Dow Snaps Four-Week Losing Streak

Reuters

It was a see-saw kind of a Friday for the market, with more debate about the wisdom of toppling Syria’s regime combined with the all-important domestic jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 15 points, or 0.10% Friday. But the Dow tumbled 150 points mid-morning after Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the G20 summit, said Russia would aid Syria if the U.S. attacks.

For the week, the Dow rose 112.19 points or 0.76% to 14922.50, snapping a four-week losing streak. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was flat on the day, but rose 22 points, or 1.36% this week, to 1655. The Nasdaq was flat Friday, but up 70.14 points or 1.95% for the week to 3660.

President Barack Obama, also at the G20 confab, retorted that the Syrian regime’s alleged use of sarin gas to kill more than 4,000, many of them children, is reason the world cannot sit by. President Obama likened the situation to ignoring genocide in Rwanda. (More on how this played out among gold ETFs here and broader market observations here.)

The gain in non-farm payrolls to 169,000 for August was higher than the 104,000 in July, even with a revision. That’s a positive, with a negative revision. But the consensus called for 180,000 new jobs in August. That’s a negative. The unemployment rate fell to 7.3% from 7.4%. Positive. But more people are dropping out of the workforce, and that’s just not good.

So what does it all mean for the Federal Reserve’s threat to start removing the punchbowl from the party that is our economy? It is now looking like the Fed may not taper its bond-and-mortgage purchasing efforts in September. Or if it does, it may be what Bill Gross, Pimco’s bond guru, called “taper-light,” in an interview with Bloomberg Friday morning. See "Bill Gross More Wary of Markets," authored by Gross and published Thursday on Barrons.com. (subscription required.) If you want to listen to the Gross’ September outlook, there’s a free podcast here.

BMO Capital Markets Chief Investment Strategist Brian Belski wrote late Friday that