North American stocks may open mixed Friday, as investors digest a stronger than expected U.S. jobs report, along with rising oil prices.

The U.S. unemployment rate dipped to 4.7% in August as job creation was slightly better than Wall Street forecasters had been expecting.

Last month’s jobless figure was down from the five-month high of 4.8% seen in July, the U.S. Labor Department reported today.

U.S. employers added 128,000 new jobs to their payrolls, topping the 120,000 to 125,000 additions that had been predicted.

Other U.S. economic data are due later today. The final reading of August consumer sentiment comes shortly after markets start trading, and the Institute of Supply Management’s August manufacturing index is expected to stay stable at 54.7%.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery gained 39¢ to US$70.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened trading at US90.43¢, down 0.04 of a cent from Thursday’s close.

In M&A news, Alcatel has signed a preliminary agreement to buy Nortel’s third-generation cell phone network unit for US$320 million.

In earnings news after markets closed Thursday, Open Text Corp. reported an increase in fourth-quarter profit but said revenue declined.

Forzani Group Ltd. reported quarterly earnings in line with analyst forecasts.

Overseas, European indexes made modest gains during afternoon trading, while Asian markets closed mixed.

The Nikkei 225 index fell 6.51 points to finish at 16,134.25 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 31.45 points to 17,423.72.

Toronto stocks finished flat Thursday, despite getting a boost from merger activity in the gold sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 5.39 points, or 0.04%, at 12,073.75.

Overall, four of the 10 main TSX groups were higher.

Goldcorp Inc. announced it will buy U.S.-based Glamis Gold Ltd. for about US$8.6 billion in stock, pushing gold sector shares up 8%.

Goldcorp’s stock fell $3.22, or 9.5%, to $30.55, while Glamis jumped $7.68, or 17.8%, to $50.70, making it the net gain leader.

The heavily weighed financials group slid 0.4% after CIBC reported that third-quarter profit increased on higher retail banking income, buy revenue was lower than a year earlier.

CIBC shares fell $1.27, or 1.6%, to $80.33

National Bank shares also slipped after the bank posted a 6.3% jump in profit, as revenue rose at their three main business units.

National slipped $1.84, or 3%, to $59.97.

U.S. stocks finished slightly lower on Thursday, as investors were cautious ahead of the release of the U.S. jobs report on Friday.

Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.76 points to 11,381.15. The S&P 500 was off 0.45 points to 1,303.82, and the Nasdaq fell 1.98 points to 2,183.75.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose by 0.1% in July, less than what economists had forecast. That lowered concerns about inflation and worries about possible interest rate increases.

Another U.S. report showed that retail spending rose by 0.8% last month, twice the 0.4% gain shown in June. Also, the Labour Department released figures showing a drop in the number of recently laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits.