There’s some good news on the jobs front in both Canada and the United States this morning. However, stocks are set to slide as traders digest the positive April employment reports, which they fear could mean higher interest rates sooner than later.

The Canadian economy generated another 50,000 full-time jobs in April, pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.3% from 7.5% in March, Statistics Canada said today.

It was the lowest rate of unemployment since September 2001, StatsCan said.

Most of the new jobs went to women and young people and virtually all were in the private sector. The increase was especially evident among the self-employed, with a gain of 35,000, offsetting declines of the previous two months.

U.S. payrolls grew at a rapid pace for a second month in a row, driving the unemployment rate lower and suggesting that the “jobless recovery” has finally bloomed into a real recovery.

Nonfarm business payrolls grew by a net 288,000 jobs in April, raising the total to 1.1 million over the last eight months, the Labor Department said this morning. The government also reported 66,000 more jobs were created during March and February than initially estimated. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, dropped a tenth of a percentage point to 5.6% in April.

Economists had expected payrolls to grow by only 150,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to remain stagnant.

In Europe, markets are mixed in midday trading. London’s FTSE 100 index has lost 22 points or 0.49% to 4,494.2. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 is down 0.21%, while the Paris CAC 40 has gained 0.08%.

Overnight in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 132.52 points, or 1.15%, to 11,438.82 points.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 99.55 points, or 0.82%, to 11,910.76.

In Friday’s earnings news, Ballard Power Systems reported a larger first-quarter loss of US$37.2 million, up from $22.6 million a year ago due to lower revenue.

On Thursday, the S&P/TSX composite index closed down 29.61 points, or 0.35%, at 8,427.69 on a volume of 233 million shares worth $3 billion.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 69.69 points, or 0.68%, to 10,241.26. The S&P 500 fell 7.57 points, or 0.67%, at 1,113.96. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 19.52 points, or 1%, to 1,937.74.