Mixed close ends winning week on Wall Street

Wall Street capped a winning week with a sputtering finish Friday, as stocks waffled following a stronger-than-expected report on the U.S. jobs market.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% after earlier flipping between a loss of 0.9% and a gain of 0.4%. Despite its weak finish, the benchmark index delivered just its third winning week in the last 14.

The surprisingly strong jobs report showed that employers are continuing to hire despite worries about a possible recession. However, the hotter the economy remains, the more likely the Federal Reserve is to continue raising interest rates sharply in its fight against inflation.

Treasury yields shot higher immediately after the release of the jobs data, underscoring expectations of Fed rate hikes, but then eased back. The yield on the two-year Treasury jumped as high as 3.15% from 3.03% late Thursday, but it then moderated to 3.11%. The 10-year yield, which influences rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, rose 3.08% from 3% a day earlier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1% after swinging between a loss of 1.2% and a 0.6% gain.

The choppy trading Friday comes ahead of a key report Wednesday on inflation at the consumer level. The consumer price index, which in May came in at the highest level since 1981, is projected to show an increase of 8.8% over the 12 months ended in June, according to FactSet.

The S&P 500 dropped 3.24 points Friday to 3,899.38. The modest decline snapped the index's four-day winning streak.

The Dow fell 46.40 points to 31,388.15, while the Nasdaq rose 13.96 points to 11,635.31. The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks slipped 0.24 points, or less than 0.1%, to 1,769.36.

Shares of GameStop fell 4.9% after the retailer abruptly ousted its chief financial officer. A day earlier, the stock that shook Wall Street last year after soaring far beyond what professionals said was reasonable, had climbed 15.1% after it announced a 4-for-1 stock split.

Costco Wholesale stock rose 1.3% after it said sales at its stores strengthened by 20% last month from a year ago.