Dow Drops 600 Points. Job Loss.

CNBC, NBC News, the Washington Post, CNN, Axios, Bloomberg, and Forbes contributed to this report.

Stocks slid hard on Friday as a surge in oil and a surprise hit to payrolls sent traders into “risk-off” mode. The Dow plunged 625 points (about 1.3%), the S&P 500 fell ~1.1% and the Nasdaq dipped 0.9% — a messy finish to a rough week for the market.

The shock came from two fronts. First, oil ripped higher: US crude cracked above $89 a barrel and Brent traded north of $91 after geopolitical tension choked shipping lanes. Markets reacted after Donald Trump posted that there’d be no deal with Iran without “unconditional surrender,” a line traders read as a sign the conflict could drag on. Qatar’s energy minister warned that if tankers can’t get through the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf producers might have to halt exports — a move that, he said, could push oil toward $150 and rock global growth. That warning came from Saad al-Kaabi.

Second, the jobs report was a real stinger. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 in February — a sharp miss versus expectations for a 50,000 gain — and the unemployment rate nudged up to 4.4% from 4.3%. The surprise loss and downward revisions to prior months put fresh doubt on the idea that the labor market was steadying.

The combination hit specific names. Fuel-sensitive companies took another hit after a brutal week: Royal Caribbean slid again (it’s fallen about 14% this week) and industrial bellwether Caterpillar gave back roughly 2%.

“Markets are in risk-off as worries grow about how long this lasts and the knock-on to energy supplies,” said Angelo Kourkafas, who noted the oil spike adds to inflation angst and could crimp consumer spending if it persists.

Still, he and others point out the US is less exposed to oil shocks than in decades past — oil would probably need to stay above $100 for a long stretch to seriously slow the economy.

On the sidelines, Treasury yields ticked up and futures pared back, reflecting the new uncertainty. For the week, the S&P is down more than 2%, the Dow over 3%, and the Nasdaq close to a 1% loss — proof investors are rethinking both growth and safety in the face of hotter energy prices and a wobbling jobs picture.

A nasty one-two punch — oil’s jump and an ugly payrolls print — pushed markets lower and raised the odds of a bumpier economic road ahead. Want a snappy 2-line market alert or a one-paragraph explainer you can paste into a newsletter? I’ll write it.