The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped into correction territory by losing 10% from its record-high set just weeks ago. It ended the day 2.4% lower than Thursday’s session, dropping 418 points.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, lost 6% during Friday morning trading before ending the day down by 1.8%.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy created 114,000 jobs in July, well off the Wall Street forecast that he had created 185,000 positions. The same report said that June was not as good as originally thought, adjusting the jobs created that month down 27,000 to 179,000.

The unemployment rate jumped to 4.3%, its highest rate since 2021, sparking widespread fears the Federal Reserve has waited too long to lower interest rates while fighting once-rampant inflation and may have triggered a recession.

The Fed as expected on Wednesday decided to leave interest rates unchanged at 5.25 to 5.50% as Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation has eased substantially toward the target of 2%.

But Friday’s weak jobs report clearly spooked recession-wary investors.

“Do I think we are in a recession right now?” economist Claudia Sahm told Yahoo Finance. “No. Do I think that the increases in the unemployment rate and the softening in the labor market is worrisome and we could end up in a recession in, say, three months, six months? Yes, I am very concerned about that.”

Going into Friday afternoon trading, Big Tech continued to take a hit. Chip maker Intel lost more than 27%, Snap fell 26%, Lumen Technologies lost 6% and Tesla fell about 3%.

The Labor Department’s report will be taken into consideration by the Federal Reserve in September, the next time it will consider whether to cut interest rates. The Fed has held steady this year but has given an indication that it may consider cuts even though inflation has yet to reach its 2% benchmark.