The major indices closed out the last session of 2018 in the green, but 2018 still ended in the red. In a step up on New Year’s Eve, Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary stocks fared the best. On Tuesday, investors and the markets took the day off to celebrate the New Year’s holiday. Trading resumed Wednesday, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index losing points in early trading, but as sentiment concerning a trade deal with China began to increase, the indices ended the day flat. The following day, initial jobless claims ticked up as new claims rose by 10,000 to 231,000 in the week ended December 29. In other news, U.S. manufacturing has slowed. The ISM manufacturing index slipped from 59.3 in November to 54.1 in December. Indices closed the trading session with gains on Friday with Technology stocks leading the ascent. Payrolls increased by 312,000 jobs in December. While December had the most jobs added of any month since February, the unemployment rate jumped up to 3.9% from 3.7%—for good reasons, though. The labor participation rate increased from 62.9% to 63.1%, a cycle high. With more workers now in the labor market, the number of unemployed workers rose. It’s also likely that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell encouraged investors with comments indicating the central bank was prepared to be flexible with monetary policy, suggesting future interest rate increases were not set in stone.