Source: The Canadian Press

Stock markets appear headed for a lower open Friday amid weak jobs data from Canada and particularly the United States.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.36 of a cent to 97.91 cents US after Statistics Canada reported that the economy shed 9,300 jobs last month, while the jobless rate inched up a tenth of a percentage point to 8%.


Canada lost 139,000 full-time jobs but the loss was partly offset by a gain of about 130-thousand part time jobs.

However, economists had expected a weak July, particularly as the economy had been churning out jobs at a far faster clip than appeared justified by the growth rate. About 227,000 jobs were added in the previous three months alone.


New York futures were lower after the U.S. Labour Department said that 131,000 jobs were lost during July, while the jobless rate held steady at 9.5%.

Economists had expected a net decline of about 60,000, reflecting the termination of government census jobs. But there had been hopes that the private sector would add about 90,000 jobs.

Instead, companies added a net total of 71,000 jobs in July, far below the roughly 200,000 needed each month to reduce the unemployment rate.

The Dow Jones industrial futures were 49 points lower to 10,586, the Nasdaq futures lost 11 points to 1,890 while the S&P 500 futures were down 6.2 points to 1,117.3.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors absorbed earnings reports from some of the country’s biggest companies.

Magna International (TSX:MG.A) announced it is raising its quarterly dividend by two-thirds to 30 cents a share as the auto parts giant reported a second quarter profit of $293 million.

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (TSX:MBT) cut its quarterly dividend by about a third to 42.5 cents Friday and scaled back its financial projections this year after reporting lower net earnings and revenues for its latest quarter.

Manitoba Tel said its net profits fell to $28.2 million or 44 cents a share for the three months ended June 30 from $30.1 million or 47 a year ago.

Three-month revenues dropped to $443 million from $452.8 million. The company also revised its 2010 revenue and earnings projections downward as the company said it is feeling the impact of the economic downturn on the operations of its Allstream unit, which sells telecom services across the country to companies.

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSX:BAM.A) made a US$89-million profit in the second quarter, erasing last year’s loss of $342 million in the same period.

Also on the earnings schedule Friday is telecom company Telus (TSX:T).

Elsewhere, the TSX energy sector could be under pressure as oil prices slipped for a third consecutive day after data showed rising gasoline inventories in the United States. The September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 78 cents to US$81.23 a barrel.

The December bullion contract on the Nymex slipped 40 cents to US$1,198.90 an ounce while the September copper contract in New York rose two cents to US$3.38 a pound.

In overseas trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index lost 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4% as investors mulled how much a slowdown in government spending and tighter monetary policy could cool China’s economic growth.

London’s FTSE 100 index moved up 0.6%, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.3% while the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.25%.