04:34 PM EST, 01/10/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes slumped this week, led mainly by declines on Friday when surprisingly upbeat nonfarm payrolls sparked a rally in government bond yields, lifting bets that interest rates will remain higher for longer.

* The S&P 500 closed at 5,827.04 versus 5,942.52 a week earlier and the Nasdaq Composite stood at 19,161.63 compared with 19,621.68 a week prior. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday at 41,938.45 versus 42,732.13 a week ago.

* US Treasury yields jumped Friday, with the 10-year up 8.2 basis points to 4.76% after touching a 52-week high of 4.79% intraday. The two-year yield soared 11.7 basis points to 4.38%. Both are set to end the week higher.

* Interest-rate sensitive sectors such as real estate and financials were the steepest decliners as a strong jobs report justified the recent move higher in Treasury yields. Energy topped the sector charts.

* Nonfarm payrolls rose by 256,000, above the 165,000 increase expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey and November's gain of 212,000. The unemployment rate fell by 10 basis points to 4.1%, compared with expectations for it to remain unchanged. Hourly earnings rose by 0.3% as expected after a 0.4% increase in November. Hourly earnings were up 3.9% year-over-year, slower than the 4% pace in November.

* "There were virtually no signs of underlying weakness in the labor market," TD Economics said in a report. The research firm expects the Fed "will be on hold this month," though the next few months of data will be "critical in shaping the final decision" for March.

* The probability that the Fed will remain on hold across all its rate-setting meetings through December jumped on Friday, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool. The likelihood of the target rate remaining unchanged in March surged to 74% from 56% a day ago.

* Apple ( AAPL ) , Nvidia ( NVDA ) , and Netflix ( NFLX ) were among the worst-performing mega-caps this week.