By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 closed lower for the second-straight week Friday, as investors weighed up a “colossal miss” in job gains for November at a time when the Federal Reserve looks likely to step up the pace of monetary policy.    

They fell 0.8% and slipped by 0.17% (59 points), respectively. The dropped 1.9%. These were the session’s lows.  

“It was a colossal miss,” Darren Schuringa, CEO of ASYMmetric ETFs said in an interview with Investing.com on Friday, referring to weaker-than-expected job gains in November. “When I look at these numbers now, it is concerning for me from an economic strength standpoint.”

Nonfarm payrolls increased 210,000 in November, well below economists’ expectations for 550,000 new jobs.

However, deeper analysis of the monthly jobs report revealed signs that the labor market is strong. As the labor force participation rate grew 0.2% to 61.8 percent last month, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2%. This was more than anticipated.  

While the weakness in hiring “could complicate the discussion at the Federal Reserve … [Fed] officials seem to be leaning toward faster monetary policy normalization in response to high inflation,” Desjardins said in a note.

Although technology stocks suffered the most, they were not as badly affected as other sectors. However, intraday losses have been reduced.

Microsoft  (NASDAQ:) fell nearly 2%, while Apple (NASDAQ:), Amazon (NASDAQ:), Facebook (NASDAQ:), and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) were down about 1%.

Nvidia (NASDAQ) also saw a rise in selling as a result of the Federal Trade Commission’s suit to block its $40 billion purchase of chipmaker ARM Holdings. LON:, it cited concerns over competition.

“[W]e see the FTC’s decision to sue to block the deal as almost certainly ending the chances of any acquisition,” Wedbush said in a note.

DocuSign (NASDAQ) plunged 42% following its fourth quarter guidance that was softer than expected. This suggested DocuSign’s inability to maintain its pandemic-fueled growth.

In other news, Peloton Interactive  (NASDAQ:) gave up earlier gains and followed the market lower despite Deustche Bank issuing a buy rating on the stock amid expectations that a hybrid approach to fitness – at home and at the gym – is a possibility.

“[W]I believe the hybrid model of work extends to health and fitness. [Peloton] has plenty of momentum to regain operationally,” Deutsche Bank said in a note.

The slump in banking led to financials falling as Treasury yields dropped sharply. With the 10-year yield below 1.4%, the Financials were also impacted.

SVB Financial, First Republic (NYSE;), Citizens Financial (NYSE) had sharply lower yields as banks tend to have lower net interest income.

As the Fed looks ready to increase monetary policy tightening, investors are concerned about the future outlook of the economy. At a time when new omicron varieties could pose a threat to growth, the Fed’s slump in Treasury yields comes as it falls off the cliff.

The market might resume trending higher if it turns out that the new variant is less important than anticipated and if supply chain woes do not continue to ease. 

“If there are no borders, the supply chain can continue to be open.” [problems] continue to unravel, then that would support the markets moving higher from here,” Schuringa said.