Oil and financial stocks, with some help from a 10% drop in Alcan Inc. shares, led Bay Street lower Friday morning, offsetting some good economic goods. Wall Street struggled to keep in the black, but was gaining momentum.

At midday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite stock index was down 50.20 points or 0.55% to 9014.06. The TSX Venture Exchange edged up 8.87 points or 0.5% to 1775.15.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last up 18.26 points or 0.17% at 10641.14, recovering from a mid-morning low of 10571.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 10.7 points 0.51% to 2100.70. In the first four sessions of 2005, the tech-rich index has shed nearly 4%. The S&P 500 Index advanced 3.13 points or 0.26% to 1191.0s.

The Canadian dollar edged up 0.07 of a cent to US81.04¢, aided by a strong employment report for December.

Crude-oil futures traded lower in morning trading, but above US$45 a barrel, amid growing signs that key oil producers are prepared to stave off any steep prices declines by trimming output even further. The price of light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 40¢ to US$45.16 a barrel. On the TSX energy shares were off 0.67%.

The heavily weighted financials sub-sector, however, was the main drag. It was down 0.83%, with Manulife Financial Corp., down 1.44% to $54.88, and Bank of Nova Scotia, down 1.36% to $39.90, among the bigger movers.

The Canadian jobless report raised speculation the central bank could raise rates in the spring, which in turn may have spooked investors holding financial stocks.

Alcan shares, meanwhile, lost 10% to $50.42. The company spun off its aluminum rolled products maker, Novelis Inc., whose shares began trading Thursday. Shares of the former parent Alcan are still trading as though it were combined with Novelis.

On the economic front, Canada’s jobless rate fell to the best rate in over three years with the creation of 34,000 new jobs, Statistics Canada reported. The jobless rate eased to 7% in December.

In New York, a strong employment report helped keep markets in the black. The December payrolls report for that country showed the creation of 157,000 new jobs – slightly under expectations – while the unemployment rate remained at 5.4%.

Analysts noted that the report lessened concern that the U.S. Federal Reserve will change its measured pace of raising interest rates.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average lost 59.02 points or 0.51% to 11433.24.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 137.18 points or 1% to 13574.86.

London’s FTSE 100 index gained 25.9 points at 4,850.2.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 ticked 9.11 points higher at 4,310.05 while the Paris CAC 40 moved up 21.08 points at 3,877.56.