*

Hewlett Packard ( HPE ) slumps after dour second-quarter forecasts

*

Costco falls after retailer misses estimates

*

Nonfarm payrolls increase by 151,000 in February

(Updates to 4:10 PM ET)

By Chibuike Oguh, Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks finished

higher on Friday, rebounding from early declines after Federal

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economy was "in a good

place," but uncertainty about U.S. trade policy led to Wall

Street's biggest weekly decline in months.

Powell said the central bank will not be quick to cut

interest rates and echoed concerns about President Donald

Trump's policies.

Markets have been roiled this week by uncertainty about

Trump's tariff decisions on imported goods from Canada, Mexico

and China.

The benchmark S&P 500 finished with its biggest weekly loss

since September. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also registered

their third straight week of declines, the longest losing streak

since mid-July and early August last year.

Powell said the Fed will take a cautious approach to

monetary policy easing, adding the economy currently "continues

to be in a good place".

"Powell is echoing what the rest of us feel: unease that

while the adjustments made by the administration may well work

and put the country on better financial footing, the speed and

whipsaw-like nature of the change makes it difficult to predict

and to plan around," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris

Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia. "So, the best action when

that occurs is to sit and wait."

Stocks fell in choppy early trade, but rebounded after

Powell's comments. The three main indexes ended the week lower,

with In the previous session, the Nasdaq confirmed a 10% drop

from its December all-time high.

Utilities, energy, technology

and industrials were the biggest gainers among the S&P

500's 11 main sectors. Consumer discretionary,

financials and consumer staples were the

biggest drag.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 222.64 points,

or 0.52%, to 42,801.72, the S&P 500 gained 31.68 points,

or 0.55%, to 5,770.20 and the Nasdaq Composite gained

126.97 points, or 0.70%, to 18,196.22.

For the week, the S&P 500 ended down 3.1%, the Nasdaq

declined 3.45%, and the Dow fell 2.37%. The Russell 2000 Small

Cap index fell 3.86%.

Data early on Friday showed U.S. job growth picked up in

February from the previous month. However, thousands of recent

firings of federal workers were not reflected in the data.

Unemployment ticked up to 4.1%, adding to worries about the

economy's resilience. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs ( GS ) have

lowered their growth forecasts for the economy.

"This is a growth scare," said Adam Hetts, portfolio manager

at Janus Henderson Investors. "This is what it feels like to go

from a no-landing to a soft-landing environment and it's

unpleasant. It involves a spate of unpleasant economic data, and

the primary driver being weaker consumer spending."

On Thursday, Trump offered a four-week reprieve on tariffs

he imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico that fall under a

free-trade pact. The U.S. remains in a trade war with China.

Reciprocal trade barriers and other duties are expected to

take effect in the following weeks.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) slumped 12% after saying

its annual profit forecast would be hit by U.S. tariffs.

Costco fell 6% after the retailer missed Wall

Street estimates on quarterly earnings as merchandise costs

increased.

Broadcom ( AVGO ) gained 8.6% after the chipmaker assuaged

investor worries about artificial intelligence infrastructure

demand with a strong second-quarter forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.35-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE. There were 92 new highs and 136 new lows on the

NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 8 new 52-week highs and 13 new lows

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 28 new highs and 159 new

lows.

About 16.92 billion worth of shares were traded across

U.S. exchanges, compared with the 20-day moving average of 16.23

billion shares.