A brutal week of big swings on Wall Street may be closing with modest moves.

U.S. stocks are drifting lower after a highly anticipated report on the U.S. job market came in close to expectations.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% in early trading Friday following a punishing stretch where it swung at least 1%, up or down, in each of the last six days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 112 points, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.1%.

The focus was on the job market, where the Labor Department said employers added 151,000 more jobs last month than they cut.

However, the high growth, tech heavy Nasdaq tumbled 4% into correction territory this week. The S&P shed. 3.6% over the last four days and closed at its lowest point since early November on Thursday. The Dow has slid about 2.9% since Monday.

The U.S. on Friday releases February employment numbers, which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired. Economists believe hiring accelerated last month.

A solid job market and strong spending by U.S. households have been linchpins in averting an economic retraction, but anxiety is rising that President Donald Trump's policies — tariffs on foreign imports, a massive reduction in the federal workforce and a crackdown on immigration — could put the brakes on the consistent economic growth since the pandemic.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday after Trump offered another temporary reprieve from his 25% tariffs on many goods imported from Mexico and Canada, underscoring the uncertainty the tariffs have created for the global economy. Investors showed little enthusiasm, unlike the bounce stocks got the prior day after Trump announced a one-month exemption specifically for automakers.

Trump is still pressing ahead with other tariffs scheduled to take effect April 2. And the dizzying back-and-forth on tariffs is amping up uncertainty. U.S. businesses already say they’re confronting “chaos” because of all the uncertainty coming out of Washington. while households are bracing for higher inflation.

In equities trading, chipmaker Broadcom soared 11.1% after it beat sales and profit expectations while giving a optimistic forecast based on strong demand for AI chips.

Walgreens Boots Alliance jumped 5.9% after the pharmacy and drug store chain agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners for about $10 billion. The buyout would take the struggling chain private for the first time since 1927 and give it more flexibility to make changes to improve its business without worrying about Wall Street’s reaction.

In Europe at midday, Germany's DAX lost 1.6%, the CAC 40 in Paris declined 1% and Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.5%.

Farther east, China reported slower than expected trade for January-February, with exports growing just 2.3% and imports sinking 8.4%, the government said. China’s trade data for the first two months of the year are usually combined to make up for distortions from Lunar New Year holidays.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 2.2% to 36,887.17 on heavy selling of technology related shares. Computer chip-maker Tokyo Electron’s shares dropped 3.1% and testing equipment maker Advantest gave up 2.3%. Both saw steep drops in their U.S.-listed shares overnight.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng reversed early gains, dropping 0.6% to 24,231.30, while the Shanghai Composite index handed back 0.3% to 3,372.55.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.8% to 7,948.20. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.5% to 2,563.48 after a court ordered impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to be released from jail, more than a month after he was arrested and indicted over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

The Taiex in Taiwan declined 0.6%.

India’s Sensex edged 0.2% higher, while the SET in Bangkok gained 0.9%.

Bitcoin traded near $89,106, down 1.2%, according to CoinDesk, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday establishing a government reserve of bitcoin, a key marker in the cryptocurrency’s journey towards possible mainstream acceptance.