TORONTO – North American markets were set to a lower open Friday amid better-than-expected durable goods data for April, and a long holiday weekend in the U.S.

The Dow Jones industrial futures fell 46 points to 15,243, the Nasdaq futures drifted lower by 13.75 points to 2,978.50, while the S&P 500 futures index dipped 7.6 points to 1,642.40. The U.S. indexes will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day long weekend.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.42 of a cent to 96.72 cents US.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders for April rose 3.3 per cent, more than double what analysts had been predicting at 1.5 per cent.

The declines in the markets continued a day after global stocks were weighed down by fears over unexpectedly weak Chinese manufacturing numbers and worried that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start withdrawing its monetary stimulus.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, which plummeted more than 7 per cent Thursday, posted a big morning gain and then took investors on a dizzying ride into negative territory before closing 0.9 per cent higher at 14,612.45. The benchmark swung more than 1,000 points between the day’s high and low.

The Nikkei has been the best-performing major index this year, having risen around 45 per cent to five-year highs before Thursday’s drop. The index has been buoyed by aggressive monetary stimulus by the Bank of Japan, which has piled pressure on the yen.

Investor anxiety has also been prompted by speculation about when the U.S. Fed might start scaling back its bond-buying program.

The Fed is buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month as part of its stimulus program that has kept interest rates low and encouraged investors to put money into stocks and other risky assets. If the Fed slows down or ends its bond purchases, investors fear it could lead to an outpouring of money from stocks.

Earlier this week, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said that the central does not plan on doing this soon, but will consider it as early as next September.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was nearly unchanged at 6,695.82. Germany’s DAX rose 0.3 per cent to 8,378.07. France’s CAC-40 gained 0.5 per cent to 3,988.59.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.2 per cent to 1,973.45. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng bobbed between slight gains and losses before falling 0.2 per cent to 22,618.67.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.6 per cent to 4,983.50, hit by losses in banking and mining shares. Benchmarks in the Philippines, Taiwan and New Zealand also fell. Mainland Chinese shares rose, with the Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.6 per cent to 2,288.53, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.5 per cent to 1,029.3.

The commodities market continued see modest declines. The July crude contract was down 65 cents to US$93.60 a barrel, while June gold bullion lost 20 cents to US$1,391.60 an ounce. July copper was unchanged at US$3.30 a pound.

Meanwhile, Canada’s sixth-largest bank said it’s hiking its dividend and buying back some of its shares because its second-quarter profit beat analyst estimates by a wide margin.

National Bank (TSX:NA) said its adjusted earnings hit a record $369 million — up six per cent from the same time last year. That equalled $2.08 per share, a seven per cent increase from $1.95 per share in the same quarter last year.

Its net income also beat analyst estimates but was down year-to-year, due to an unusual $198-million gain that it recorded in the second quarter of its 2012 financial year.

The Montreal-based bank is the only bank expected to report earnings Friday. The majority of the institutions were set to release their results next week, while TD Canada Group (TSX:TD) reported Thursday that its profits were up two per cent from a year ago at $1.723 billion or $1.78 per share while adjusted earnings were $1.8 billion or $1.90 per common share.