us stocks ended lower with losses led by the technologyheavy nasdaq composite after an unexpectedly strong surge in january nonfarm payrolls and disappointing earnings from a trio of techrelated corporate heavyweights still the nasdaq rose for a fifth straight week notching its longest weekly winning streak since the week ending nov 5 2021 according to dow jones market data for the week the dow slipped 02 while the sp 500 gained 16 and the nasdaq rose 33 stocks prices were volatile on friday as investors digested a strongerthanexpected jobs report and some disappointing technology sectors earnings the us economy added 517000 jobs in january far exceeding economist expectations for a rise of 187000 while the unemployment rate fell to 34 its lowest since 1969 average hourly earnings rose 03 in line with expectations see us jobs report shows blowout 517000 gain in employment in january randy frederick managing director of trading and derivatives at charles schwab said by phone friday that he wasnt surprised to see stocks dip at the open as the strong jobs report may have initially worried investors that the federal reserve might need to become more aggressive hiking interest rates to cool the economy as it keeps up its fight with high inflation whats more surprising is how much equities have rebounded since the open he said theres such a huge appetite out there to get into this market said frederick im quite shocked by the amount of momentum thats out there see also economists worry that the fed thinks inflation and job market are joined at the hip see also did the jobs report really show 517000 new jobs while the rebound faded the technologyheavy nasdaq composite still advanced 33 this week and has soared 147 so far this year according to factset data and the sp 500 booked a weekly gain of 16 for a rise so far in 2023 of 77 meanwhile fedfunds futures show traders see a 25 basis point interest rate hike by the fed in march as nearly assured and raised the odds of another 25 basis point rise in may putting market expectations for the peak in interest rates nearer the feds forecast above 5 see jobs report seen boosting prospect of quarterpoint fed rate hikes in march and may although the jobs data may have rattled stockmarket investors some argued that the overall picture points to a more favorable picture for economic growth and inflation the strong jobs report tells me more and more people have burned through their excess savings and going back to work this is also helping to keep wage increases under control with a modest 03 increase said bryce doty senior portfolio manager at sit fixed income associates there is a combination of improving supply and consumer demand falling as savings evaporate this phenomenon helps explain how the pace of inflation is slowing more quickly than expected he said while arguing the fed will continue to misinterpret this process of a normalizing job market and want to punish the economy further in another round of upbeat economic data the institute for supply management said friday its services index rebounded to 552 in january after falling into contraction territory at the end of last year numbers over 50 indicate expansion in the economy meanwhile the nasdaq snapped a threeday win streak after heavyweight tech companies reported results that fell short of wall street expectations late thursday shares of amazoncom incamzn dropped 84 following the ecommerce giant reporting its worst annual loss on record after the least profitable holiday quarter since 2014 the federal trade commission is preparing a possible antitrust lawsuit against amazon the wall street journal reported friday citing people familiar with the matter the suit could challenge many of the tech giants business practices as being anticompetitive the people said alphabet incgoogl shares slid 27 as it reported weaker advertising spending over the holiday quarter along with a slight miss on revenue and earnings apple inc aapl shares bucked the trend rising 24 after its earnings revealed the deepest sales drop in six years the tech stocks at least the largest ones have had a mixed quarter in summary tesla netflix and facebook did well while microsoft apple amazon and google disappointed said ipek ozkardeskaya senior analyst at swissquote bank is this balance enough to keep nasdaq in a positive trend it might not be ozkardeskaya said hopes that the federal reserve which increased interest rates by 25 basis points this week is nearing an end to its monetary policy tightening cycle has been helping to drive tech stocks higher in 2023 fed chair jerome powell also came across as more dovish than some expected at wednesdays news conference but others are worried that stocks have climbed too far too fast i dont really see how we have this sort of pieinthesky goldilocks scenario for stocks in a universe of still relatively high inflation said patrick mcdonough a portfolio manager at pgim quantitative solutions in a phone interview friday were not going to zero again he said of interest rates so why would we continue to see these speculative growth companies that did well in a zero rate environment outperform said mcdonough i find that very strange