Scott Horsley

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The Labor Department's regular jobs tally was held up by the government shutdown for the second month in a row.

That left analysts looking for alternative measures of the strength or weakness of the labor market.

A consulting company that tracks layoff notices says it was the worst October for job cuts in more than two decades.

Consumers are feeling gloomy.

A University of Michigan survey showed consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in three years.

And high-flying tech stocks also lost some altitude as investors wondered if artificial intelligence will live up to all the hype.

For the week, the Dow dipped 1.2%, the S&P 500 index fell 1.6%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 3%.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The Labor Department's regular jobs tally was held up by the government shutdown for the second month in a row.

That left analysts looking for alternative measures of the strength or weakness of the labor market.

A consulting company that tracks layoff notices says it was the worst October for job cuts in more than two decades.

Consumers are feeling gloomy.

A University of Michigan survey showed consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in three years.

And high-flying tech stocks also lost some altitude as investors wondered if artificial intelligence will live up to all the hype.

For the week, the Dow dipped 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 index fell 1.6 percent, and the Nasdaq tumbled 3 percent.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The last official jobs report we got was two months ago.

And as Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook told an audience at the Brookings Institution this week, that's a long time in a fast-moving economy like ours.

That's why the Fed lowered interest rates last week in an effort to boost demand and try to prop up the job market.