S&P 500 Posts Weekly Rise Ahead of Fourth of July, Led by Communication Services

() -- The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.8% this week, led by gains in communication services and financials ahead of the holiday weekend. The S&P 500 ended Thursday's session at 7,483.24. This marks the end of the trading week as the US stock market will be closed on Friday in observance of Independence Day. Earlier this week, the S&P 500 closed out June with a 1.1% loss, its first monthly decline since March. Still, it gained 15% in the second quarter and 9.6% in the first half of 2026. On Thursday, US jobs data for June came in mixed. The data showed the US economy added fewer jobs than expected in June, yet the unemployment rate came in lower than forecast. Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 57,000 last month, representing the weakest tally since February and a notable miss versus the consensus estimate for an 113,000 increase. Also, May's gain was downwardly revised to 129,000 from an initial 172,000, while April's tally was lowered to 148,000 from 179,000. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2% from 4.3%. The rate had been expected to remain at 4.3%. Communication services was the best performing sector this week, climbing 4.9%, followed by a 3.7% advance.