The stock market fumbled an early gain on Friday as Wall Street weighed rising rate-cut odds against worries about the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 220 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 was down 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite was down by less than 0.1%.

All three big indexes were on track for closing highs shortly after the market opened in the wake of a tepid jobs report. The U.S. economy added 22,000 jobs in August, while June and July’s combined numbers were revised 21,000 lower than previously reported.

“Employment is essentially flat over the last 3 months, with other signs of weakness within the data,” David Donabedian, co-chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth, told Barron’s. “The job market is stagnant without a catalyst for improvement.”

Odds of a September interest-rate cut spiked to 100% in the wake of the report, while odds of a half-point cut moved from zero to 10.2%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Bets on three or more quarter-point cuts through December also surged.

“When you are rooting for weaker data to support rate cuts, it’s a fine line and sometimes it’s a function of ‘careful what you wish for,’” writes Jonathan Krinsky, BTIG’s chief market technician. “For the S&P 500, 6400 is now a critical level for bulls to hold as we head through September.”

The yield on the 2-year Treasury note fell to a one-year low of 3.51%, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was down to 4.08%.

The major indexes did manage to move off their lows from earlier in the session, and all three will enter the coming week within striking distance of record closing highs. But Wall Street will all need some positive news to counter the latest labor market concerns.

Rosenberg Research’s David Rosenberg notes that since the labor market began to cool in May, average monthly gains in jobs have been about 27,000, the softest since the summer of 2020.

“Before COVID-19, you have to go back fifteen years,” Rosenberg writes. “This is the sort of job market pattern one typically sees before an official recession takes hold — but nobody seems to believe an economic downturn will ever occur again. The bull market remains in hubris and complacency.”