A sobering report from Intel Corp. late Thursday sent a chill throughout North American markets Friday, with exchanges on both sides of the border trading lower.

At midday, the Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index was down 54.01 points or 0.64% to 8334.85 on volume of 83 million shares. The TSX Venture exchange was off 8.61 points or 0.56% to 1520.44.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average dipped 3.61 points or 0.04% to 10286.67 after surging 121.82 points Thursday in anticipation of strong U.S. jobs data. The Nasdaq composite index was down 27.88 points or 1.49% at 1845.55, while the S&P 500 index fell 2.08 points or 0.19% to 1116.23.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.03 of a cent to US76.91¢.

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

In Toronto, all sectors were in the red, with tech stocks leading the way, falling 2.35% by midday. Shares of ATI Technologies Inc. were off 5.2%, while Nortel Networks Corp. was down 3.42% and Sierra Wireless was off 4.03%.

News that U.S. jobs data came in near expectations sent the price of bullion lower, triggering a sell-off among material issues. Gold shares were off 1.56% with Kinross Gold down 3.14%.

Energy stocks were down 0.93%, while the financial sector eased 0.48% with shares of Bank of Nova Scotia losing 0.86%. Kingsway Financial off 0.89% and National Bank of Canada down 0.91%.

Government data, released before markets opened, showed that U.S. employers added 144,000 workers to their payrolls in August and hiring totals for the two previous months were revised up.

Stocks were moderately lower in early trading Friday as investors sorted through an uninspiring employment report and Intel Corp.’s weak profit outlook hit technology shares hard.

Investors were satisfied with — but not impressed by — 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 expected.

One day after a sharp drop in crude oil sparked a major stock rally, a barrel of crude was quoted at US$43.95, down 11¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, Intel was down 7.4% on the Nasdaq late Friday morning after the company cut revenue and profit-margin forecast, citing weakened chip demand. Intel fell US$1.60 to US$20.03, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index of 18 tech stocks slipped 5%.

Overseas, Asian stock markets closed mostly lower, pushed down largely by Intel’s disappointing report.

Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues fell 130.26 points or 1.17% to 11022.49.

In Hong Kong, the key index fell 50.97 points, or 0.39% to 12948.1.

London’s FTSE edged up 22.1 points at 4,540.7.

The Paris CAC 40 was ahead 0.8% while the Frankfurt DAX 30 rose 0.9%.