U.S. stocks slipped from record highs on Friday as concerns over a cooling labor market and rising recession risks outweighed optimism about a possible Federal Reserve interest rate cut this month.
By 11:25 AM ET, the S&P 500 was down 35 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 73 points, or 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 253 points, or 0.6%.
The U.S. economy added only 22,000 jobs in August, according to Labor Department data. This was well below economist estimates of 75,000 and a sharp drop from July’s upwardly revised 79,000. The unemployment rate also ticked up to 4.3% from 4.2%, in line with forecasts.
The weaker jobs report has strengthened expectations that the Fed will cut rates at its September 16–17 meeting. However, it also raised concerns that policymakers may already be too late in their response to slowing growth.
On the corporate side, Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) surged more than 13% on strong quarterly earnings. Samsara (NYSE: IOT) jumped over 12% on solid results, while DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) gained 3%.
Earlier this week, Wall Street had rallied to new highs after separate labor market data showed slowing private-sector hiring and higher unemployment claims. Those reports fueled rate cut bets, even as uncertainty lingered.
Markets remain cautious amid ongoing legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s sweeping import tariffs and his push to dismiss a Federal Reserve governor. Global fiscal concerns, including rising government debt, also pressured bond markets and contributed to volatility.
