Good morning. It's the last day of January, Friday, January 31st, and I'm Marina Sherbel,

filling in for the incomparable Julie Morgan. Our top stories today, oil may be excluded from new tariffs,

initial jobless claims unexpectedly retreat, and NASDAQ futures gain. Steep tariffs on Mexico

and Canada are set to go into effect on Saturday as President Trump threatens trade with

America's neighbors unless they address illegal migration,

drug trafficking, and massive subsidies in the form of deficits. One closely watched area

likely to be excluded is oil due to the complicated nature of the U.S. energy industry.

That's a notable paradox for a country that has become a dominant energy superpower where despite producing

more oil than it consumes, it remains the second largest importer in the world after China.

That process works fine as long as the U.S. has buyers of its oil and is able to import its needs,

but arrangements can be agitated if things are shaken up on the trade front, expanding and

converting current refineries or developing new ones to process sweeter crude with less sulfur

and containment would be too expensive and require an extended time horizon for an industry

that must please new U.S. administrations every four to eight years. Other problems include the lack of infrastructure

to get U.S. produced oil to U.S. refineries, as well as environmental permits and regulations,

and don't forget the premium to be made on the sale of light, sweet WTI and the strengthening of

margins by processing cheaper sour crude.

Initial jobless claims for the week fell by 16,000 to 207,000.

That's compared with a 224,000 consensus and 223,000 prior.

That's unrevised, according to Department of Labor data released on Thursday.

And today's stock index futures are higher,

with NASDAQ futures leading the pack as Apple and Intel's earnings reports brought cheer.

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