North American stocks were poised to open lower on Thursday following the release of a U.S. government report that showed an unexpected rise in the number of people filing for jobless benefits in the last week.

First-time applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose to the highest level in seven years as more Americans were laid off following the aftermath of the Gulf Coast hurricanes as well as employers cutting staff to meet slowing demand.

Initial jobless claims increased 1,000 to 497,000 in the week ended Sept. 27 from a revised 496,000 the prior week, the U.S. Labor Department revealed on Thursday. The total number of people collecting benefits was the highest since 2003.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate passed the US$700-billion bailout package on Wednesday night, giving the plan its first legislative success. It now will return to the House of Representatives on Friday, which voted down a previous version of the bill on Monday, for a vote on Friday.

But despite the apparent approval of the bailout plan, fears about a global slowdown are rising. Reports suggest the U.S. Federal Reserve Board is contemplating another interest-rate cut while the Securities and Exchange Commission extended its short-selling ban until three days after the bill would be enacted into law.

Overseas, markets fell on Thursday as fears of a global slowdown rose. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 average fell 1.% to 11,154.76 and benchmarks in Australia, South Korea and Taiwan also dropped.

Hong Kong’s market managed a late-day rally, raising the Hang Seng index by 1.1% to 18,211.11.
Meanwhile European stocks opened higher on Thursday, with Britain’s FTSE 100 up 1.1% and Germany’s DAX gained 1%.

On Wednesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange experienced a turbulent day as equities took an early-day plunge and then shot right back up, but not enough to finish the day in positive territory. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 38.39 points, or 0.33%, at 11,714.51.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index also traded down on Wednesday, losing 8.35 points, or 0.59%, to close at 1,406.65.

Stocks in New York fell slightly on Wednesday after new economic data showed U.S. manufacturing production contracted in September at its fastest pace since 2001.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 19.59 points, or 0.2%, at 10,831.07. The S&P 500 Index fell 5.3 points, or 0.3%, to close at 1,161.06. The Nasdaq composite index lost 22.48 points, or 1.1%, finishing the day at 2,069.40.