Markets Fluctuate on August Jobs Growth of 22K

Published as of: September 5, 2025, 9:21 a.m. ET

(Friday market open) Stock futures were heading lower ahead of the open on Friday but rallied back as the latest jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls rose just 22,000 jobs, well below the forecasted 75,000 and much weaker than July's revised 79,000. The news is likely to ensure the Fed will cut rates later this month. Despite the lower-than-expected number, the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4.2% as expected but is the highest rate since 2021.

"It was another weak report and reinforces the case for the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points later this month," said Cooper Howard, director, fixed income strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. "Last month's number was also revised lower, and June's revision became negative.”

Thursday saw major indexes close higher leading to the S&P 500 stock index (SPX) to regain its earlier week losses. The SPX is trading close to last week’s all-time highs. A weaker than expected ADP employment change report may have prompted the rally giving the Fed one more reason to cut.

1. Payrolls report deeper dive: The June nonfarm payroll numbers were revised down by 27,000 showing that 13,000 jobs were lost, while 6,000 jobs were added to the July data. That follows a huge change to the July report, when the government chopped 258,000 jobs from the May and June data. (President Trump subsequently fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer August 1, the day the report was released.) The share of unemployed individuals for more than 27 weeks has risen to 25.7%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% over the previous month and 3.7% compared to last year. The health services sector was the biggest job creator, adding 46,000 workers in August. Losses were seen in durable goods and business services. Manufacturing payrolls fell by 12,000 jobs, which means they've contracted for the fourth straight month. The last time this happened was at the beginning of 2020.
    
2. Crypto legislation ahead: After this week's hearing on President Trump's Fed nominee Stephen Miran, another development to watch is any action on cryptocurrency laws. The House of Representatives passed the CLARITY Act in July, which creates a broad regulatory framework for digital assets. The Senate Banking Committee has said it will consider the Senate's version of the legislation this month. "The crypto industry is trying to get this second bill passed in the wake of their success earlier this summer in getting Congress to pass the first-ever law regulating stablecoins," said Michael Townsend, managing director of legislative and regulatory affairs at Schwab.
    
3. All that glitters… Gold futures (/GC) traded above $3,600 per ounce on Thursday, an all-time high. They're up sharply from recent lows below $3,400 amid growing global fiscal concerns and uncertainty around U.S. tariffs. Recent U.S. inflation data raised worries that with central banks in a generally easing phase, prices may be less under control and currencies might sink. Gold is traditionally perceived as a "safe haven" when the dollar and other currencies are less strong. The European Central Bank (ECB) meets next week, and analysts surveyed by Reuters expect policy makers to refrain a second straight time from another rate cut after euro-area inflation ticked up slightly last month to 2.1%. But chances of a Fed rate cut this month are very high, per futures trading, with labor data sagging even as inflation remains stubborn. Gold also got some support from central bank buying, Barron's noted this week. China's central bank has been buying gold as it tries to diversify foreign currency holdings beyond the U.S. dollar.

• Broadcom (AVGO) soared nearly 11% in pre-market trading after earnings topped analysts' estimates. The company revealed it's helping ChatGPT maker OpenAI design and create an AI chip that could challenge Nvidia's (NVDA).
   
• Alphabet (GOOG) hopes to add to its recent 9.5% rally as the company's market cap nears $3 trillion. The company's favorable antitrust ruling caused the stock to gap up on Tuesday. However, the stock was slightly lower in premarket action.
   
• Tesla (TSLA) is asking shareholders to approve a new $1 trillion pay package for CEO Elon Musk. The proposal incentivizes Musk to reach several strenuous benchmarks over 10 years. If successful, Musk's stake in the company will grow to 25%.
   
• Lululemon (LULU) slipped nearly 20% in premarket trading after worse-than-expected earnings guidance.
   
• Bitcoin futures (/BTC) traded 2.41% higher in early morning action as the cryptocurrency tests support around the $110,000 mark.

Flip the switch: From circuit breakers to trading halts, there are guardrails in place to help slow severe and sudden market declines. Schwab's video goes into the history of these procedures, details how they work, and shares what they can mean for traders.

Gold futures (/GC) have been riding just below resistance at about $3,650 since April but have struggled to breakthrough in the last three trading sessions. This resistance level is at the top end of the gold's two-year, $843-wide channel. If it's able to break resistance, some technical traders may hope to hit the mother lode with a target of $4,443 ($3,600 + $843). A failure to break could eventually result in a mean reversion to the 50% line. 

Check out the Investors' Calendar for a summary of the top economic events and earnings reports on tap this week.

September 8: Expected earnings from Casey's General Stores (CASY).
September 9: Expected earnings from Synopsys (SNPS).
September 10: August Producer Price Index (PPI) and core PPI and expected earnings from Chewy (CHWY).
September 11: August Consumer Price Index (CPI) and core CPI and expected earnings from Kroger (KR) and Adobe (ADBE).
September 12: September preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment.