On Friday, September 6th, U.S. markets closed lower after a jobs report revealed a labor market slowdown, causing uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s next steps on interest rates. All major indexes dropped, with the S&P 500 and Dow seeing their biggest weekly declines since March 2023 and the Nasdaq since January 2022.

In August, the U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs, falling short of the expected 160,000 and following a revised increase of 89,000 in July. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3%, while average hourly earnings rose by 0.4% to $35.21, compared to a 0.2% gain in July.

Most S&P 500 sectors fell, with communication services, IT, and consumer discretionary, leading the losses, while real estate stocks closed slightly higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ...