By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 closed slightly lower Thursday, as a climb in financials and energy was offset by slip in tech ahead of Friday’s monthly jobs report.

The Nasdaq declined 0.1% and the Dow fell 0.47% or 170 point.

Tech’s intraday recovery was short-lived as the sector ended the day lower, though Meta, formerly known as Facebook (NASDAQ:), was the notable out performer ending the day up more than 2%.

Alphabet (NASDAQ) and Apple (NASDAQ) finished the day in the red.

The pressure in tech comes in the wake of concerns that growth stocks are set for a challenging period as the Federal Reserve – in its December minutes released Wednesday – signaled that it could be prepared to tighten monetary policy faster than expected to curb inflation pressures.

However, some were quick to remind investors the discussions by Fed members about tightening were consistent with communication from the December meeting.

“It is important to keep in mind that these minutes are entirely consistent with the Fed communication at the FOMC meeting, the updated dots, and the communication in the interim,” Jefferies said in a note. “There isn’t really any new information here.”

The market’s cyclical concerns continued to be a strong factor, and the gains were accompanied by financial and energy growth.

Energy was pushed higher by rising U.S. oil prices, which briefly topped $80 a barrel, but some see headwinds on the horizon as the omicron variant threatens demand at time when supply is set to increase in the first quarter, “partly due to the release of strategic reserves,” Commerzbank said.

As the Treasury yields rose, the 10-year close to its 52 week high. This was despite expectations that the Federal Reserve would tighten the belt sooner rather than later.

Signature Bank (NASDAQ:), SVB Financial (NASDAQ:), and People’s United Financial (NASDAQ:) were among the biggest gainers.

The coming weeks will see banks get more attention as JPMorgan & Citigroup begin the quarter-end earnings season.

The economic data revealed that the economy suffered more than anticipated, but unexpectedly, weekly employment rose unexpectedly to 207,000 in the week ended January 1.

Market participants still believe in recovery, particularly in labor markets, where monthly job increases in December will have rebounded following soft November data.

According to economists, the U.S. will create 400,000 new jobs in December. This is due to an increase in people joining the labour market.

“In December, we think the participation rate will tick up from 61.8% to 61.9%. Together with our forecast for employment, this would leave the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.2% in December,” Morgan Stanley said ahead of the jobs report.

In other news, Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:) rallied 8% despite reporting fiscal third-quarter results that missed on both the top and bottom lines amid ongoing supply chain bottlenecks.