NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks headed toward a lower open Friday after the U.S. government reported that the economy added 96,000 jobs in September, well below what economists had expected.

Early Friday, Nasdaq and S&P futures were moderately higher but turned into negative territory after the payroll report.

The economy added 96,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department reported, down from a revised 128,000 in August and below estimates for 150,000, according to Briefing.com.

The unemployment rate held at 5.4 percent.

The jobs report is the last one before the presidential election, and thus will be closely watched as a harbinger of the vote, which comes in 25 days.

It may also impact the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates, with some economists expecting the central bank to take a break from its recent rate lifting campaign.

Following the report, the 10-year note rose half of a point, pushing its yield down to 4.17 percent, and the dollar tumbled against the euro and the yen.

For details of Thursday's selloff, click above.

The euro bought $1.2379 according to Reuters data, up from about $1.2295 shortly prior to the report's release.

Against the yen, the dollar fell to session lows of about ¥109.93, down from around ¥110.55 shortly prior to the report and down more than 1 percent on the day.

Away from the economic front, oil prices slid after the Nigerian unions called off the unscheduled walkout. U.S. crude futures fell 44 cents to $52.23 a barrel in electronic trading, 77 cents off the $53 peak reached in intraday trading Thursday.

But Brent oil futures rose 2 cents to $48.92 a barrel in London.

General Electric (GE: Research, Estimates) posted basically flat earnings of $4 billion, or 38 cents a share, which met the consensus forecast of analysts, on better than expected revenue. The company edged its fourth-quarter earnings guidance to the higher end of its earlier range.

Stocks fell Thursday on news of high oil prices and concern about the safety of various drugs. The Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq composite index both fell 1.1 percent. (See chart for details)

Asian-Pacific stocks ended lower, with Tokyo's Nikkei index down 0.1 percent. European markets were cautiously higher in early trading. (Check the latest on world markets)

Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, Alcoa (AA: Research, Estimates) fell nearly 2 percent. The aluminum manufacturer said earnings for the third quarter fell to 32 cents a share from 33 cents a year earlier, below analysts' expectations.

AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) was nearly 2 percent higher after the long-distance service provider said it would cut 7,400 jobs and take an $11 billion charge due to its retreat from providing residential phone service.