Why US stocks are rising despite a weak jobs reportpublished at 14:48 British Summer Time

Michelle Fleury
New York Business Correspondent

It might seem counterintuitive: a gloomy jobs report — yetUS stock markets are at record levels.

On Wall Street, this is a classic case of “bad news isgood news”.

Traders are betting that today’s disappointing labour marketdata will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates — perhaps sooner andmore aggressively than previously expected.

In this context, it’s not theweakness in hiring that’s driving markets, but what that weakness could meanfor the Fed’s next move.

Lower interest rates typically boost the stock market — theyreduce borrowing costs for companies and make equities more attractive comparedto other investments like bonds.

The Fed has three more meetings scheduled this year.Investors are now pricing in a possible 25 basis point cut at the next one, on16-17 September. And the odds of further cuts at the following meetings — onceconsidered unlikely — are suddenly rising.

Only weeks ago, few would have expected rate cuts inOctober. Today, markets are saying: don’t rule it out.

US markets have opened. Here’s the early market reaction from the three main indexes:

• The S&P 500 is up 0.35%
• The Dow Jones is up 0.16%
• The Nasdaq is up 0.47%

The top adviser on the economy at the White House, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, tells CNBC the report is a bit of a disappointment.

He points to a section showing an increase in earnings as a positive, saying that it shows workers have more money in their pockets. The report found that over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by3.7 percent.

Hassett also believes that the August jobs gains will be revised up next month, showing bigger growth.

CNBC asks about Trump’s tariffs, and if they could hurt the economy.

“The economy is definitely prepared for the tariffs,” he says, and then recounts anecdotes about companies “spending billions of dollars in the US” to build factories.

“Everybody’s rushing to make stuff here,” he says.

Senator Elizabeth Warren says today’s job report is indicative of Trump’s economic policies.

“Today’s disastrous jobs report makes it increasingly clear that President Trump’s economic agenda is wrecking the labor market,” Warren, the leading Democrat on the US Senate’s banking committee says.

“There are now more unemployed people than job openings in the United States for the first time since the pandemic, Trump’s immigration policies are shrinking the workforce, and his chaotic tariffs are slowing down hiring.”

US jobs market hits a worrying wallpublished at 14:17 British Summer Time

Michelle Fleury
New York Business Correspondent

The big question ahead oftoday’s jobs report was: just how bad would it be?

The answer? Pretty grim.

America’s labour market is showing clear signs of strain.Job growth has slowed to its weakest pace since the early days of the Covid-19pandemic — and over the last three months, the economy has barely added anyjobs at all.

Manufacturing, a sector Donald Trump has promised torevitalise, has actually lost jobs — casting doubt on the effectiveness ofthose efforts.

So, what does this mean for American workers?

For many jobseekers, it’s getting harder to findopportunities. Wage growth is stalling, and with thehours available stuck in limbo, even those in work may struggle to makeends meet. Businesses are holding back on hiring — and while layoffs haven’tyet spiked, economists worry that could be the next shoe to drop.

The labour market isn’t collapsing — but the cracks aregetting harder to ignore (making it all but certainthat the Federal Reserve will act).

Lisa Lambert
BBC News

The US unemployment rate is 4.3%, the highest since it hit 4.5% in October 2021, nearly four years ago.

That was when the country, pulling itself out of the pandemic and its accompanying job losses, was seemingly trapped in rising inflation.

Still, the number is nowhere near recession-level unemployment rates, which are typically 9% and higher, and it is in line with what most Wall Street analysts and economists were expecting. The big shock remains that the country gained less than a third of the jobs that had been forecast for August.

Lisa Lambert
Reporting from Washington DC

Few sectors had job growth last month, with healthcare and social assistance notching the most gains of 48,000 jobs.

Goods-producing industries led the losses, down 25,000 jobs. That sector includes manufacturing and construction.

Economists have been warning that tariffs could hurt factories, as the prices for raw materials go up, and that Trump’s immigration crackdown could lead to fewer workers on construction sites. Leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants, though, gained 28,000 jobs.

The next biggest losses were in government, which shed 16,000 jobs.

When Trump first took office he put many federal workers on leave, and then went on to fire them or offer them incentives to resign, which put the government losses on a slower rate.

States where many federal workers live are now experiencing financial troubles from the cuts, with Washington DC’s neighbour Maryland recently announcing plans to lay off workers from its government.

This is not the jobs report Trump wants to seepublished at 13:53 British Summer Time

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Anothermonth of lower-than-expected US job growth provides just the latest flashingred light for the US economy. That’s bad news for Donald Trump, even if thereis a very clear political upside for him in the short term.

First, thegood news for the president. The latest numbers all but guarantee that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in its September meeting – andperhaps again in October. The national bank’s reluctance to employ itsprimary lever to boost the economy has been a source of aggravation for Trump– and has led to his derisive remarks about its chair, Jerome Powell. The Fedand the president are now probably on the same page on next moves, so thatsource of political tumult might ease.

In the longterm, however, Trump’s political outlook is getting darker. He campaigned onboosting the US economy – a new American “golden age”, he said. But if this isindeed a sign of troubling days to come, with more Americans worried aboutkeeping or finding new jobs, they will punish Trump – and Republicans – at theballot box next November.

The Augustjob report had generated more attention than most not only because there aregrowing concerns about the American economy but also because of the turmoil inthe government’s labour statistics bureau after Trump fired its head.

Concernsabout Trump-friendly bureaucrats “cooking the books” seem to have beenoverstated for now. This is not the kind of jobs report that Trump would liketo see.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Since last month’s jobs report, which showed hiring slowing to a crawl in May and June, most investors have been betting that the US central bank will cut interest rates at its meeting this month.

The Federal Reserve typically cuts interest rates to support the economy, especially if unemployment seems likely to rise. So this report, which confirmed those trends, now makes a cut all but certain.

Is that a win for President Donald Trump, who has been pushing the Federal Reserve to cut rates?

Not really. Analysts blame his policies, including tariffs, an immigration crackdown and cuts to government spending, for many of the challenges.

The jobs report released today revised data for June and July.

This is a regular process, as each release is routinely updated twice, with a final revision usually published about a year later.

These revisions occur because initial reports rely on incomplete data. Experts say these numbers are often adjusted down, as failing businesses tend to report late.

The final revision – known as the annual benchmark revision – will be released next year. It will include more data, such as the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, to improve accuracy.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

We’re also looking at the updates to estimates for job creation in the previous months.

That’s a mixed bag. We already knew that job creation had slowed to a crawl in May and June. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics now says the number of jobs outright contracted in June, by 13,000 positions.

However, the agency revised up its estimate for July job creation slightly, saying the most recent data showed employers added 79,000 jobs that month, compared to the previously estimated 73,000.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Employers in the US added just 22,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate crept up to 4.3%

Economists hadn’t had high hopes that hiring would get back on track – but that’s even fewer than expected.

We’re about to get the latest US jobs data numbers. The markets will be watching this very closely since it’s the first report issued since President Donald Trump fired the previous statistics chief.

The last figures showed the US added just 73,000 jobs in July.

Another bad number today could be an indicator of hard times ahead for the US economy.

Stick with as us we bring you the latest.