President Trump is facing slumping consumer confidence and deepening concern among business leaders ahead of the first jobs report of his new administration.

Many economic forecasts show the U.S. adding somewhere around 150,000 jobs with a slight increase in the unemployment rate last month — a solid, if unexciting report.

But tumbling markets in the wake of Trump's new tariffs, the mass firings of federal workers, plateauing inflation and slowing economic growth are heightening uncertainty and interest ahead of the report’s release by the Labor Department.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday closed with a loss of 400 points, falling 1 percent on the day. The Nasdaq composite fell 2.6 percent on the day, sinking 10 percent past its most recent peak and entering correction territory. The S&P 500 index was down 1.8 percent.

“Today was the day the growth fear turned into a reality,” Callie Cox, chief market strategist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a Thursday interview.

Cox said Thursday’s sell-off was largely driven by a discouraging spike in corporate layoffs reported by employment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

U.S. companies cut more than 172,000 jobs in February, according to the Challenger report released Thursday, the most in any month since July 2020. It was also the highest number of February layoffs since 2009.

Cox said while the Challenger report isn’t an “end-all, be-all ... it sure sets us up in a precarious fashion for the main event........

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