As the late, great Tom Petty put it, the S&P 500 index futures were “Free Fallin’” during Friday’s session, once again living up to its propensity to end the week on the extremes.

Despite the title, there were some buyers (and shorts covering their positions) that came in during the session, pegging a premarket low at 5210.50 after an overnight slide of over 200 handles. March’s unemployment report at 8:30 AM ET didn’t lift spirits much. 228k jobs added beat the 140k expected, but the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% against a 4.1% forecast. Sellers piled on before the open, then hammered away once the bell rang.

Stops below the premarket low and psychological 5200 level triggered a sharp drop, though buyers snapped up the dip for a brief rebound. Close to noon, Fed Chair Powell’s comments about tariffs packing a bigger economic punch than expected snuffed out any bids, and sellers shoved the index into the 5100s. Despite a few afternoon stabs by buyers to stem the tide, a final 15-minute seller wave sealed the swoon. 

The session closed near the day’s low at 5110.25, shedding a staggering 322.50 handles, topping Thursday’s plunge and hitting new 52-week lows. After hours, sellers probed 5074 before easing the last after hours print closer to 5100. The next relevant monthly low comes in at 4975.36 from January 2024. Among more fedspeak, next week brings March’s CPI Thursday morning, and PPI Friday morning.

No top components escaped the red, leaving Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) as the smallest loser. The search giant dropped $5.12, or 3.40%, to close at $145.60, carving new 52-week lows.

That still outpaced the cash index’s 5.85% flop by over two percent.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) took the hardest hit among top components. The EV maker cratered $27.85, or 10.42%, closing at $239.43, slammed by the day’s relentless sell-off.