Investors will be mulling over a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report when markets open Friday.

U.S. employers added 110,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in March, the slowest pace in nine months and well below the consensus expectation of economists. However, the unemployment rate fell by ell by two-tenths of a percentage point to 5.2%.

Economists had called for a 225,000 increase in payrolls, and a 5.3% unemployment rate.

The report showed the manufacturing industry cut 8,000 jobs in March, reversing half the previous month’s gain.

A monthly construction spending report is due at 10 a.m., and economists expect that such spending rose 0.6% for March compared to an 0.7% increase the previous month.

Meanwhile, economists are bearish on the March manufacturing activity survey from the Institute for Supply Management, also due at 10:00 ET. They predict the growth rate slowed to a still-high 55 last month from 55.3 in February.

Bombardier is a stock to watch today. Yesterday the transportation giant said it is dropping its dividend payments this year after losing US$85 million last year, its third straight annual loss.

Toronto stocks powered higher on Thursday with energy shares boosted by a report that speculated the price of oil could drive above US$100 a barrel. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 128.12 points, or 1.35%, to finish at 9,612.38.

Crude oil futures topped US$55 US a barrel as a prominent U.S. brokerage firm Goldman Sachs. suggested that oil markets could be in for a “super spike” that could see prices go as high as US$105 a barrel.

The report pushed Toronto’s energy stocks up 3.68%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index ended its losing streak by jumping 42.11 points, or 2.28%, to finish at 1,886.46.

South of the border, surging oil prices weighed on U.S. markets, and insurer American International Group lost 3% after losing a prestigious credit rating.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 37.17 points, or 0.35%, at 10,503.76 and the S&P 500 Index was down just 0.82 of a point, or 0.07%, at 1,180.59. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 6.44 points, or 0.32%, at 1,999.23.

For the quarter, the Dow ended off 2.6% and the S&P 500 finished down 2.6%, making it the worst quarter for the S&P index in two years.

The Nasdaq fell 8.1%, its largest percentage decline since the third quarter of 2002, when it dropped 19.9%.