The S&P 500 regained some ground on Friday, but the index still posted its worst week in several months as the salvo of trade policy actions unnerved investors.

The broad index rose 0.55% to 5,770.20, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7% to 18,196.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 222.64 points, or 0.52%, to end at 42,801.72.

Friday saw volatile trading, with the Dow falling more than 400 points at session lows before an afternoon rally. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell more than 1% at their worst points in the trading day.

Despite Friday's recovery, the S&P 500 notched its worst week since September with a loss of 3.1%. The Dow, meanwhile, fell 2.4% this week. The Nasdaq Composite slid 3.5% on the week, during which it had entered correction territory, which means the tech-heavy index finished a session 10% off its recent high.

Investors shook off a weaker-than-expected jobs report released Friday, which raised further concerns about an economic softening and briefly sent Treasury yields lower. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 151,000 jobs in February, less than the consensus forecast for 170,000 from economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.1%.

That came as stocks have been on a roller-coaster ride this week with President Donald Trump's tariff policies worrying investors about future U.S. growth and inflation. Trump said on Thursday that a swath of goods from Canada and Mexico that are covered by the North American trade agreement known as the USMCA would be exempt from the announced duties until April 2.

This move effectively walked back much of the original plan for levies on the two countries, along with China. But the market still sold off this week, with uncertainty mounting amid constant updates and a lack of clarity on what to expect longer term.

"The market does not like uncertainty," said Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management. "While we expect the market to find its footing and recover from the tariff-driven selloff, investors should brace for continued choppiness until these uncertainties clear."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged to CNBC on Friday that the economy could be starting to "roll a bit." However, he said that was due to a transition from the policies of the previous administration. Bessent said any tariffs implemented would be a "one-time price adjustment" and not spark lasting inflation.

Stocks finish Friday higher

Stocks finished Friday's rocky trading session in the green following an afternoon rally.

The Dow rose 0.5%, while the S&P 500 added 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.7%.

However, all three indexes ended the week with losses.

— Alex Harring

Short seller urges against AppLovin addition to S&P 500

A possible lineup change for the S&P 500 could be announced today, but short seller Fuzzy Panda Research does not want to see AppLovin added to the index.

The firm sent a letter to the S&P 500 Index Committee this week laying out its concerns with AppLovin, which Fuzzy Panda has accused of boosting its online ad business with fraudulent tactics.

S&P Dow Jones Indices is expected to announce quarterly changes to the S&P 500 after the market close on Friday. AppLovin, which now has a market cap above $90 billion, is seen as a potential candidate to be added to the index.

The S&P 500 is widely followed by many large passive investment funds, so an invitation could lead to more buying of AppLovin's stock.

— Jesse Pound, CJ Haddad

Next week in markets: Wall Street will want clarity on trade, growth after latest sell-off

Investors could use some good news after this week's sell-off. Whether they get any in the week ahead remains to be seen. 

"Investors are going to effectively decide — not just next week — they will ask themselves this question on and on, with each new piece of data and news, 'Is this over, in terms of negotiations and tariffs, and what have you, or are we just beginning?'" said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder of Reflexivity. "Because in the first case, you buy the dip. In the second case, it's a bear market." 

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.

— Sarah Min

Hewlett Packard Enterprise heads for worst day since 2020

A weak earnings outlook dragged Hewlett Packard Enterprise toward its worst daily performance in nearly five years.

Shares of the server maker tumbled nearly 13% on Friday.

Though HPE topped revenue expectations for the fiscal first quarter, it offered dismal guidance for the current quarter and full year. HPE sees adjusted earnings for the fiscal second quarter ranging from 28 cents to 34 cents, and revenue landing between $7.2 billion and $7.6 billion. This was well short of the 50 cents per share and $7.93 billion in revenue analysts polled by LSEG sought.

HPE also announced it would cut its workforce by 2,500, or 0.5%, when counting expected attrition.

The stock's decline places it on pace for its worst day since mid-March 2020 – and its weekly loss of 21% puts HPE on track for its worst week ever.

—Darla Mercado, Jordan Novet

Energy and utility sectors outpace the market

Energy and utilities are the best-performing sectors of the S&P 500 today.

