Wall Street questions whether the job market has slowed by enough or too much

"U.S. stocks are wobbling Friday as Wall Street questions whether the U.S. job market has slowed by just enough to get the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to help the economy, or by so much that a downturn may be on the way. After jumping to an early gain, the S&P 500 erased it and fell 0.4% below the all-time high it set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 203 points, or 0.4%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time,"

"Such cuts can give a kickstart to the economy and job market, but the Fed has held off on them this year because they can also give inflation more fuel. Until now, the Fed has been more worried about the potential of inflation worsening because of President Donald Trump's tariffs than about the job market. But Friday's job numbers were weak enough that they could even push the Fed to consider cutting rates by a deeper-than-usual amount in two weeks."

""This week has been a story of a slowing labor market, and today's data was the exclamation point," according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management."

U.S. stocks wobbled as investors weighed whether slower hiring will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates or signal an economic downturn. The S&P 500 erased early gains and traded below its prior all-time high, the Dow fell about 0.4%, and the Nasdaq slipped. Treasury yields tumbled after the Labor Department reported weaker-than-expected hiring in August and downward revisions for June and July totaling 21,000 jobs. Traders priced a near-certain rate cut at the Fed's Sept. 17 meeting, raising prospects for policy easing while leaving recession risk ambiguous.

Read at Fast Company