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Investing.com -- Stocks ended higher on Friday, capping off a turbulent week and a losing month for major indexes.
Markets briefly pulled back during the session following a tense Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which heightened geopolitical concerns. However, stocks regained momentum, rallying into the close.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.59% to finish at 5,954.50, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 601.41 points, or 1.39%, to close at 43,840.91. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.63%, ending at 18,847.28.
The late-session surge was partly attributed to index rebalancing and technical factors, with significant buy-side imbalances in market-on-close orders at the New York Stock Exchange.
For the month, the Nasdaq suffered the biggest decline, falling nearly 4% in February, including a 3.5% drop for the week—its worst monthly performance since April 2024.
The S&P 500 slid about 1% for the week and lost 1.4% for the month. The Dow fared slightly better, rising 1% on the week but slipping 1.6% in February.
This week, investors will focus on a range of economic data, with the U.S. jobs report taking center stage.
The economy is expected to have added 133,000 jobs in February, according to a Reuters poll, the weakest gain in four months, while the unemployment rate likely remained at 4% and wage growth slowed to 0.2% from 0.5%.
Goldman Sachs strategists expect a stronger report, estimating 170,000 jobs additions. "On the positive side, big data indicators indicated a firm pace of job creation. Additionally, we expect continued above-trend (albeit moderating) contributions from catch-up hiring and the recent surge in immigration," strategists led by Jan Hatzius said in a note.
"On the negative side, we expect a limited drag—we assume 10k—from the combined reduction in force actions of the federal government, consisting of layoffs, a hiring freeze, and a deferred resignation program," they added.
Other important labor market indicators set to be released this week include the ADP Employment Change, Challenger job cuts, and final productivity and labor cost figures.
Meanwhile, the ISM Manufacturing PMI is expected to signal a slight slowdown in factory activity, while the ISM Services PMI could point to stronger expansion.
Traders will also be watching final S&P Global PMI readings, trade data, and speeches from several Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business’s U.S. Monetary Policy Forum.
Broadcom, Costco to report earnings
The earnings season is nearing its end, though several more reports remain closely awaited.
This week, investors will turn their attention to upcoming prints from Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST).
Broadcom, a major player in the ongoing AI boom, is set to release its fiscal first-quarter 2025 results on Thursday, March 6. Analysts project the semiconductor and software company will post earnings of $1.27 per share, marking a 47.7% increase from $0.86 per share a year earlier.
Other notable companies reporting this week include CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD), MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB), and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE).
What analysts are saying about US stocks
RBC Capital Markets: “Whenever equity market conditions turn challenging, it’s important to remember that one advantage the US equity market has today is the crisis management skillset the C-suite developed during the GFC. This has helped cushion equity market downside in the pandemic, the 2023 regional banking scare, and even the 2018 trade war. That’s likely to keep serving the stock market well going forward.”
Evercore ISI: “Volatility on the road to SPX 6,800 is base case as uncertainty dominates into March. As it was in 2018, Trump will use ‘The Advantage of the High Ground’ in share prices to pressure trading partners while using pullbacks to offer reprieve, putting a “floor” under market volatility. Use volatility to 5,700 to add exposure to AI Enablers, Adopters and Adaptors and remain O/P Comm. Svcs., Cons. Disc. and Info.”
Morgan Stanley: “While the growth backdrop has been clouded recently, this has been a good environment for relative value trades. In line with our views, Consumer Discretionary Services has meaningfully outperformed Goods, as tariff-sensitive Consumer Goods stocks have underperformed, in particular. Financials (our top pick within cyclicals) made a new relative high last week, and Software (ETR:SOWGn) over Semis is up 6% in equal weighted terms YTD. We continue to view the quality factor as the best hedge against policy uncertainty.”
JPMorgan: “The risk is of a broadening air pocket in activity, where more aggressive trade, immigration and fiscal consolidation policies could increase uncertainty, and ultimately affect payrolls. At the same time, CPI has been rather hot, which could constrain Fed’s response. This in turn leads to curve flattening initially, as Fed is seen not to respond at first to data softness. Ultimately, the activity air pocket could lead to more forceful Fed support, drive the re-steepening of the yield curve, and bullish equity market behaviour, likely in 2H, but not in the first instance. Defensives should be doing well in the interim.”
UBS: "While we have cautioned that volatility is likely to be higher this year due to policy uncertainty and trade frictions, we reiterate our view that the bull market is intact, and we expect US equities to end the year higher."
