North American markets look set to open flat Friday as traders digest a weaker-than-expected jobs report, and the price of oil jumped back above US$54 a barrel.

U.S. employers created jobs at the slowest pace in nearly two years last month. The Labor Department said today that non-farm payrolls grew by 78,000 in May, far fewer than the 274,000 increase reported in April.

The department also said employers created 24,000 fewer jobs in March than previously thought. That lowered the monthly average this year to about 180,000.

The news wasn’t all bad, though. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percentage point to 5.1%, its lowest level since September 2001

Economists had predicted a 185,000 increase in payrolls and a 5.2% unemployment rate.

Crude futures jumped back above US$54 a barrel this morning, after prices were cooled only briefly by a U.S. government report that showed swelling stockpiles in crude and other fuels.

Later this morning, the Institute for Supply Management, a private research group, will report its index of nonmanufacturing business activity in the U.S. for May. Economists expect the index to fall to 60.0 from 61.7 in April.

There are no major economic announcements from Statistics Canada today.

On Thursday, Toronto stocks fell as losses in the utilities and material sectors offset gains made earlier in the day. The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 27.52 points, or 0.29%, to finish at 9,626.64.

Volume was slightly less than 219 million shares.

Nine of the 10 main TSX sub-indexes were down. Only the industrials sector advanced.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange improved by 12.41 points, or 0.75%, to finish at 1,676.81.

In New York, markets were flat ahead of the Friday release of U.S. employment reports for May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.62, or .03%, to end the day at 10,553.49.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 9.94, or 0.48%, to finish at 2,097.80, while the broad-based S&P500 rose 2.07, or 0.17%, to end at 1,204.29.