The S&P 500 drifted lower Friday, but managed to post weekly gains ahead of the holiday weekend.

The stock market was relatively quiet this week with major indices sticking to a narrow range most days. Earnings season has wound down now that the bulk of S&P 500 companies are done sharing their second-quarter results. Trading typically slows down ahead of the Labor Day weekend since U.S. stock and bond markets are closed Monday in observance of the holiday.

On Friday, the Labor Department's employment report showed the pace of hiring slowed significantly in August, with the economy adding 235,000 jobs, well below the 720,000 jobs that economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had estimated.

Even that appeared to do little to stir the markets, though.

Ultimately, a soft jobs report puts less pressure on the Federal Reserve to begin its planned reduction of support for the markets, said Jay Pestrichelli, chief executive of investment firm ZEGA Financial. That can be seen as good news for investors, at least in the short term, he added.

The $S&P 500 index(.SPX.US)$ dropped 1.52 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4535.43. For the week, the index rose 0.6%.

The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ lost 74.73 points, or 0.2%, to 35369.09 on Friday and edged down 0.2% for the week, while the $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ closed at a fresh record, rising 32.34 points, or 0.2%, to 15363.52 on Friday and adding 1.6% for the week.

Among individual stocks, software company $MongoDB(MDB.US)$ jumped $105.76, or 26%, to $507.41 after reporting a narrower-than-expected loss for its latest quarter and getting a price target upgrade from analysts at Piper Sandler.

$Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company(HPE.US)$ added 9 cents, or 0.6%, to $15.48 after beating analysts' expectations in its quarterly earnings, but also warning that its supply-chain challenges would likely persist through at least the first half of 2022.

Shares of companies that depend on travel and tourism were among the weaker performers for the week.

American Airlines Group, Delta Air Lines and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings all posted weekly losses.

Meanwhile, defensive shares -- names that investors tend to gravitate toward when they are feeling more uncertain about the economic outlook -- outperformed the broader market.

Grocery chain Kroger posted a 2.6% gain for the week, while utility NextEra Energy was up 2.7%.

Overseas, the Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.6%.

Shares of emerging-markets asset-management firm Ashmore Group fell 4.1% in London trading after it posted full-year results that showed net revenues were down.

In Asia, Japan's $Nikkei 225 Index(.NKY.US)$ jumped almost 2.1% after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he wouldn't seek re-election as ruling-party leader. Investors cheered comments from potential successors who proposed big economic-stimulus programs to lift Japan out of sluggishness caused by repeated Covid-19 waves.

Other Asian indexes closed with mixed performances.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.4%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng contracted 0.7%.

$BABA-SW(09988.HK)$ shares fell 3.6% in Hong Kong after the company vowed to spend the equivalent of $15.5 billion fostering social equality.