50 wealth management guys in the nation. ubs's rick frard. [closing bell ring] we need to tell you in just minutes some of the president's cabinet will brief the media, what happened between xi xinping and the president. melissa and david will have more on the syrian attacks. david: a lot is going on. a missile strike in syria. a terrorist attack in sweden and a disappointing jobs report. but apparently the market doesn't care that. the dow closing out the day and the week lower but not by much at all. it is a mixed bag for the s&p and nasdaq. hi, everybody, happy friday, i'm david asman. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." we have more on the markets. first here is what else we have coming up for you at this hour. 59 tomahawk missiles launched at a syrian airbase, causing massive destruction of facilities allegedly used by the assad regime to mount chemical weapons attacks. we have unconfirmed reports of aircraft leaving the base to

carry out more strikes. reports of a russian ship entering the med takennian where our two navy ships are stationed. new developments in sweden after a truck plowed into at busy department store, killing at least four people, the prime minister calling it a terrorist attack. this already setting up supposed to be a tense meeting between president trump and the chinese president today. white house officials will give a ess conference on the meeting any moment. our blake burman is there. congress taking unprecedented steps to confirm gores -- neil gorsuch. we'll explain. david: melissa's voice will hang in there. melissa: i feel fine. david: it was barely in positive territory but it had been down 56 points at the low. oil and gold spiking at the missile attack on syria. phil flynn will tell us how they ended the day. ashley webster on the floor of the new york stock exchange. ashley, you're watching another

sector moving big after last night's strike. ashley: interesting, yes, the defensive stocks. david your point is well-taken, despite all the headlines including the u.s. air strike on syria the markets are pre much where they started six 1/2 hours ago. really a remarkable session when you think about it. but the defense stocks certainly moving higher on the us air strikes. raytheon makes tomahawk crews missiles. each one of those missiles costs $1.6 million. by my calculation, 59, $94.9 million worth of airstrikes on syria. but the defense sector as a whole moving higher. let's look at winners this week. caterpillar up 3.3%. a lot of it based on the hope there will be infrastructure spending that will be approved and moved through. caterpillar up for the day. also oil, you mentioned david, oil going up, certainly with the strikes in syria. but oil has been on the way up anyway. we're seeing chevron gaining

1 1/2% for the week. as for the losers, jpmorgan, down 1.6%. the financial sector giving back some gains of late. cisco systems losing 2.1%. again the tech sector also giving back some earlier gains. overall remarkable these markets pretty much ending up where we started despite all of the headlines, guys. melissa: thanks, ashley. oil and gold spiking on the news of syria strike overnight as you can expect. they couldn't hold on to the all the gains. how come? >> there is a lot of things happening and a lot of volatility. syria isn't a major oil producer. that was the thing of oil. yes they're on the border between iraq and turkey, yes they have a lot of pipelines but there is no real threat to supply at this point. obviously that could change over the weekend. if we see heightened tensions between russia and the united states that could all change. gold was own more of an incredible ride and silver.

this market was on fire for couple reasons. geopolitical risks. a bad jobs number. uncertainty in the world. we had almost a "flash crash" in silver and gold where they dropped dramatically. we have a contract, with 10,000 contracts in china because some people trump talked to syrian government and said don't use chemical weapons again. we don't know. melissa: have a great weekend. david: you would thought all this coming at the same time would cause markets to tank but not so today. why? joining me all-star lineup. forbes media chairman steve forbes, "barron's" senior editor jack hough, and natwest chief economist michelle gerard. michelle, let's start with you. this market is not getting speakinged at all. why? >> first of all the unemployment rate was not necessarily weak.

