All the major averages finally had an up day in the new year but fell on the week snapping a nine-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25 points. The S&P 500 rose 8 points while the Nasdaq rose 13 points. This was the first up day in 2024 for the Nasdaq as it settled down 3.25% on the week. The decline in the Nasdaq the last four days was led by Apple following three downgrades. The S&P 500 and Dow fell 1.5% and 0.59%, respectively.

Today's modest rally comes as the U.S. economy added more jobs than anticipated in December, with nonfarm payrolls growing by 216,000. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 170,000 for last month. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7% in another sign of continued labor strength.

The better-than-expected economic data caused Treasury yields to rise once again with the 10-year interest rate rising as high as 4.1% today as the Fed may delay any rate cuts this year.

Oil prices ended the week higher on fears that the Israel-Hamas war could escalate into a regional conflict.

Next week is the start of earnings season as the major banks and a number of other blue chips like UnitedHealth, Delta and Blackrock will report.

Wells Fargo analyst Christopher Harvey has pointed out that 12 of the 20 S&P 500 members that reported fourth-quarter earnings thus far have posted a negative one-day reaction; all 20 stocks averaged a 1.3% drop. For example, Walgreens dropped 5.1% on Thursday, citing challenges from consumer pressures.