NEW YORK – Wall Street took a breather Friday after a blistering rally that gave the market its biggest weekly gain since April and indicated investors see plenty of benefits from more gridlock in Washington.

The S&P 500 inched down 1.01 point, or less than 0.1%, to 3,509.44, leaving its blockbuster gain for the week at 7.3%. The wild week was dominated by an election that, as of Friday afternoon, had yet to definitively show who the U.S. president would be next year or which party would control the next Congress.

While stocks cooled, the bond market got a shot of optimism about the economy from a report showing U.S. employers hired more workers last month than economists expected. Treasury yields climbed, a sign of improved confidence.

This week’s gains for stocks more than made up the sharp losses from the prior week, when all the uncertainty around the election helped send markets tumbling. Even though plenty of uncertainties remain, stocks surged after early election results indicated control of Congress may remain split between Democrats and Republicans.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 66.78 points, or 0.2%, to 28,323.40. The Nasdaq composite edged up by 4.30 points, or less than 0.1%, to 11,895.23. For both the Dow and S&P 500, Friday’s tiptoe lower was their first loss of the week.