A third day of falling oil prices boosted U.S. markets, while financial stocks held Canadian markets in check Friday morning.

At midday, the S&P/TSX was ahead slightly, up 5.63 points or 0.12% at 9048.98, while the TSX Venture exchange was off 7.13 points or 0.41% at 1711.64. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 30.74 points or 0.29% to 10615.86, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 10.81 points or 0.5% to 2150.13, closing in on its year-to-date high. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 3.34 or 0.28% at 1193.67.

The Canadian dollar was trading at US83.45¢, down 0.28 of a cent as investors reacted to weak employment data for November, even as the U.S. dollar sold off following the release of the U.S. payrolls report.

Crude oil futures continued their decline, remaining below the US$43-per-barrel mark for the first time in 10 weeks. A barrel of light crude was quoted at US$42.70, down 55¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Investors hoped that a continued drop in oil prices would help jump start the economy, which has been weighed down by high energy costs.

In Toronto, the TSX energy sub-group ignored the decline in oil prices to rebound from Thursday, gaining 0.78%% in late morning trading. Gold shares edged up 0.33% as a group, but the heavily weighted financials were down 0.34. Eight of the TSX sub groups were in the black.

Transalta Power Ltd. was the TSX’s most active stock, losing 0.75% to $9.32 on volume of more than 7.2 million shares.

Canadian markets also appeared to be held back by the jump in the Canadian unemployment rate. Only 4,600 jobs were created in November – far from the 30,000 that had been expected. The unemployment rate moved up to 7.3% from 7.1% in October.

In New York, the news of the drop in oil process helped offset a disappointing job creation report.The U.S. Labor Department reported a gain of just 112,000 jobs in November, far less than the 200,000 Wall Street had expected. Furthermore, October’s blockbuster gains of 330,000 were adjusted lower to 307,000.

Jobs and oil have been Wall Street’s biggest concerns in the second half of the year. With gasoline and other energy prices unusually high, consumers have been less willing to spend, as seen by the sluggish start to the holiday shopping season. And without more spending, companies have been less willing to create new jobs, which would mean more consumers with disposable income.

U.S. markets also got a boost from tech stocks, which moved higher after Intel Corp.’s bullish mid-quarter update, released late Thursday. The semiconductor giant and Dow component said its revenues would be substantially higher than Wall Street expected. Intel was up $1.50, or 6.61% to US$24.21 in late morning trading.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.93%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.32%, Germany’s DAX index lost 0.5%, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.85%.

In market news, the TSX Group Inc. has named Richard Nesbitt as chief executive of Canada’s dominant stock exchange, taking over from Barbara Stymiest, who departed last month for a job at Royal Bank. TSX shares were off 15 cents to $54.85.