North American markets finished the week on a down note as a sobering report from U.S. chip giant Intel Corp. late Thursday kept stocks on both sides of the border in the red on Friday. For the week, though, markets were ahead, albeit slightly.

At the final bell, the Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index was down 44.44 points or 0.53% to 8344.42 — a gain of merely 0.12% on the week. The TSX Venture exchange was off 1.46 points or 0.1% to 1527.59.

In New York, the Dow industrial average dipped 30.08 points or 0.29% to 10260.20. For the week however, the Dow was up 0.6%, marking its fourth consecutive week of gains. The Nasdaq composite index lost 28.95 points or 1.55% at 1844.48, thanks largely to Intel’s woes, but was up 1% on the week. The S&P 500 index fell 4.68 points or 0.42% to 1113.63; it finished the week ahead 0.5%.

Volume on was light all around — only about 159 million shares traded hands on the TSX and 918 million on the Dow — as many traders cut out early for the long Labour Day weekend.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.02 of a cent to US76.92¢.

Intel, the world’s largest computer chipmaker said after markets closed on Thursday that demand for its computer microprocessors and communications chips had weakened beyond expectations, hurting sales and margins forecasts.

Intel’s profit warnings weighed heavily on the markets, casting a pall not only on technology shares but also raising concerns about third-quarter earnings in other sectors. Intel itself fell $1.58 or 7.3% to US$20.05 — a 15-month low — on the Nasdaq.

In Toronto, all sectors, save consumer staples and real estate were in the red. Tech stocks led the way down, closing 2.82% with shares of ATI Technologies Inc. (down 5.94%), Celestica Inc. (down 3.85%) and Nortel Networks Corp. (down 4.63%) among the bigger losers.

Gold shares closed 1.48% lower, led by a 4.15% drop in the shares of Kinross Gold.

Energy shares were also lower (0.47%) as a whole as the price of crude oil faded six cents to US$43.93 a barrel in New York. Financial stocks lost 0.21% as a group. TD Bank, one of the more active stocks Friday, closed up 0.89%

In the U.S., investors shrugged off two economic reports, one expected, the other disappointing. Early in the day, the Labor Department’s latest reading on unemployment, which fell to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in July, and the 144,000 jobs created in August was close to the 150,000 Wall Street had been calling for. Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management’s services index, like its manufacturing report earlier in the week, dropped sharply in August, falling to 58.2 from July’s reading of 64.8, reflecting a drop in consumer spending due to employment concerns and oil prices. The ISM noted that the service sector continued to grow, however.

On the Dow, Intel’s woes took down the stocks of its competitors: Texas Instruments fell 4.47%, Hewlett-Packard was off 1.83% and Motorola Inc. fell 1.52%.