Markets are looking to open higher Friday as traders weigh the impact of latest North American monthly employment reports.

Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 7% in January, unchanged from December, Statistics Canada reported today

There were about 5,700 fewer Canadians working in January than in December, StatsCan said.

South of the border, Nonfarm U.S. payrolls in January grew by 146,000 jobs, well short of the 200,000 economists had expected. However, the U.S. unemployment rate slipped to 5.2%.

The report from the Labor Department also showed that 29,000 fewer jobs were created in December and November than previously thought.

In today’s earnings news, Noranda.said its fourth-quarter profit almost tripled to US$158 million amid rising global demand led by China. Noranda also said a deal for the sale of the company may be announced “within the next few months.”

Time Warner said its fourth-quarter earnings nearly doubled from the same period a year ago, when results were dragged down by its Warner music division, which it later sold.

North American markets edged lower Thursday, pushed down on Bay Street by gold shares, while a sharp drop in Amazon.com Inc. shares hit Wall Street hard.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index, in the red all day, was almost unchanged from Wednesday, losing 0.23 of a point at 9,303.71.

Nortel Networks shares dropped 8¢ to $3.92 on volume of more than 14.6 million shares, by far the most active TSX stock. The company announced it is taking ousted CEO Frank Dunn and two former financial executives to court to recover nearly $13 million worth of bonuses linked to phantom profits.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 3.79 points or 0.21% to 1,813.51.

The Canadian dollar headed 0.24 of a cent lower at US80.55¢ late in the session. Ottawa has set Feb. 23 to hand down its budget for the coming year.

On Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index took it on the chin, losing 17.42 points or 0.84% at 2,057.64, while the Dow Jones industrial average was down slightly, slipping 3.69 points or 0.3% at 10,593.10 and the S&P 500 index was off 3.30 points or 0.28% to 1,189.89.

In New York, shares of Amazon tumbled $6.13 to US$35.75 after posting holiday-quarter net earnings that were more than four times than its profits the previous year. But the results still missed Wall Street expectations, as the bottom line was helped out by a big one-time tax benefit.

U.S. stocks were under pressure as well from a report showing U.S. productivity growth slowed in the fourth quarter.