US Stock Market: DJIA, S&P500, Nasdaq and Russell ended in green on Friday

Stocks notched modest gains and Treasury yields soared Friday on Wall Street after a healthy report on the U.S. job market strengthened expectations for coming interest rate hikes.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% after bouncing between small gains and losses. The benchmark index eked out a slight gain for the week, its third straight amid lingering concerns about high inflation, higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve and the economic effects of the war in Ukraine.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. Small-company stocks outgained the broader market, driving the Russell 2000 1% higher.

The sharpest action was again in the bond market, where the yield on the two-year Treasury approached its highest level in more than three years.

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Yields jumped after a U.S. government report showed employers added 431,000 jobs last month. That was slightly below economists’ expectations for 477,500, but the report also revised earlier months’ data to reflect more strength. It showed raises for workers accelerated last month but at a slower pace than overall inflation, while the unemployment rate improved to 3.6% from 3.7%.

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The two-year yield again rose above the 10-year yield, which was also climbing, but not as quickly. The 10-year yield rose to 2.38% from 2.33%. On Tuesday, the two-year yield briefly topped the 10-year yield for the first time since 2019, a potentially ominous sign.

Shares in more than 65% of the companies in the benchmark S&P 500 rose, with health care and communications stocks making up a big share of the gains. A slide in industrial, technology and financial stocks kept the index’s gains in check.

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All told, the S&P 500 rose 15.45 points to 4,545.86. The Dow added 139.92 points to 34,818.27, while the Nasdaq rose 40.98 points to 14,261.50. The Russell 2000 gained 20.99 points to 2,091.11.

Shares of GameStop initially rose sharply after it said it plans to split its stock, pending approval from shareholders for an increase in the number of its authorized shares. Such splits can bring down the price of a share of stock, potentially putting it in reach of more smaller-pocketed investors. The stock shed its gains, however, and closed 0.9% lower.

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GameStop’s stock has more than doubled since sitting at $78.11 in mid-March. But it’s still well below the $483 peak reached in early 2021 amid the “meme stock” craze. Then, bands of smaller-pocketed investors joined together to pump prices to levels seen as irrational by many professional investors.

Other meme stocks have also shown renewed strength in recent weeks, though AMC Entertainment fell 5.4% Friday.

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In overseas markets, European stocks were modestly higher despite a report showing consumer prices in the 19 countries that use the euro currency rose by an annual rate of 7.5% in March, the fifth straight monthly record.

France’s CAC 40 rose 0.4%, Germany’s DAX returned 0.2% and the FTSE 100 in London added 0.3%.

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Crude prices slipped modestly on Friday, with a barrel of U.S. oil dipping 1% to settle at $99.27. Early last month, when disruptions to crude supplies were at their height, it briefly touched $130. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 0.3% to settle at $104.39 per barrel.