U.S. stock futures are pointing to a strong open Friday after better-than-expected September jobs data.

The U.S. Labor Department reported today that employers boosted payrolls by 110,000, the most in one month since last May.

The increase was not enough to stop the U.S. unemployment rate from rising to 4.7%, the highest in just over a year.

Here at home, Canada’s national unemployment rate dipped below 6% in September for the first time in 33 years, falling to 5.9%, as the economy continued to churn out jobs.

The Canadian dollar opened trading at US$1.014, up more than a penny since Thursday, after Statistics Canada released the jobs report.

In M&A news, Barclays dropped its roughly US$90 billion bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro, saying not enough shares were tendered. The bid was well below a rival US$101 billion offer from a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which is expected to be approved by shareholders later Friday.

In earnings news, Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. said that credit and mortgage woes will lead to a third-quarter loss of up to 50¢ per share.

The New York-based firm said it would take some US$5 billion in writedowns.

Crude-oil prices slipped 27¢ to US$81.17 a barrel.

Overseas, the UK FTSE 100 gained 0.23%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.18%, while France’s CAC-40 dipped 0.15%.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.16%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 3.18%.

The Toronto stock market snapped a two-session losing streak Thursday, getting a boost from financial issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 104.26 points, or 0.7%, at 14,125.11.

All but one of 10 main TSX groups were up, with the heavyweight financial sector gaining 0.8%.

Research in Motion announced after the close that its second-quarter profit had topped expectations, rising to $287.7 million, or 50¢ a share. RIM shares closed up $4.28, or 4.5%, at $100.30.


The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index was down 5.11 points to 2,834.66.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks barely budged on ahead of Friday’s jobs report for September, which could shed light on the economy and the outlook for interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 6.26 points, or 0.04%, to end at 13,974.31. The S&P 500 was up 3.25 points, or 0.21%, at 1,542.84. The Nasdaq composite index was up 4.14 points, or 0.15%, at 2,733.57.