Stocks are set to open flat Thursday, the first day of the second quarter, ahead of several economic indicators due later this morning. Investors are also looking ahead to Friday’s U.S. employment report.

The U.S. Labor Department reported this morning that weekly jobless claims fell by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 342,000 in the week that ended March 27. Economists had expected claims to inch up 1,000 jobs to 340,000.

The Institute for Supply Management’s reading on March manufacturing activity is due at 10:00 ET. and is expected to come in at 61.0, compared with 61.4 in February. Any reading above 50 indicates manufacturing activity is growing.

The Commerce Department is also set to release its construction spending report for February at 10 a.m. U.S. auto makers will also report March sales figures.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today, however, both personal and business bankruptcies rose in February from January, Industry Canada said.

A total 7,115 individuals and 768 businesses declared bankruptcy in February compared with 6,110 individuals and 668 businesses in January.

In the first two months of this year, 13,224 consumers and 1,436 businesses went bankrupt, compared with 13,269 and 1,520 respectively during the same period a year earlier.

European stocks are higher at midday trading after telecommunications giant Ericsson said it expected higher margins in the first quarter.

The European Central Bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 2%, the lowest level in most euro-zone countries since World War II.

In London, the FTSE 100 Share Index is up 0.4% to 4,403.1. In Frankfurt, the Xetra DAX Index has gained 0.9% to 3,889.81. In Paris, the CAC40 is up 0.7% to 3652 in thin trade.

After the market closed yesterday, the Toronto Stock Exchange said it will not force Manitoba Telecom Services into holding a shareholders’ vote on a proposed $1.7-billion takeover of Allstream Inc. The decision by the TSX removes what could have been a significant potential barrier to the takeover, which would create Canada’s third-largest phone company after Bell Canada and Telus.

In other business news on Wednesday, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said Ottawa will do its best to meet a June deadline for the long-awaited final policy paper on merger guidelines for Canada’s big banks, despite speculation about a federal election this spring.

Overnight, shares retreated on worries about the weak U.S. dollar. Japanese investors dumped technology companies and other exporters that stand to be hurt by the dollar’s recent slide to levels unseen in four years. The Nikkei closed down 31.97 points at 11,683.42.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipped 5.42 points to 12,676.25.

In Toronto, a rally in gold prices failed to help the markets. The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 36.31 points or 0.42% to 8585.93 on a heavy volume of more than 365 million shares. The TSX Venture exchange managed a gain of 13.22 points or 0.71% to 1873.58. Advancing issues led declining issues on both markets.

Rising gold prices kept the Toronto market buoyant throughout much of the day despite data showing the Canadian economy shrank 0.1% in January after a 0.5% increase in December. Analysts had been looking for a rise of 0.1% in January.

Bay Street investors were also focused on a major deal in the Canadian gold sector. Mining firms Wheaton River and Iamgold plan to merge their operations in a nearly $3-billion deal they say will create one of the world’s top-10 gold producers.

In New York, there was red ink across the board. The Dow Jones industrial index fell 24 points or 0.23% to 10,357.70, while the S&P 500 composite index was off 0.79 or 0.07% to 1,126.21 and the Nasdaq fell 6.4 points or 0.32% to 1,994.22.

Also on Wednesday, OPEC agreed to follow through on a pledge to cut its oil production target by 4% starting in April, despite recent high prices of crude. However, the price of crude was down $1.05 Wednesday to US$35.20 a barrel.