TORONTO – The Toronto stock market was set for a lower open Friday as rising tensions in Ukraine made for nervousness going into the weekend.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.01 of a cent to 90.69 cents US.

U.S. futures were also lower amid another slate of corporate earnings with the Dow Jones industrial futures down 63 points to 16,368, the Nasdaq futures were down 14.3 points to 3,570.5 and the S&P 500 futures slid 5.75 points to 1,867.75.

There were scattered reports of violence Friday as Ukrainian forces try to end an occupation of government buildings by pro-Russian militia in more than 10 cities in eastern parts of the country. In turn, Russia’s foreign minister has accused the West of plotting to control Ukraine and also announced military exercises near Ukraine’s border.

At the same time, the economic cost to Russia for its stance toward Ukraine increased as Standard & Poor’s cut Russia’s credit rating to BBB-minus — one step above speculative or non-investment grade. The previous S&P rating was BBB.

S&P said it took the step because the tense situation “could see additional significant outflows of both domestic and foreign capital from the Russian economy.”

The latest round of tensions came at the end of a generally positive week thanks to a series of better than expected earnings reports in Canada and the U.S.

On Friday, automaker Ford said first-quarter net income fell 39 per cent to US$989 million, or 24 cents per share, down from $1.64 billion, or 41 cents per share, a year ago and seven cents below estimates. Revenue rose slightly to $35.9 billion, beating analysts’ expectations for $34.2 billion and its shares fell 2.88 per cent in pre-market trading.

After the close Thursday, Microsoft reported quarterly earnings per share of 68 cents, five cents better than estimates. Revenue of $20.4 billion narrowly beat expectations of $20.39 billion and its shares rose almost two per cent in pre-market trading.

In Canada, Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (TSX:BIN) said quarterly net income dropped 11 per cent from a year ago to US$25.9 million and its revenue dropped 3.5 per cent to US$469.8 million. The company said difficult weather during the quarter delayed handling certain high-margin municipal waste and special waste in the U.S. and Canada during the quarter.

Business software provider Open Text Corp. (TSX:OTC) posted quarterly net earnings of $45.8 million or 33 cents per share, up from $25.8 million or 22 cents in the comparable year-earlier period as revenue rose to $442.8 million from $337.7 million. The company also upped its quarterly dividend by 15 per cent to 17.25 cents a share.

In other corporate developments, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (TSX:COS) is revising downward its production guidance for the Syncrude Canada oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray as a result of a breakdown at one of its cokers, which help convert heavy oilsands bitumen into a lighter type of crude that refineries can handle. COS has revised its production estimate in 2014 to a range of between 95 million and 105 million barrels, down from a previous estimate of 95 million to 110 million barrels.

On the commodity markets, June crude in new York gave back 60 cents to US$101.34.

Geopolitical worries drove June bullion up $9.50 to US$1,300.10 an ounce while May copper was unchanged at US$3.12 a pound.