- Stocks closed with modest gains after this morning's strong jobs report reaffirmed strength in the U.S. economy as well as the near certainty of a rate hike at next week's FOMC meeting.
- Some analysts say a March rate increase already has been priced into markets, and investors are now looking ahead to the pace of further increases.
- But the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq nevertheless finished lower for the week, both shedding 0.4% to snap their six-week winning streaks, and the Dow also fell for the week (-0.5%) after four straight weeks of gains.
- Utilities (+0.8%), industrials (+0.7%), telecom services (+0.7%) and tech (+0.5%) topped today's leaderboard, while energy (-0.1%) and real estate (-0.2%) lagged.
- U.S. crude oil closed 1.6% lower to settle at $48.49/bbl, the lowest finish since Nov. 29 and capping a 9.1% loss for the week, the worst weekly loss since early November.
- U.S. Treasurys saw an uptick in buying interest following the jobs report, with the benchmark 10-year yield closing 3 bps at 2.58%; the U.S. Dollar Index ended solidly lower, losing 0.8%