U.S. stocks are falling sharply after getting a whiff of a worst-case scenario for financial markets: a weakening economy combined with high inflation. The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% Friday after a report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs last month than they created and after oil prices jumped to their highest level in nearly two years because of the Iran war. It’s a combination that investors hate because no one in the world has a good tool to fix both a weak economy and high inflation at the same time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 909 points, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.
