S&P 500 suffers longest weekly losing streak since 2011

Volatility continued to dominate financial markets, with stocks pushing lower as the latest U.S. jobs data cemented expectations the Federal Reserve will remain on its rate-hike path to combat stubbornly high inflation.

At the end of a week marked by fickle trading, quick reversals and heightened anxiety, the S&P 500 failed to stay in the green and fell to its lowest level in about a year. The gauge posted its fifth straight weekly drop — the longest losing streak since June 2011. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 underperformed. Treasury 10-year yields remained above 3%, while the dollar rose. Gasoline futures in New York settled at a record high.

“The markets have been on a roller-coaster ride,” said Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist at Ally. “There is a significant amount of uncertainty. A key question for many investors is how big of a hurdle a quickly rising interest-rate environment is going to be for stocks to overcome.”

The long-awaited jobs report showed U.S. hiring advanced at a robust pace in April, yet a smaller labor force may increase pressure on employers to boost wages even more to bring workers back. That dynamic will likely complicate the Fed’s fight to tame decades-high inflation, as central bankers work to bring labor demand in line with supply.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 fell 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.2%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%
• The MSCI World index fell 1%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
• The euro was little changed at $1.0547
• The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2342
• The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 130.54 per dollar

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 3.12%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced nine basis points to 1.13%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.00%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $110.49 a barrel
• Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,881.60 an ounce

–With assistance from Sunil Jagtiani, Cecile Gutscher, Denitsa Tsekova and Vildana Hajric.