NEW YORK -- Stocks ended a tumultuous trading week with slight losses Thursday as investors sought safety ahead of an extended holiday weekend.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.64 of a point, less than 0.1 percent, to 2,076.78. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27.80 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,730.11. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.91 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 5,009.21.
Investors bought at the opening of trading after a Labor Department report on job creation suggested the economy was improving, though not so fast as to raise the specter of inflation and higher interest rates. But the gains vanished after a downbeat report from the International Monetary Fund on Greece's finances.
It was a quiet close to an eventful week. Stocks plunged around the world Monday over worries that a Greek default could spread losses throughout the global financial system. A continued drop in Chinese stocks added to the fears, as well as a statement from Puerto Rico's governor that the commonwealth would not be able to pay back its large public debt.
Stocks rose a bit over the next two days, but by Thursday's close the Standard and Poor's 500 index was still down 1.2 percent for the week, its biggest weekly loss in three months.
U.S. markets will be closed today in observance of the Independence Day holiday.
"We've got Greece, we've got China and Puerto Rico," said Sean Lynch, co-head of global equity strategy for Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "Investors want to take some risk off the table."
The jobs report showed payrolls rose by 223,000 in June and the unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low of 5.3 percent. But the rate declined mostly because many people abandoned their job hunts and were no longer counted as unemployed.
The report also said average hourly earnings rose 2 percent, slightly lower than consensus.
Investors bought bonds in anticipation that inflation, and interest rates, will remain low. The price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose, pushing down its yield to 2.38 percent from 2.45 percent just before the jobs report came out.
"There is no wage pressure and therefore no inflationary pressure. The Fed should just let the economy run," said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities. "Maybe instead of hiking rates in September, maybe it'll be in December, maybe March."
The report from the IMF said Greece needs $56 billion in new financing from October through 2018, and more debt relief. The analysis was made before Greece closed its banks and defaulted on IMF loans earlier this week. The outlook is worse now.
Greece's government plans to put austerity measures to voters on Sunday after European creditors rejected its latest proposal for a new aid program.
Six of the 10 sectors of the S&P 500 fell on Thursday. Stocks of utilities, considered a conservative investment because of their big dividends, rose 1.4 percent.
Business on 07/03/2015