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NEW YORK – Stocks were headed for a lower open Friday ahead of a monthly report on unemployment, which has remained stubbornly high despite other bright spots in the economy.

Traders are hoping that the jobs report won't upset a five-day rally that lifted the Dow Jones industrial average to its highest point since early September 2008, just before the peak of the financial crisis.

Stocks and bonds have been rallying since late August in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's massive bond-buying program, which was announced on Wednesday. The $600 billion plan from the Fed was slightly more than many were expecting and helped the Dow add 321 points over the past week.

Later Friday morning, the Labor Department will release its monthly employment survey on payrolls and the national unemployment rate, the most closely watched report on the economic calendar.

Analysts are expecting that employers added just 60,000 jobs in October, fewer than the 100,000 needed to keep pace with population growth, and far fewer than the 200,000 needed to start returning the 15 million unemployed Americans to work. The unemployment rate is expected to remain 9.6 percent for a third straight month.

U.S. stock futures were edging lower ahead of the opening bell, following slight declines in European indexes.

Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 24, or 0.2 percent, to 11,363. S&P 500 futures fell 4.10, or 0.3 percent, to 1,214.50, while Nasdaq 100 futures were off 7.0, or 0.3 percent, at 2,177.50.

Stocks rallied on Thursday on enthusiasm over the Fed's bond-buying spree. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 219 points to close at 11,434.84, the highest closing level since just before Lehman Brothers went under in September 2008. All three major U.S. stock indexes reached their highest levels of 2010 this week.

The FT-SE 100 in Britain and the CAC-40 in France were both down about 0.1 percent.

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