Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market headed for a negative start to Friday’s session as the U.S. employment report for December missed expectations, while prices for copper and gold continued to decline.

The U.S. Labour Department reported that 103,000 jobs were created, way down from the 180,000 or so that the markets had expected. However, the jobless rate moved down to 9.4% from 9.7% while revisions showed that 70,000 more jobs were created in October and November than originally thought.

New York markets headed for a lower open following the report with the Dow Jones futures off eight points to 11,638. Nasdaq futures dipped 0.5 of a point to 2,275.75 and the S&P 500 futures were down 1.9 points to 1,268.3.

However, the Canadian dollar was up sharply in the wake of a solid domestic employment report for last month, rising 0.62 of a cent to 100.93 cents US.

Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s economy added 22,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 7.6% from the previous month, as more people entered the workforce.

The federal agency said the month saw big gains in private sector and full time employment, two areas that had been weak.

The manufacturing sector created a record 66,000 jobs in December, mostly in Ontario in Quebec.

Hopes were high ahead of the U.S. report after the ADP payroll agency released a report Wednesday that indicated that U.S. employers added a massive 297,000 private sector jobs in December. That was way up on November’s 92,000 and significantly ahead of market expectations for a 100,000 increase.

Analysts were quick to raise their predictions for Friday’s government report, despite fairly disappointing weekly jobless claims figures Thursday.

But there was plenty of room for disappointment, especially as December figures are often distorted by seasonal factors to do with the Christmas shopping season and the weather, analysts said.

Meanwhile, bullion continued to head lower with the February contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down $4.20 to US$1,367.50 an ounce. The March copper contract shed four cents to US$4.29 a pound.

Oil headed higher following a decline of almost US$2 Thursday, up 54 cents to US$88.92 a barrel.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average edged up 0.1% to finish at a fresh eight month high. Japanese stocks are benefiting from the recent fall in the value of the yen, which has eased the pressures on the country’s exporters as they battle for business in the international marketplace.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.4% while South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.4%.

London’s FTSE 100 index lost 0.38%, Frankfurt’s DAX added 0.11% while the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.64% amid data showing that the economy of the 16 countries that used the euro in the third quarter of 2010 grew by less than previously expected.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, says the eurozone saw output rise by 0.3% during the quarter. That’s down on the previous estimate of 0.4% and below the 1% growth recorded in the second quarter.

In corporate news, Canadian Natural Resource’s Horizon oilsands plant in northern Alberta has been suspended after a fire broke out in an upgrader late Thursday afternoon. The fire was contained to the coker area.

The corporation says its Horizon facility produces about 90,000 barrels of synthetic crude oil per day.

Pharmacy chain operator Jean Coutu Group (TSX:PJC.A) said that third-quarter profits rose to $48 million from $44.6 million a year ago, which beat analyst estimates. Revenues were down slightly to $677.3 million from $678.1 million.