Stocks Ended Lower, Oil Futures Declined

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday, after the Dow briefly topped the 29,000 milestone, deflated by data showing slower-than-expected U.S. jobs and wage growth in December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 133.13 points, or 0.46%, to 28,823.77. The S&P 500 fell 9.35 points, or 0.29%, to 3,265.35. The Nasdaq Composite declined 24.57 points, or 0.27%, to 9,178.86. For the week, the Dow logging a 0.7% rise, the S&P 500 saw a weekly advance of 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.8%.

Oil futures declined on Friday, with prices posting their biggest weekly percentage fall in at least five months. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery lost 52 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $59.04 a barrel, while March Brent crude finished at $64.98 a barrel, down 39 cents, or 0.6%. For the week, WTI was off 6.4% and Brent was off 5.3%.

The U.S. labor market created 145,000 jobs in the final month of 2019, capped off 2019 with fewer than expected job gains and decelerating wage growth. The joblessness rate, however, held at a 50-year low of 3.5%.