July 31 (Reuters) - Futures tied to Canada's main stock

index edged higher on Thursday, helped by upbeat earnings from

tech giants Meta and Microsoft ( MSFT ), while investors were cautious

about a potential trade deal ahead of President Donald Trump's

August 1 tariff deadline.

Futures on the S&P/TSX index were up 0.07% at

1,628.80 points by 06:38 a.m. ET (1038 GMT). The benchmark index

posted its biggest decline in ten weeks on Wednesday.

Shares of AI heavyweights Meta Platforms ( META ) and

Microsoft ( MSFT ) surged in U.S. premarket hours after the

companies reported blowout quarterly results on Wednesday,

boosting investor confidence in tech and AI investments.

Meanwhile, Trump intensified his trade war with Canada a day

ahead of his tariff deadline, saying it would be "very hard" to

make a deal with Canada after it gave its support to Palestinian

statehood.

If no agreement is reached by the deadline, Trump is set to

impose a 35% tariff on all Canadian goods not covered by the

U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

In commodities, oil prices edged lower and U.S. copper

prices plunged to their biggest one-day decline on record on

Thursday, while gold prices rose more than 1%.

In corporate news, Canadian oil and gas producer Cenovus

Energy ( CVE ) posted a fall in second-quarter profit.

FOR CANADIAN MARKETS NEWS, CLICK ON CODES:

TSX market report

Canadian dollar and bonds report

Reuters global stocks poll for Canada

Canadian markets directory