NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks opened higher Friday after a monthly employment report offered no big surprises and came in line with expectations.

The Department of Labor said employers added 128,000 jobs in August, up slightly from 121,000 in July. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting a gain of 125,000 jobs.

Job gains have fallen short of expectations the past four months, and some economists had been worried another weak month of growth would raise worries about a sharper than expected slowdown in the U.S. economy.

"Everyone is comfortable with the moderate employment growth being forecast," said John Silvia, chief economist for Wachovia, said before the report was released.

Investors have a packed last day before the holiday weekend as they have to weigh not only the closely watched jobs report but also the latest readings on auto sales, consumer confidence, as well as construction and manufacturing activity.

Despite the full slate of economic readings on tap for Friday, the day could see lighter than normal volume due to the upcoming holiday weekend, which could add to market volatility.

Just after the market open the University of Michigan gives its revised reading on consumer confidence in August, with economists forecasting the index to edge up slightly to 79.0 from 78.7. But a separate consumer confidence survey from the Conference Board released earlier this week showed an unexpected drop to a 9-month low.

At 10 a.m. comes readings on construction spending from the government and on manufacturing activity from the Institute of Supply Management survey of executives in that sector. Both readings are forecast to be unchanged from July.

Automakers are expected to start reporting August sales at midday. Ford Motor (Charts), which recently slashed fourth quarter production due to weak sales and a large supply of unsold trucks, is likely to see further declines. General Motors (Charts) could show a gain for the first time since January, because of comparisons to a weak August 2005 sales period - at the time, it had basically run out of 2005 models due to its popular employee pricing program.

Oil prices were slightly higher in early trading Friday after a U.N. deadline passed without Iran complying with demands to halt its nuclear program, raising the risks that sanctions could be imposed on the major oil exporter. But there was a report that BP is aiming to restart oil production at the eastern half of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska by the end of September

U.S. light crude rose 13 cents to $70.39 a barrel in electronic trading early Wednesday, while Brent crude in London gained 31 cents cents to $70.56.

In overseas markets, stocks closed mixed in Asia ahead of the U.S. jobs report, while major European indexes were higher in early trading.

Bond prices edged higher, lowering the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 4.72 percent, down from the 4.73 percent level reached late Thursday.

The dollar was little changed against both the euro and the yen in early trading ahead of the report.

In corporate news, a judge granted a request from Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb (Charts) to block the sale of a generic form of their top-selling Plavix blood thinner by the privately held Canadian drugmaker Apotex. Shares of Sanofi-Aventis gained 2.3 percent in after-hours trading following the decision, while shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb rose nearly 10 percent.

NASA awarded Lockheed Martin (Charts) the an estimated $3.9 billion contract to build the Orion spacecraft, designed to replace the space shuttle and return astronauts to the moon. Shares of Lockheed gained nearly 2 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement after the bell, while shares of Dow component Boeing and Northrup-Grumman, which had both been competing for the contract, lost in after-hours trading.

Intel (Charts) could be cutting up to 10 percent of its workforce, according to a published report. The No. 1 chipmaker had previously announced it recently wrapped up a three-month review of its operations aimed at saving it $1 billion a year.

More news and information on markets ahead of the the U.S. open.