wall street wraps up the short trading week on a better note ahead of fridays march jobs data us stocks ended the short trading week higher on thursday as investors digested weekly data on the number of americans applying for unemployment benefits while looking to fridays jobs report for signs of a slowing economy and the future of the federal reserves interest rate policy however the sp 500 and the nasdaq composite booked their first losing week in four while the dow jones industrial average gained a modest 06 for the week according to dow jones market data the us stock market will close on friday april 7 in observance of good friday and reopen on monday april 10 on wednesday the dow gained 80 points while both the sp 500 and nasdaq declined us stocks finished modestly higher on thursday after a volatile session however with the exception of the dow industrials us stocks still finished the week lower after three consecutive weekly gains for the sp 500 and the techheavy nasdaq the dow industrials rose 06 for the week while the sp 500 shed 01 and the nasdaq slumped 11 after scoring its best quarter since 2020 according to dow jones market data investors parsed a report on jobless claims that further supported the notion that the us labor market is starting to feel the effects of the federal reserves interestrate hikes during the seven days ended april 1 new jobless claims fell to 228000 from a revised 246000 in the prior week the data showed claims topping the 200000 level for the ninth week in a row after changes to the seasonal adjustment formula chris diaz portfolio manager and cohead of global taxable fixed income at brown advisory said all of those indicators point to a economy that is decelerating and put some pretty significant concerns into the job market outlook going forward now whether thatll be captured in tomorrows march jobs data or not i dont know but increasing jobless claims with weaker survey measures of employment is generally not gonna bode well for the employment market going forward diaz told marketwatch via phone fridays march jobs report is expected to show 238000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added to the us economy last month while the unemployment rate is set to hold steady at 36 according to economists polled by dow jones see why good friday complicates how stockmarket traders will digest march jobs report however trading volumes were low as investors in the us and europe prepared for a long holiday weekend wall street looks like it is ready for both a long weekend and a nonfarm payroll report that will likely show labor market weakness is happening said edward moya senior market analyst at oanda stocks wavered most of the session as investors refrained from massive positioning before this shortened trading week wraps up some traders however dont want exposure in case we get an upside surprise with the jobs report just like canada did today he added the sp 500 closed at a sevenweek high as recently as monday as falling treasury yields helped to boost equity prices at the time traders were hoping that signs of a slowing economy might encourage the federal reserve to begin trimming interest rates later this year as slowing growth is expected to help suppress inflation the yield on the 2year treasury rose 56 basis points to 3818 on thursday after falling to the lowest level since september in the previous session diaz said the recent volatilities in the bond market could be explained by less liquidity in the fixed income markets as dealers are less willing to take risks as well as concerns that the fed would raise policy interest rates to a very significant degree in a very short amount of time it was surprising though to see the kinds of moves that were seeing at the front end of the yield curve diaz said seetraders now see no chance rates will end up where fed thinks in 2023 but data released this week on job openings and the service sector helped reinforce the notion that the us economy is slowing more quickly than previously expected which has helped to stoke worries about slowing corporate earnings ahead of the start of the firstquarter earnings season which begins next week with earnings from some of the largest us banks that is why investors are looking to fridays monthly jobs report which will be released while the equity market is closed to either challenge or confirm these expectations see us economy forecast to create 238000 jobs in march the fed wouldnt be happy meanwhile st louis federal reserve president james bullard on thursday downplayed concern over financial stress on the economic outlook the feds response to the bank sector weakness has been swift and appropriate he said and appropriate monetary policy can continue to put downward pressure on inflation data on the real economy has generally been stronger than expected during the first quarter and inflation remains too high he said regional bank stocks advanced following bullards remarks with the spdr sp regional banking etf kre ending 15 higher seecostco shares stumble after sales decline fedex shares rise after upgrade and more stocks on the move this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal