North American markets look to open lower Thursday, as traders respond to a disappointing reading on the U.S. jobs market.

The Labor Department said today that initial jobless claims rose by a larger-than-expected 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 350,000 in the week that ended Oct. 23. Economists had expected jobless claims to increase by 7,000.

There was more encouraging news from crude oil prices. In early New York trading, oil prices eased 49¢ to US$51.97.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said manufacturers’ prices rose again in September compared with the same month last year, but at a weaker pace than in the previous four months. Manufacturers received 4.6% more for their goods than they did in September last year, the third consecutive month of weaker growth.

At the same time, the cost of raw materials accelerated for the seventh month in a row.

Meanwhile, StatsCan reported that manufacturers’ outlook for the fourth quarter of 2004 remained optimistic. In the October Business Conditions Survey, manufacturers said they anticipated further improvements for production and employment in the coming quarter, while they were very satisfied with the current level of orders received.

The Dow surged passed the 10,000 level Wednesday, while Canadian markets were held back by lower oil and gold shares as falling oil prices had a contrarian impact on North American exchanges.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index had lost 27.18 points or 0.31% to 8,791 while the S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 20.53 points or 1.24%.

On Bay Street, energy shares fell 2.55% as crude oil for December delivery reversed a 0.9%, falling 4.8% to close at US$52.50 a barrel in New York, the biggest decline since June 2.

The TSX gold sub-index fell 2.31% as gold prices eased 40¢.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.06 of a cent to US81.59¢.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 113.55 or 1.24% to 10,002.03, bringing its gains in the past two days to 2.6%. The S&P 500 Index added 14.31, or 1.29%, to 1,125.40. For both indices, it was the best two-day advance since May 12, 2003. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 41.2 points or 2.14% to 1,969.99.