Energy advanced more than 2% on rising oil prices as President Trump threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia to pressure Moscow into ceasefire talks on Ukraine. U.S. crude oil closed about 1% higher at $67.04 after hitting multiyear intraday lows earlier in the week on tariff uncertainty and higher OPEC+ production.

Utilities are also up more than 2%, a sector considered a hedge against geopolitical risk.

— Spencer Kimball

S&P 500, Nasdaq poised for longest weekly losing streak since summer

Two major indexes are on track to notch weekly losing streaks not seen in several months.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are both on pace to record their third straight down weeks. That would mark the first weekly losing streak of that length for each since August.

Here is how each index has moved over the past three weeks:

— Alex Harring

This week's sell-off has been orderly, as evidenced by NYSE and Nasdaq breadth on Friday

This week's slide in U.S. share prices has been nothing if not orderly.

Look at Friday's trading, when the S&P 500 briefly fell as much as 1.26% and rose as much as 0.57%, the Nasdaq Composite swung between a 1.66% loss and a 0.88% gain and the Dow traded in a 1.55% range.

For all the sturm und drang, advancing volume on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq equaled two-thirds of total volume in mid-afternoon trading. About 55% of all NYSE stocks and 48% of those on Nasdaq were advancing, at the same time as new 52-week lows topped new highs by 69 to 31 on the NYSE and by 204 to 48 on the Nasdaq.

Similarly, total volume was far from explosive, too. With 90 minutes left in the trading day, composite volume on both exchanges was 71% to 75% of the past month's full-day average.

— Scott Schnipper

Luxury retail stocks head for their worst week of 2024

Heightened tariff fears dragged luxury retail stocks lower this week.

Here were two of the affected names:

Ralph Lauren:

• On track for worst week since June 2020
• Down 20% since record close set on Feb. 18
• On pace for third straight losing week, which would mark its longest losing streak since April 2024

Tapestry:

• On track for worst week since August 2023
• Down 17% since record close set on Feb. 19

— Adrian van Hauwermeiren, Lisa Kailai Han

Wells Fargo sees 'underappreciated' international demand opportunity for U.S. defense stocks

Wells Fargo is finally seeing a ramp in defense spending from international customers, and thinks a couple U.S. defense manufacturers could benefit from this trend for "years to come."

"The international demand opportunity for U.S. defense stocks starts to look interesting, once near-term domestic funding risks die down," analyst Matthew Akers wrote in a Friday note to clients. "Our analysis of top international defense customers (~2/3 of U.S. defense exports) shows a nearly 20% uptick in 2024 spending, with further increases to come as countries catch up on decades of underinvestment. We believe this is underappreciated."

Akers reiterated his overweight ratings on his top defense picks Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Technologies, saying both companies are now carrying less risks tied to Ukraine and U.S. funding.

Other pockets of Wall Street, including Citi Research, are also getting bullish on defense names. Citi earlier this week said the market is failing to correctly price aerospace and defense stocks, leaving room to buy the dip especially given Europe's continued defense spending and Trump's plans to fund a missile defense dome over the U.S. and revive the domestic shipbuilding industry. Read more about that here.

— Pia Singh

9 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new 52-week lows

During Friday's trading session, nine stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week lows.

These names included:

• Caesars Entertainment trading at lows not seen since May 2020
• Deckers Outdoor trading at lows not seen since January 2024
• MGM Resorts trading at lows not seen since October 2022
• T. Rowe Price Group trading at lows not seen since December 2023
• Cooper Companies trading at lows not seen since December 2023
• CDW Corporation trading at lows not seen since May 2023
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise trading at lows not seen since March 2024
• Martin Marietta trading at lows not seen since November 2023
• Vulcan Materials trading at lows not seen since January 2024

Just eight tickers in the 500-stock benchmark notched new 52-week highs, including:

• Verizon trading at levels not seen since August 2022
• AutoZone trading at all-time-high levels back to its initial public offering in April 1991
• McDonald's trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in 1965
• Yum Brands trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in September 1997
• Kroger trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in January 1977
• Jack Henry & Associates trading at levels not seen since December 2022
• Bristol-Myers trading at levels not seen since August 2023
• Gilead Sciences trading at levels not seen since August 2015

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stocks making the biggest moves midday

These are some of the companies making moves in midday trading:

