Markets, already reeling from rising oil prices, took a nose-dive Friday after employments reports in Canada and the U.S. painted a much worse than expected picture of the North American economy.

At midday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 67.34 points or 0.81% to 8200.54. The TSX Venture Exchange failed to hold on to early gains and was down 2.58 points or 0.17% to 1496.45.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.08 points or 0.89% to 9873.95. The Nasdaq was down 23.85 points of 1.31% to 1797.78 and the S&P 500 had lost 9.48 points or 0.88% to 1071.22.

The jobless reports proved a boon the Canadian dollar. It was up sharply – gaining 0.47 of a cent to US76.34¢ as the U.S. dollar sold off following release of the U.S. jobs report.

Both job releases were out before the opening bell, setting the tone for the sharp declines on Bay Street and Wall Street.

The U.S. report said the economy managed to generate only 32,000 jobs in July – a long way from the 240,000 that had been expected. The unemployment rate dipped a tenth of a point to 5.5%.

Disappointing job growth and a lower unemployment rate was also the message from the Canadian employment report for July. Statistics Canada reported the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 7.2%. There was a net gain of roughly 9,000 jobs, from June, a far cry from the 30,000 that had been expected.

In Toronto, gold stocks proved the refuge. The TSX gold sub-index was up 2.32% with the gold-company-heavy materials sub-index also ahead slightly. All other sectors were in the red, with technology stocks leading the way; they were down 3.47%. Financials were off 0.21%.

TSX’s energy sub-index was also down, 0.96%, despite another jump in oil prices. Crude oil prices scaled new heights Friday, inching closer to US$45 a barrel despite reassurances from OPEC that it’s prepared to raise output by over a million barrels a day. Light, sweet crude oil for September delivery reached US$44.73 a barrel – another record – but later in the morning was down 16 cents to US$44.25 a barrel.

Overseas, Asian stock markets closed lower across the board, pushed down by rising oil prices and losses on Wall Street.

Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues fell 88.32 points, or 0.8% to 10,972.57 – its lowest since closing at 10,962.93 on May 25.

In Hong Kong, the key Hang Seng Index slipped 13.24 points, or 0.1% to 12,478.68.

London’s FTSE 100 index fell 60.1 to 4,353.3.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 lost 2.5% while the Paris CAC 40 retreated 2.33%.