North American markets look set for another rough ride Thursday, after a government report showed the U.S. economy continued to shed jobs in June, and the price of oil neared US$146 a barrel.

U.S. payrolls shrank for the sixth consecutive month in June. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 62,000, the U.S. Labour Department said Thursday. The unemployment rate held at 5.5% in June.

U.S. stock markets close three hours early, at 13:00 ET, ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.

Here at home, another 2,000 jobs in Canada’s auto industry have been lost with the shutdown of 11 small plants operated by a Toronto-area company that makes plastic instrument panels.

Progressive Moulded Products Ltd., confirmed early Thursday that it had ceased operations at the plants in Concord and Rexdale during the last two days.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.


Oil prices neared US$146 a barrel Thursday for the first time ever on reports of declining U.S. stockpiles and the threat of conflict with Iran.

Comments by Saudi Arabia’s oil minister suggesting his country had no immediate plans to boost production also lifted prices.

The price for light, sweet crude for August delivery rose US$2.28 to a record US$145.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Wednesday, oil climbed US$2.60 to mark an all-time closing high of $143.57 a barrel, after a U.S. government report showed that crude supplies fell last week.


Overseas, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.25% to tame inflation, even as growth across the 15-nation euro-zone shows signs of slowing.

European bourses showed modest losses after the ECB announcement.

The FTSE-100 index was off 0.3% early in the afternoon in London, while the German DAX and Paris CAC-40 each receded 0.6%.

Asian markets were also lower, with Japan’s Nikkei index slipping 0.2%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.1%.


On Wednesday, the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange plunged more than 400 points in a broad selloff, as economic worries and falling coal prices dragged down equities.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 432.92 points, or 2.99%, to close at 14,034.11.

The energy group and the resource-laden materials group led the TSX lower, dropping 3.07% and 4.8% respectively.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 39.19 points, or 1.49%, to 2,596.59.

In New York, the Dow sank into a bear market as U.S. stocks fell on growing concerns about the toll that record oil prices are taking on the economy and corporate profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 166.75 points, or 1.46%, to 11,215.51.

The S&P 500 lost 23.39 points, or 1.82%, to close at 1,261.52, while the Nasdaq composite index slid 53.51 points, or 2.32%, to end at 2,251.46.