Stocks inched higher on Friday following a mixed payrolls report showing U.S. employers cut fewer-than-expected jobs in August even as the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high.

The unemployment rate jumped almost half a point to 9.7 percent in August, the highest since 1983, reflecting a poor job market that will make it hard for the economy to begin a sustained recovery.

Oil prices slipped to near $67 a barrel Friday after the release of U.S. jobs data, which showed jobs losses eased in August but that the unemployment rate had reached its highest since 1983.

A slightly better report on the labor market for August is sending stocks higher. Stocks inched up in early trading Friday after the Labor Department said employers cut a total of 216,000 jobs last month, less than the 276,000 jobs lost in July and better than the 225,000 figure analysts had been expecting.

Canada added a better-than-expected 27,100 jobs in August, one of the biggest gains since the recession began in the country last fall.

A mixed report on job losses and unemployment for August nudged the stock market higher in early trading Friday. Stocks edged up after the Labor Department reported a slower pace of job losses last month but also an increase in the unemployment rate to 9.7 percent — the highest since June 1983.

H&R Block Inc posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on Friday, hurt by a larger loss in tax services, and said it expects tax returns filed to fall about 1 to 2 percent in the coming tax season.

Stocks inched higher on Friday following a mixed payrolls report showing U.S. employers cut fewer-than-expected jobs in August even as the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high.

The latest reading on the labor market is giving investors some hope that the U.S. economy is healing. Stock futures held on to most of their early gains after the Labor Department said employers cut a total of 216,000 jobs in August, less than the 276,000 jobs lost in July and better than the 225,000 job losses analysts had been expecting.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is likely to continue to see a weakening in its sales at stores open at least a year, an analyst said Friday as she downgraded the apparel retailer.