The Jobs Report Surprised To The Upside. Stocks Dropped.

Stocks fell on Friday after the jobs report surprised to the upside, more than tripling estimates.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.29%, while the S&P 500 did so 0.38%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average underperformed, decreasing by 0.51%.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that nonfarm payrolls gained 162,000 jobs last month, compared to the 53,000 expected by analysts. It is the largest increase since March.

BLS noted that employment increased mostly in "food services and drinking places and in local government education," while the information industry shed jobs.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%, in line with expectations, as the labor force participation edged up to 61.6%. However, it remains 0.5 percentage points below January figures.

The figures stand in contrast with the latest report from ADP, which detailed earlier this week that private companies added 38,000 jobs last month, down from 46,000 in July and below analysts' expectations of 47,000.

The figure represents the slowest pace of job creation since January. "Manufacturing, professional services, and information shed jobs. Education and health care, construction, and leisure and hospitality all showed solid hiring," it detailed.

ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said pay growth shows where hiring is taking place. "To understand hiring patterns, you have to look deeply into where pay growth is accelerating, where it's slowing, and for whom," she said.

"Once-predictable wage growth has been overtaken by the complexities of demographic change, persistent inflation, and AI's effects on jobs," Richardson added.

Chances of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve climbed after the report. According to the CME Group's Fed Watch tool, there is now a 58.4% chance of an increase, compared to 49.4% on Thursday. In contrast, chances that the central bank will keep rates unchanged now stand at 47.4%, compared to 41.6% yesterday.

President Donald Trump demanded the Fed cut rates after the report, threatening to halt all trade with countries with which the U.S. has a deficit if it doesn't.

"EMPLOYERS ADDED 162,000 JOB IN AUGUST. Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago!" the president said in a social media publication.

He went on to say that the U.S. should "should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World, like 'the old days.'"

"Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE! LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged "the President" has an absolute right to do," Trump added.

He also made a direct reference to the new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, calling on him and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to "get smart."

"BE PATRIOTS for a change. High interest rates put the U.S.A. at a very unfair disadvantage, and I won't allow that to happen!," Trump concluded.