Stocks ended a choppy trading session higher, with all three major benchmarks closing at record highs as investors continued to be encouraged by the prospects of additional Congressional stimulus in the near-term amid a weak December jobs report.

The session's lows came in afternoon trading after the Washington Post reported the Democratic Senator Joe Manchin stated that he would not support a round of $2,000 direct stimulus check. Manchin's office has since clarified that the senator is undecided on any future stimulus proposals, but the comments signalled that Democratic lawmakers may still face roadblocks in passing additional stimulus despite majority control of both chambers of Congress.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, according to the Labor Department. This was the first time since April that U.S. job growth turned negative. However, the unemployment rate held steady at 6.7%. The U.S. economy is still short 9.8 million payrolls since February despite monthly gains throughout the pandemic.

For the week, the Dow Jone and S&P 500 were up 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively, starting the new year off with a bullish start. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, kept up with 2020's outperformance trena, gaining 1.8% for the week.

Here's how the market closed out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.55% or +20.89 points to 3,824.68

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.18% or +56.84 points to 31,097.97

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.03% or +134.50 points to 13,201.98

For Stocks, Tesla (TSLA  ) continued its bull run on Friday, surpassing Facebook's (FB  ) market capitalization as the electric carmaker's valuation jumped to $820 billion. Facebook closed Friday's session was a market cap of $763 billion. Tesla is now the fifth-largest company in the large-cap benchmark, only trailing behind Apple (AAPL  ), Microsoft (MSFT  ), Amazon (AMZN  ) and Alphabet (GOOG  ).

For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 ended Friday's session split, with the majority climbing into positive territory led by Consumer Discretionary (XLY  ) and Real Estate (XLRE  ). The only losers of the session were Materials (XLB  ), Industrials (XLI  ), Financials (XLF  ) and Energy (XLE  ).

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) rose higher on Friday after a weaker-than-expected December jobs report boosted bets on additional stimulus in the near-term. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, rose 0.35% to 90.117, but reached as high as 90.252 during the session. Bitcoin continued its surging rally on Friday, breaking into a fresh all-time high of $41,802.84 after surpassing $40,000 for the first time on Thursday. The world's largest digital currency, however, slipped to $40,454.81 in later trading. Gold (GLD  ) fell on Friday as tensions in Washington began to cool down and the increase in U.S. Treasury yields made the yellow metal less desirable. Spot gold dropped as low as $1,828.36 per ounce, but recovered slightly, falling 3.6% to $1,843.06 per ounce in later trading. U.S. gold futures settled 4.1% lower at $1,835.40 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose to their highest levels since February, still benefiting from Saudi Arabia's pledged production cuts. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed 1.8% to $55.35 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) soared 2.8% higher to $52.24 each. Both benchmarks gained over 6% for the week on positive demand outlooks.

For the week ahead, the fourth quarter earnings season kicks off with reports from big banks JPMorgan (JPM  ), Citigroup (C  ) and Wells Fargo (WFC  ). Market participants will turn their attention to calls for more fiscal stimulus in the near-term as well as developments over the potential impeachment of President Donald Trump.