U.S. stocks are set to open higher Friday, as a key report on September payrolls showed hurricane Katrina’s impact on the jobs market was far more mild than expected.

In Toronto, investors are braced for more selling after stocks endured another triple-digit loss on Thursday, felled again by a drop in the price of oil.

Crude-oil prices rose 69¢ to US$62.05 a barrel in early trading Friday.

In today’s economic news, nonfarm payrolls declined by 35,000 jobs during September after an upwardly revised 211,000 increase in August, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday. Payrolls for both August and July were adjusted up by 77,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate climbed to 5.1% in September, up from August’s 4.9% and 5.0% in July.

Economists had called for a decrease of 175,000 jobs and a 5.1% unemployment rate in September.

In other economic news, a report on August wholesale inventories is due at 10:OO ET. Economists call for an increase of 0.3%.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said employment was unchanged in September, leaving total gains during the third quarter at 31,000. This was lower than the second quarter job growth of 79,000.

The agency said the unemployment rate remained among the lowest in almost three decades, edging down 0.1 percentage points in September to 6.7%.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.67¢ Friday morning, up 0.07 of a cent from Thursday’s close.

In corporate news, CanWest Global Communications Corp. said it will raise $550 million in an initial public offering of its new income trust, CanWest MediaWorks Income Fund. The fund plans to own 26 per cent of CanWest MediaWorks LP, which will hold most of CanWest’s newspaper and online properties.

After markets closed Thursday, Hudson’s Bay Co. said that it is reviewing strategic options for its credit card business. In August, Sears Canada announced the $2.2 billion sale of its credit-card division to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In overseas trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 1%, or 131.77, at 13,227.74. European stock markets were lower, with London’s FTSE 100 off 0.19% in morning trading.

On Thursday, the S&P/TSX composite index finished down 185.82, or 1.73%, to 10,562.23. Over the past three sessions, the market has fallen 518.96 points or 4.68%.

All 10 TSX sub-indexes lost on the day, with the energy sector shedding 5.05%.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange finished down 43.21, or 2.03%, to 2,080.88.

On Wall Street, U.S. markets declined for the fourth consecutive day Thursday amid concerns about an aggressive Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.26 points, or 0.29%, to end at 10,287.10. The S&P500 index slipped 4.90 points, or 0.41%, to finish at 1,191.49. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 18.94 points, or 0.90 percent, to close at 2,084.08.