Investors expect a big stock-market move after the February jobs report is released Friday morning. Pricing in the options market shows traders were recently betting on a 1.7% move in the S&P 500 index,

Discover how a steady labor market, inflation, and muted stock market performance shape the Fed's interest rate decisions and strategies for 2025.

Wall Street is getting its own kind of reprieve Friday, and U.S. stocks are coasting toward the close of a brutal week after a nervously anticipated economic report came in close to expectations. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading following a punishing stretch where it swung at least 1%,

Angst over the health of the U.S. economy has investors nervous about the possibility of an approaching recession — and the next big jobs report may not be enough to calm nerves for very long.

However, outplacement services firm Challenger Gray & Christmas released its own report of announced job cuts yesterday and revealed that U.S. employers announced 172,017 job cuts in February 2025, a 245% surge from January’s 49,795 and more than double the 84,638 cuts from February 2024. It is the highest number of February cuts since 2009.

U.S. stocks turned lower in mid-day Friday trading, while the dollar extended its steepest weekly decline of the year, as investors parsed a key reading of the labor market amid the ongoing confusion tied to President Donald Trump's tariff strategy.

Wall Street rose on Friday, but only after careening through another wild day. It was a fitting ending to a brutal week of scary swings dominated by worries about the U.S. economy and uncertainty about what President Donald Trump will do with tariffs.

More losses are hitting Wall Street at the close of a brutal week, and U.S. stocks have erased earlier gains to fall after a nervously anticipated economic report came in close to expectations. The S&P 500 was down 1% in midday trading after erasing an early gain of 0.