By Tilly Armstrong Assistant Consumer Editor for Dailymail.Com
Published: | Updated:
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Wall Street reacts on Friday to one of the most important economic releases of the year.
The Labor Department released its August jobs report, which will shape the Federal Reserve’s policy for the months ahead.
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates at its September meeting. This latest report does nothing to change that.
Investors will now be wondering how far the Fed will cut rates.
The central bank has kept its benchmark lending rate at 5.25 to 5.5 percent for more than a year, the highest level in 23 years.
Markets are weighing whether Chairman Jerome Powell and Fed officials will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point this month or make a larger cut of half a percentage point.
Stock futures fell on Friday as investors reacted to weaker-than-expected job growth in August.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq fell 1 percent immediately after the report was released.
While the unemployment rate met expectations, job growth was lower than economists had predicted.
Weak data in July prompted a market sell-off amid fears the US economy was heading for a recession.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in August, from 4.3 percent the previous month.
The US economy added 142,000 jobs in August, below the forecast of 161,000.
This is a reflection of the slowing labor market, which should pave the way for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this month.