The Dow Jones Industrial Average of major U.S. companies had fallen by more than 900 points in Friday morning trading before settling with a loss of 610 points.
The S&P 500 index was also down 1.8 percent while the technology-focused Nasdaq index closed down 2.4 percent.
Following strong gross domestic product and labor growth earlier this year, a slowdown is now coming into view, suggesting the Fed could be at the end of its tightening cycle.
The Friday jobs report from the Labor Department showed unemployment jumping 0.2 of a percentage point to 4.3 percent in July from 4.1 percent in June — its highest level since October 2021.
“No question, this report came in cooler than expected,” White House chief economist Jared Bernstein said on CNBC, adding that officials “have seen hiring slow.”
But he added that he doesn’t “see recessionary signals coming from some of the most important indicators out there.”
Markets widely expect the Fed to start cutting interest rates at its next meeting in September. Interest rates stand at an elevated range of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent, where the central bank has held them for the last year as economic data has come in hot.
The Hill’s Tobias Burns has more here.
