Stocks fell on Friday as December's red hot jobs report dashed investor expectations for more interest rate cuts this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 700 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite lost 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively.

Here's how the market settled to close out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -1.54% or -91.21 points to 5,827.04

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -1.63% or -696.75 points to 41,938.45

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -1.63% or -317.25 points to 19,161.63

Moving Markets:

U.S. Private Payrolls surged in December, the Labor Department reported Friday, weakening market optimism towards further rate cuts from the Federal Reserve as the labor market remains strong.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 256,000 last month, up from November's print of 212,000 and the 155,000 forecast from economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate also ticked lower to 4.1%. Beneath the headline, health care led gains with 46,000 additions, while retail and leisure and hospitality each added 43,000, and government payrolls rose by 33,000.

"The surprisingly strong jobs report certainly isn't going to make the Fed less hawkish," said Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, quoted by CNBC. "All eyes will now turn to next week's inflation data, but even a downside surprise in those numbers probably won't be enough to get the Fed to cut rates any time soon."

On the Earnings Front:

Delta Air Lines (DAL  ) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Friday and offered positive first-quarter guidance on strong travel demand at the start of the year. The airline said it expects to generate more than $4 billion in free cash in 2025, with annual adjusted earnings exceeding $7.35 per share.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA  ) also reported strong fiscal first-quarter earnings on Friday, leading the pharmacy chain to maintain its fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings guidance of $1.40 to $1.80 per share.

"We've started the fiscal year by making progress against our financial and strategic priorities, despite the challenging backdrop for our consumer," CEO Tim Wentworth said during the company's earnings call with analysts on Friday.

"Importantly, we started to progress on the opportunities that we consider essential to our longer term turnaround," Wentworth added, as the company plans to close 1,200 underperforming stores over the next three years.

In the News:

Morgan Stanley analyst Terence Flynn upgraded Gilead Sciences (GILD  ) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing the pharmaceutical company's progress with its next-generation HIV treatments.

"We acknowledge the stock is trading off the lows following positive pipeline developments for Lenacapavir in HIV prevention and antio-cel in multiple myeloma, but we see the potential for upward estimate revisions and further multiple expansion," Flynn wrote in a note to clients.