It’s the middle of the armpit-soaking summer, a time when investors usually lather their portfolios with SPF 50 and let them relax until fall. But traders remained active last week, even as a strong jobs report made it more likely that the Federal Reserve will slow its asset purchases.

The second half of the year has begun, and so far it’s a lot like the first half.

For the week the Dow rose 226.24 points, or 1.52%, to 15,135.84. The Standard & Poor’s 500 added 25.61 points to close at 1631.89, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 76.13 points, or 2.24%, to close at 3479.38.

Bond yields and Treasury notes are still on the rise, with the 10-year yield climbing 0.23 percentage point on the week to 2.72%.

The Labor Department said Friday that the economy added 195,000 jobs in June, and it revised its May and April employment estimates upward by a total of 70,000 jobs. Nonfarm payrolls have now risen by an average of 202,000 jobs per month this year. The market initially hesitated on the news. Job growth appears to be consistent and relatively robust, which means the Fed has another excuse to slow down its asset-buying program. But after that initial hiccup, stocks rose in the afternoon, and the Dow ended the day 147 points higher.

Strategists and investors we talked to this week, however, remained uneasy. As the Fed takes the economy’s training wheels off, there may be considerable wobbles ahead.

“The economy is pretty clearly creating enough jobs for the Fed to begin to taper,” said John Canally, an investment strategist at a major financial services firm. “I’m not so clear that will lead to a stronger economy. The job market might just be playing catch-up. You might get a situation where the Fed is tapering, but GDP growth is still below their forecast” ( Source:  Barrons Online).