North American markets are likely to stall at Thursday’s open as investors digest disappointing data on U.S. jobless claims and labour productivity.

U.S. workers were less productive than previously thought, as economic activity slowed from April through June.

Nonfarm business productivity grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.5% during the second quarter of 2004, the slowest pace in 18 months, the Labor Department said today. The growth rate had previously been estimated at 2.9%.

Economists had called for a 2.7% growth rate in non-farm business productivity.

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. workers filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits surged to a five-month high last week as layoffs related to Hurricane Charley continued to mount.

Initial jobless claims rose for a second week in a row, climbing by 19,000 to 362,000 in the week of Aug. 28. That marked the highest level since the week of April 10. The four-week average, which smoothes out weekly fluctuations, increased by 6,250 to 343,000. Economists had called for a reduction of 6,000 claims.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

Overnight in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 25.4 points, or 0.23%, to 11,152.75. In Hong Kongl, shares closed mostly lower in directionless trading.. The Hang Seng index fell 24.8 points, or 0.2% to 12,999.07.

In earnings news, Canadian Western Bank reports its quarterly earnings later today.

On Wednesday, a rebound in oil prices helped Toronto stocks finish in the black, but dampened investor enthusiasm on U.S. markets.

At the close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 33.09 points, or 0.4%, to 8,410.12 on a volume of 248 million shares.

Shares of Open Text Corp. plunged 22.69% on a volume of about 2.8 million shares after it reported a weaker profit and warned its current quarter will come in below market expectations.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed 8.55 points, or 0.56%, higher at 1,533.34.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 5.46 points, or 0.05%, to 10,168.46. The Nasdaq composite index gained 12.31 points, or 0.67%, at 1,850.41, while the S&P 500 index added 1.67 points, or 0.15%, at 1,105.91.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.35 of a cent to US76.51¢.

Crude futures closed nearly 5% higher for the session, to log their biggest one-day gain in three months with investors concerned about a big drop in last week’s U.S. crude supplies. October crude closed at US$44 a barrel, a one-week high, up US$1.88 for the session. Prices haven’t climbed that much in a single day since June 1, when prices ended with a 6.1% climb.