- US stocks snapped a nine-week winning streak starting in 2024.
- Stocks closed slightly higher on Friday as markets digested a strong jobs report, dimming prospects for a rate cut in March.
- "This turmoil in the first week of trading tells us to prepare for a challenging year," said Fundstrat's Tom Lee.
US stocks rose on Friday but ended the first week of 2024 with losses, snapping a nine-week winning streak.
The S&P 500 fell 2% in the first week of the year, while the Nasdaq lost 4%. On Friday, traders were digesting a strong jobs report that supported the view of a soft landing for the US economy in 2024, but complicated the prospects for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Beyond a shaky start to the year for tech stocksThe markets turned around on Friday after the jobs report suggested that the economy is still too hot for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting rates in March as markets expect. Nonfarm payrolls data showed the United States added 216,000 jobs in December, beating estimates of 175,000.
"The first four trading days of 2024 have been a terrible start for stocks, with the S&P 500 ($SPY) falling -1.6% and the Russell 2000 (small cap, $IWM) falling -3, 5%," Fundstrat's Tom Lee said in a note on Friday. "As our clients know, for the last few years (and this is true for longer), the year tends to end in January. In other words, this upheaval in the first week of operations tells us to prepare for a challenging year."
Bond markets were volatile, with the 10-year Treasury yield topping 4% the morning after the jobs report, before plummeting to 3.95%.
Here is where the US indices were at the 4:00 pm close on Friday:
This is what is happening today:
In commodities, bonds and cryptocurrencies:
