4:10pm: Weekly losses
US stocks closed higher on Friday, rebounding from earlier losses throughout the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 223 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 42,802. The S&P 500 gained 32 points, or 0.6%, ending the session at 5,770, while the Nasdaq advanced by 127 points, or 0.7%, to close at 18,196.
Despite the positive end to the trading week, the major indices experienced their worst weekly performance since September 2024. The S&P 500 fell 3.6% for the week, the Dow dropped 2.9%, and the Nasdaq recorded a 4.1% decline.
The volatility in the market this week was driven by ongoing concerns over U.S. trade policies, particularly President Donald Trump’s tariff strategies. Additionally, investors focused on the February nonfarm payrolls report, which showed a lower-than-expected job gain of 151,000, falling short of the anticipated 170,000.
In corporate news, Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) saw a notable surge of 13% in after-hours trading on Thursday following strong earnings and increased demand for AI-related chips. Energy stocks also saw modest gains as oil prices began to recover.
2:45pm: Impact of Trump’s tariffs
Analysts at Wells Fargo estimate that Donald Trump’s trade actions to date, which added turmoil to markets this week, cover 44% of US imports.
They added that, even without full clarity, tariff anticipation is already making its mark on economic data.
“The trade deficit in January widened to its largest point on record going back to 1992 as firms scrambled to get ahead of new levies,” analysts wrote in a note on Friday.
“A 10% surge in imports swamped a respectable 1.2% gain in exports, resulting in a trade deficit of $131.4 billion. Stockpiling was most evident in a 34% pop in imports of industrial supplies, however consumer and capital goods also registered solid gains.”
1:27pm: Canada jobs report
Canada’s labor market was “virtually unchanged” in February amid economic uncertainties and trade tensions, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
The nation added only 1,100 jobs, far below economists’ expectations of 20,000 jobs.
Employment increased in wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing, while there were declines in professional, scientific and technical services and transportation and warehousing.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.6%, compared to expectations it would rise to 6.7%.
12:26pm: 'Sigh of relief'
"After a string of weak soft-data, the nonfarm payrolls data was a sigh of relief," Bank of America analysts commented following February's jobs report.
In another positive, analysts noted that income growth has continued to outpace inflation.
Average hourly earnings rose by 0.3% month-over-month, which exceeds BofA's forecasted 2.9% increase in headline CPI, which analysts termed "a reasonable amount."
So what does this mean for the Fed?
"The February jobs report is consistent with our view that the economy is resilient, despite the slowdown in the soft data," analysts wrote.
"However, the disappointing household survey, along with solid wage growth, underscores the risk of mild stagflation -- softer but still positive growth and modestly higher inflation -- in coming months."
11:09am: Stocks hit five-month lows
The three major stock indexes were in negative territory on Friday afternoon, marking their third straight week of losses.
The tech-laden Nasdaq led the declines, down 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and the Dow slipped 0.3%.
"The uncertainty created by the US administration with regards to tariffs is starting to hurt investor confidence with US stock indices hitting five-month lows," IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph said.
"US President Trump's bewildering tariff policy is creating heightened uncertainty and investor concern with hedge funds having liquidated global equity positions at the fastest rate on record."
10:07am: Market remains resilient: analysts
While job growth improved from the downwardly revised 120,000 added in January, analysts noted signs of a cooling labor market.
“This is one way to get the Fed to cut rates,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.
“The transition from a reliance on government propping up the economy to allowing the market to stand on its own feet will be a little bumpy. While strong, the jobs market will slow considerably with government in cutting mode.”
Markets reacted calmly to the report, according to Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer at Northlight Asset Management.
“Markets breathed a sigh of relief this morning that the jobs data wasn’t worse than expected,” he said. “It was largely in line, and although the unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 4.0% to 4.1%, that’s still a low number from a historical perspective.”
Zaccarelli added that despite ongoing volatility in policy decisions, his firm has maintained a cautious stance. “We’ve felt whipsawed by the on-again, off-again tariff news, but we’ve largely held the same course as we began 2025 with: very cautious, risk-off and concerned about valuations and concentration,” he said.
9.41am: Dow down in mixed start
Wall Street was mixed as Friday’s session kicked off on the back of figures showing fewer jobs were added to the economy than expected in February.
The Dow Jones dropped 0.2% following the bell, while the nasdaq gained 0.2% and the S&P 500 moved just above the mark.
Non-farm payroll figures earlier in the day had shown the addition of 151,000 jobs in the US last month, which was ahead of January’s 125,000 but below the 160,000 expected.
Unemployment increased from 4.0% to 4.1% as anticipated in the meantime.
Capital Economics’ Thomas Ryan noted the data confirmed the US economy “started the year soft” but also that it was “not plummeting towards a recession”.
Charles Schwab UK director Richard Flynn warned the figures could “reinforce anxieties” though, given uncertainty around the impact of Trump’s tariffs in recent weeks.
“With investors already concerned about a growth slowdown, we will likely see greater sensitivity to economic data in the coming days and weeks.”
9.02am: US economy adds fewer jobs than expected
US non-farm payrolls came in slightly weaker than expected for February, figures showed on Friday.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 151,000 jobs were added to the economy over the month.
Though this marked an improvement against a downwardly revised 120,000 in December, analysts had expected the addition of 160,000 jobs.
Unemployment ticked up from 4.0% to 4.1% as expected in the meantime, the figures also showed.
Futures pointed to a mixed start on Wall Street after the figures, with the Nasdaq seen and S&P 500 seen higher, but the Dow Jones lower.
6.28am: Better start expected
Wall Street looked on course for a brighter start to Friday’s session as a volatile week culminated with non-farm payroll figures for February.
Having faced another heavy sell-off on Thursday, futures showed the Nasdaq up 0.4% ahead of the bell.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones were also seen gaining, by 0.3% and 0.1% respectively, after also facing pressure in Thursday’s session.
“Tariff fears remain prevalent,” Scope markets analyst Joshua Mahony said, despite Donald Trump having postponed levies on a string of goods from the US’ neighbours on Thursday.
“The idea that you can repeatedly turn tariffs off and on without damaging economic activity has clearly run out of support.
“Businesses are likely to react by postponing investment until we have greater tariff clarity.”
He added Friday’s non-farm payroll figures came against a backdrop of concern for the job market, given the looming impacts of tariffs and government cutbacks.
Ahead of the figures, expectations were for 160,000 jobs to have been added to the economy in February as unemployment edged up to 4.1%.