• Costco — Shares shed nearly 7% after the retail giant's earnings for the second quarter missed Wall Street estimates. Costco reported earnings of $4.02 per share for the period, below the $4.11 per share that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting. Second-quarter revenue, however, topped estimates.
• Broadcom — The chipmaker popped 3% after posting fiscal first-quarter earnings that were above analysts' expectations, per LSEG. Broadcom also guided for second-quarter revenue of about $14.9 billion, which is higher than the $14.76 billion Wall Street forecast.
• Mobileye Global — Shares of the maker of autonomous driving technology climbed more than 2% after a regulatory filing revealed Steve Cohen's hedge fund Point72 has taken a 5% stake in the company. Cohen, a big bull on artificial intelligence, has stepped away from trading, however.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Fed wants 'greater clarity' on Trump policies before deciding next interest rate action, Powell says

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that the central bank was seeking "greater clarity" on President Trump's policies before making its next move on interest rates.

The White House "is in the process of implementing significant policy changes in four distinct areas: trade, immigration, fiscal policy and regulation," Powell said in a speech for the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum. "It is the net effect of these policy changes that will matter for the economy and for the path of monetary policy."

"Uncertainty around the changes and their likely effects remains high," Powell said. Because of that, the Fed is "focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves. We do not need to be in a hurry, and are well positioned to wait for greater clarity."

Powell's comments come after Trump's tariff policies have weighed on financial markets this week.

— Jeff Cox, Alex Harring

Spinoffs spin lower

It's been a rough week for spinoff companies. Three S&P 500 components that were separated from their parent companies are facing their worst weeks since their respective splits.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is hitting its lowest level today since last March after reporting earnings after the close Thursday, offering weaker-than-expected guidance and announcing a 5% reduction in headcount, including expected attrition. HPE was spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 2015.

Constellation Energy, which was spun off from Exelon Corporation in 2022, is on pace for its third weekly loss in a row and has declined double digits in each of those weeks. Constellation on Thursday hit its lowest level since September 2024.

GE Vernova is down 13% week to date, on pace for its worst week since it split with GE nearly a year ago. GE Vernova is hitting its lowest level since October 2024.

— Nick Wells

Financial stocks head for worst week since 2023

Financial stocks in the S&P 500 were poised to record their largest weekly decline in about two years.

The sector was the worst performing of the 11 that comprise the S&P 500 with a drop of 6.8% this week. If that holds, it would mark the sector's biggest weekly slide since an 8.5% plunge in March 2023, which was the height of the regional banking crisis.

KKR led the sector down this week with an 18% sell-off. Capital One and Discover followed, with each tumbling around 15%.

— Alex Harring

JPMorgan downgrades Macy's to neutral, citing poor consumer outlook and shrinking sales

With Macy's management predicting yet another year of same-store sales declines, JPMorgan downgrades the stock to neutral from overweight, and trims its price target to $14. Macy's stock has fallen 35% over the past year, and the firm's new target predicts just a 6% bump from Thursday's close of $13.22.

Analyst Matthew Boss said the department store retailer is working to improve its business but its performance will continue to be hurt by investments it needs to make and store closures, which are "eroding the core retail operating income dollar base."

Boss also called out headwinds Macy's predicts in the year ahead.

"Importantly, management noted the full-year outlook, including in the first quarter, reflects challenges from the external environment, including unfavorable weather to start the first quarter & uncertainty on tariffs/layoffs/macro, citing 'no question in our mind that the consumer has worsened based on a combination of macro factors,'" Boss wrote in a note to clients.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

Dollar heads for worst week since 2022

The U.S. dollar was headed for its worst week going back more than two years.

The dollar index was down 3.6% this week, on track for its biggest weekly loss since Nov. 11, 2022, when the index fell 4.14%.

— Sarah Min, Gina Francolla

Nasdaq announces plans for round-the-clock trading

Nasdaq on Friday announced that it is joining the push for round-the-clock stock market trading.

"We are excited to share that Nasdaq has begun engaging with regulators, market participants and other key stakeholders, with a view of enabling 24-hour trading five days a week on the Nasdaq Stock Market," company president Tal Cohen announced in a blog post.

The rough timeline is to begin trading in the second half of 2026, Cohen said, pending regulatory approval and infrastructure.

