The three main US stock indexes on Wall Street — the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average — finished Friday’s session down between 1.0% and 2.5%. For the week, they tumbled between 2.9% and 5.8%.
The tumble came after a worse-than-expected US jobs report for August that raised both expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut — something Wall Street had long awaited — and the odds of a recession.
“It’s a sentiment-driven move that’s largely driven by growth concerns,” Emily Roland, John Hancock Investment Management co-chief investment strategist, said in comments carried by CNBC. “The market’s oscillating between this idea of is bad news bad news, or is bad news good news, and the sense that it may revive hopes that the Fed moves more aggressively than markets anticipate.”
The S&P, an index which tracks the stocks of 500 high-performing US companies, closed Friday’s session down 1.7%. It fell 4% on the week, its biggest tumble since a 4.6% tumble in the first week of April 2023.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq, which comprises pricey stocks such as Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google, finished the day down 2.5%. For the week, the Nasdaq fell 5.6%, the most since the final week of October 2022.
The Dow, the broadest indicator for US equity markets and one that often reflects value, fell 1.0% for the session. For the week, it lost 2.5%, the most since a 4,.4% tumble in the opening week of April 2023.
The United States added 142,000 non-farm payrolls in August, the Labor Department said Friday, some 23,000 less jobs than estimated by Wall Street.
Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool showed that the possibility of a 50-basis points cut at the central bank’s September 18 rate decision had grown to 42% from 32% a week ago upon the release of the August payroll numbers. Alternatively, the Fed could opt for a smaller cut of 25 basis points.
Economists also warned of the possibility that the US economy could slip into a recession over the next six months if jobs growth continued to shrink.