Markets Break Five-Session Losing Streak, End Week With Gains

After all the debate about whether or not good economic news is good news for the market, the U.S. stocks closed on Friday afternoon with a definitive answer: goods news is, indeed good news.

The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all finished with gains Friday noon, breaking a losing streak that stretched five consecutive sessions. The Dow returned to 16,000 territory with a closing price a little over 16,020, representing a 1.26% gain for the day. The Nasdaq finished for a gain of 0.73%, or 4062.52 points. And the S&P 500 closed with 1805.09 points, or a gain of 1.12%. While it briefly crossed positive weekly territory Friday afternoon, the S&P's closing price ultimately gives it a 0.16% loss for the week, breaking an 8-week streak of gains.

The markets were boosted by a stronger-than-expected jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which early on Friday announced that 203,000 jobs were added in November, well above economist predictions of a 180,000 gain. The unemployment rate dropped to 7% in November, down from 7.3% in October. The jobs report comes on the heels of better-than-expected private-sector job growth, GDP growth and jobless claims, and with all the news added together, investors seemed to take it as a sign that the economy is ready for the Fed to begin tapering its monthly $85 billion stream into the economy.

Earlier in the week, good economic news was not good news for the markets, which tumbled after the release of the ADP payroll report on Wednesday and again after Thursday's GDP upwards revision. Friday's jobs report was enough confirmation of consistent economic growth for investors to feel more confident about a Fed taper; this confidence helped the markets almost entirely recoup the losses from earlier in the week.

Also adding to the rosier economic picture was the Michigan consumer sentiment index, which rose from 75.1 in November to 82.5 in early December, well above the 76-point consensus. While this is down from the 85.1-point high in July, High Frequency Economics chief U.S. economist Jim O'Sullivan said in a note on Friday that "the ongoing improvement in the labor market should lead to further gains in coming months."