The Nasdaq decision comes one month after Cboe Global Markets announced its plans to offer 24-hour trading five days a week. The New York Stock Exchange has announced similar plans, and the new 24X National Exchange is also expected to launch this year. Several brokerage platforms offer similar schedules to their clients.

— Jesse Pound

Stocks open lower

Stocks kicked off Friday's session in the red.

The S&P 500 and Dow slid 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite ticked 0.1% lower.

— Alex Harring

Stocks making the biggest moves before the bell: Walgreens, Broadcom and more

These are the stocks moving the most in premarket trading:

• Walgreens Boots Alliance — The stock popped 7% after the drugstore chain said it struck a deal to be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
• Broadcom — Shares of the chipmaker jumped 10% after the company's fiscal first-quarter results beat Wall Street's estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
• Gap — Shares surged 17% after the apparel giant, which owns brands such as Old Navy and Banana Republic, posted a fiscal fourth-quarter beat.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Bessent says economy may be 'starting to roll a bit'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on "Squawk Box" that there may be signs of weakness in the U.S. economy.

"Could we be seeing that this economy that we inherited starting to roll a bit? Sure. And look, there's going to be a natural adjustment as we move away from public spending to private spending," Bessent said.

He also said tariffs would lead to a "one-time price adjustment" rather than long-term inflation.

Bessent's comments came before the release of the February jobs report.

— Jesse Pound

U.S. economy adds 151,000 jobs in February, less than expected

The U.S. economy created fewer jobs than anticipated in February, with 151,000 jobs added. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 170,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 4.1% from 4%.

The report comes as the Trump administration begins to cut the federal workforce.

— Fred Imbert

Stocks head for worst week since September

With just Friday's session left, the three major averages are on track for their worst weeks since September.

The Nasdaq Composite has dropped 4.1% week to date. The Dow slipped 2.9%, while the S&P 500 has slid 3.6%.

— Alex Harring

Deutsche Bank initiates transport stocks with buy ratings

Deutsche Bank says to "follow the leader" and look to Union Pacific in the freight transportation sector.

In a Friday research note, analyst Richa Harnain initiated coverage on the railroad stock with a buy rating and price target of $295, which represents 20.2% upside potential from Thursday's close.

Union Pacific's operating margin of 40.1% and 15.8% rate of return on invested capital in the past year make it a stand-out name among its peers, per Harnain.

In a separate note to clients, Harnain also initiated coverage on Old Dominion with a buy rating.

"When it comes to generating robust financial returns and operating efficiency, it doesn't get much better than ODFL in the Transportation sector in our view. The company significantly outperforms the transportation industry across various key profitability metrics," Harnain wrote.

Harnain has a $295 price target on shares, suggesting shares could rise by nearly a third.

— Hakyung Kim

Japan's 30-year bond yield hits highest level since 2008; Nikkei leads Asia losses

Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday, with yields on long-term Japanese government bonds hitting levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.

The moves in Asia markets mirrored losses on Wall Street after U.S. President Trump's tariff concessions failed to calm investors.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 led regional losses, closing 2.17% lower at 36,887.17. The broad-based Topix fell 1.56% to end the day at 2,708.59.

South Korea's Kospi lost 0.49% to close at 2,563.48, while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 0.98% to end the day at 727.70.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 plunged 1.81% to close at a six-month low of 7,948.20.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.76% in choppy trade in its last hour. Mainland China's CSI 300 index ended the day 0.31% lower at 3,944.01.

India's benchmark Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex index were trading flat as of 1 p.m. local time.

— Amala Balakrishner

Trump signs executive order to establish U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that would create a strategic bitcoin reserve.

It will be funded exclusively with bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases, White House crypto and artificial intelligence czar David Sacks wrote in a post on social media platform X.

The executive order also creates a U.S. digital asset stockpile, which will be managed by the Treasury Department. It will hold other confiscated crypto.

Bitcoin prices were down nearly 2% as of 8:47 p.m. ET, trading at about $88,427.11.

Read more about the strategic bitcoin reserve from CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos here.

— Darla Mercado

Stock futures open higher

Stock futures were higher on Thursday, as investors were gearing up for the forthcoming February jobs report on Friday.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Averages gained 44 points, or 0.1%. D&P 500 futures added 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.5%.

— Brian Evans