U.S. stocks cap off losing week with third-straight drop as rate-hike worries rattle markets

U.S. stocks finished lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 sliding for a third-straight day while all three major indexes kicked off the second half of 2023 with a weekly loss. The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.29%
fell by 12.55 points, or 0.3%, to 4,399.04, bringing its weekly loss to 1.2%, its biggest since the week before last, according to preliminary closing data from FactSet. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.13%
shed 18.33 points, or 0.1%, to 13,660.72 while falling 0.9% on the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.55%
retreated by 187.25 points, or 0.6%, to 33,735.01, falling 2% for the week. Energy stocks were a notable standout on Friday, with the S&P 500 energy sector gaining more than 2% as crude-oil prices saw their biggest weekly jump in three months. Small-cap stocks also outperformed on Friday, with the Russell 2000 rising 24.67 points, or 1.3%, to 1,866.90, although it still fell 1.1% this week. Investors digested the June jobs report from the Department of Labor on Friday, which showed that the pace of job creation decelerated last month, even as wage growth, a key inflation input, remained stubbornly elevated.