NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks ended a tumultuous trading week with slight losses Thursday as investors sought safety ahead of an extended holiday weekend.
Investors bought at the opening of trading after a Labor Department report on job creation suggested the economy was improving, though not so fast as to raise the specter of inflation and higher interest rates. But the gains vanished after a downbeat report from the International Monetary Fund on Greece's finances as the country heads toward a vote on the country's financial bailout this weekend.
Stocks rose a bit over the next two days, but by Thursday's close the Standard and Poor's 500 index was still down 1.2 percent for the week, its biggest weekly loss in three months.
U.S. markets will be closed Friday in observance of the Independence Day holiday.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.64 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 2,076.78. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27.80 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,730.11. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.91 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 5,009.21.