Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq sink after jobs report surprise as oil jumps

The US economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, deeply underperforming consensus expectations of 55,000 and weighing on a US market already under stress.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% from January’s 4.3%. Economists had expected 4.3% for February.

The loss comes as a massive swing after the BLS’s January jobs report reported 130,000 jobs added, which was a massive overperformance. The BLS today revised January’s numbers down to 126,000 jobs added.

Notably, healthcare employment declined by 28,000 in February following a large increase in January of 77,000 jobs added, while physicians’ offices lost 37,000 jobs in February. The BLS attributed this turnaround in healthcare jobs to a large labor strike at Kaiser Permanente in February.

In the private sector, US private employers added 63,000 roles in February, beating expectations in the best monthly gains since July, according to the private payroll processor ADP. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 50,000 in February, an improvement from the previous month’s lackluster gain of 22,000 roles, which was revised even lower Wednesday to 11,000 positions.