TORONTO – The Toronto stock market was set to open higher Wednesday amid another heavy slate of earnings news and hopes that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates to help a weak economic recovery.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.13 of a cent to 95.75 cents US.

U.S. futures were also higher with the Dow Jones industrial futures up 69 points to 15,619, the Nasdaq futures climbed 11.5 points to 3,391.3 and the S&P 500 futures were ahead nine points to 1,765.5.

Hopes that the European Central Bank will announce Thursday a rate cut to a record low of 0.25 per cent rose after the EU’s statistics office said that retail sales across the 17-country eurozone fell 0.6 per cent in September from the month before.

And Markit, the financial information company, also revealed that its Eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index, a broad gauge of economic activity, faltered in October. Its the index slipped from a 27-month high of 52.2 in September to 51.9 points last month, although the October figure was revised up from the initial estimate of 51.5. Still, it’s above the 50 threshold indicating expansion.

The figures suggest the European recovery lacks strength and is vulnerable to setbacks.

The ECB holds their regularly scheduled interest rate meeting on Thursday.

On the earnings front, autoparts company Magna International’s (TSX:MG) quarterly revenue was up 13 per cent to US$8.3 billion. However, net income fell from last year, dropping to US$319 million or $1.39 per diluted share from $390 million a year ago amid restructuring charges.

Oil and gas producer Talisman Energy Inc. (TSX:TLM) posted a US$45 million loss from operations, or four cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30. That’s up from a loss $36 million or four cents per share a year earlier.

Media giant Torstar Corp. (TSX:TS) posted a quarterly net loss of $70.8 million or 89 cents compared to a profit of $11.1 million or 14 cents a share a year ago. The owner of the Toronto Star newspaper, Harlequin books and other publishing businesses says a writedown of some of its media assets resulted in an $85.4 million impairment charge that reduced operating earnings by $1.06 per share.

Commodity prices improved with December crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 59 cents to US$93.96 after dropping to a five-month low of US$93.37 amid concerns about rising supplies in the U.S.

U.S. crude stockpiles have increased in each of the past six weeks, mostly because of rising domestic production, and were more than 10 per cent above their five-year average near the end of October.

The figures from the Energy Information Administration due later Wednesday are expected to show a further increase of 2.5 million barrels in crude stocks.

December copper added a penny to US$3.27 while December gold rose $10.20 to US$1,318.30.

Traders also looked ahead to other key U.S. economic data coming out this week, including third quarter economic growth figures Thursday and the U.S. government’s October employment report on Friday. The data from both reports will help the Federal Reserve decide if the economy is strong enough to allow the central bank to start tapering its monthly US$85 billion of bond purchases.

Canadian jobs data for October also comes out on Friday.

European bourses were positive as London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.08 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.39 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 0.86 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was barely changed, China’s Shanghai Composite shed 0.8 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.8 per cent.

Also looming, and particularly important for Asian investors, is the scheduled meeting of Chinese leaders in Beijing from Nov. 9-12 over a new blueprint for the world’s No. 2 economy as its state-led growth model runs out of steam.