absolutely we had a miss on the headline payroll gain, although a lot of it is weather and that data is very noisy but meanwhile the unemployment rate fell further. we had an uptick in terms of the labor force. you had very good underlying details like number of people employed to the population. details from a good part of this survey were positive. so i think that helped to cushion some of the initial negative reaction. david: steve, let's talk about the syrian strike because in my mind that was a huge positive, not only for the nation, in terms of standing up to a war criminal, assad, and his allies, the russians, our adversaries but it clears the deck for him to do a lot of stuff internally. it gives him political capital for tax cuts, for dealing with china on the north korean issue. of course democratic foot-dragging. so is the market enthusiastic about that? >> i think the market has to be

very, very really in a good mood about doing what we did. it restores credibility to the president sy. it sends a message to north korea, iran and china our word means something right now. it reassures our allies like japan, south korea and others that the u.s. is back in the game. we'll not be passive. the era of paralysis and appeasement is over. we're back making sure bad guys don't dominate the world. david: jack, think of what you might of donald trump, to see him double tasking with the head of china, xi, down in mar-a-lago at same time calling on strikes, that was pretty impressive. >> i can't disagree with you, david. i think this might be the president's best day since he took office, to be honest with you. the news is looking a the earnings growth. markets are shrugging off these events. the market felt thee event were warranted and reasonable. when you look at u.s. corporate earnings growth, we might have

in the first quarter the first quarter of double-digit earnings growth since 2011. the news is broadly good for stock investors. david: paul, i would think with the negative news, at least some of these stories could be viewed as negative, if the market holds up under those conditions, what happens if we do get tax cuts? i mean i can see no sealing to this? >> no, absolutely, i would agree. i think up until recently the market was buoyed by just psychological anticipation let's say what the trump administration was going to deliver. if they do deliver on some of their promises as you said i think it will be very, very positive for the market. melissa: meanwhile, david was talking about president trump's second jobs report, congressman kevin braid day sis it is clear there is lot more cork to strengthen the u.s. economy. it calls for changing our uncompetitive tax code. paul, how much does the tax code weigh on companies decisions to

do business? >> sixthly, particularly outside of the united states. if you're dealing with global organizations, obviously it is impactful. melissa: michelle, how much does it have on the impact of the economy going forward? the fact we're moving slowly than folks thought on tax code and health care? >> we've seen nervousness in the market. there is disappointment that things seemed to bog down in recent months. i tell you the confidence numbers continue to be high, even though we haven't seen much forward progress. and again, i don't want to put too much on this march employment report. we're still, in the first quarter we added about 180 new jobs per month. at this pot in the cycle, with the economy at full employment, that is a very stellar performance. that is really solid performance. i again think it indscores the fact that companies are engaging before they have certainty of a tax cut.

that is reflection of the regulatory relief already is providing a boost to the economy, even before we get tax cuts. melissa: steve, what do you think about that? >> well i think the jobs report actually was better than the headline news. if you look at the household survey the job creation there was 472,000. now that is a volatile number each month but better reflect what is is happening with small and new businesses. second month in a roy you have a very good report there. michelle's thing about deregulation helps. small businesses are coming back into the game again. that jobs report is not nearly as bad as the headline would suggest. the american economy is starting to move again. melissa: jack, do you agree with that? >> don't be freaked out by number of jobs month to month added. we had warmer weather the first of the year. some of the construction jobs were pull forward. i think it is healthy jobs report. economy is gaining steam. melissa: paul, is that your read? >> yes i would stress, the jobs report is one data point.

it is impacted by many factors. i would be more concerned if we didn't have a president who already came out and said his number one priority is jobs, jobs, jobs, so they're focused on it. melissa: absolutely. great panel, thanks, guys. david: we have a lot more coming up. president trump's pick for the supreme court is through the final hurdle. the senate confirming neil gorsuch this afternoon but he is not on the bench yet. melissa: new developments in the hunt for a driver of a truck who plowed into a busy department store in stockholm killing at least four people. david: we're getting reports that syrian aircraft have taken off from the same base where u.s. missiles struck last night. how is this possible? this along with reports of a russian ship that has entered the mediterranean near where our two navy ships are stationed. what happens now? general jack keane, and former u.n. ambassador john bolton.

a four-star general and diplomat about to weigh in. >> or it could be, that the assad regime is playing the russians for fools. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. i love hanging out with myade with a cfriends.antage. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free. it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well fitting dentures let in food particles just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made even the kiwi an enjoyable experience try super poligrip free