 0.7 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5 per cent.

Mainland Chinese shares made small gains, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.4 per cent while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.4 per cent.