CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Friday that August’s softer-than-expected jobs report does not dampen the chances of a soft landing for the U.S. economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that the U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August, slightly lower than Dow Jones estimates of 161,000. The unemployment rate came in as expected, ticking down to 4.2%. The data is additional evidence of a slowing labor market, but it does not increase the likelihood of a doomsday scenario that ends with a U.S. recession, Cramer argued. “I think we’re going to be fine,” he said on “Squawk on the Street.” The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023 in an aggressive effort to bring down rampant inflation. Since then, it has held rates steady at the highest level in more than two decades. A soft landing would mean the central bank slowed the economy enough to stabilize inflation levels, without causing so much damage to the labor market that a recession ensued. Friday’s data release — which also included downward revisions to employment gains in June and July — makes it clear that the Fed will begin lowering interest rates at its monetary policy meeting that concludes Sept. 18, Cramer said. “These are the kinds of revisions that make you say, ‘[The Fed has] got to do something,'” Cramer said. “You don’t get a rate cut unless you start seeing these numbers.” Still, it’s unclear how large that rate cut may be, Cramer noted. As of late Friday morning, traders were pricing in a 57% chance of a traditional quarter-percentage point reduction, compared with 43% for a larger half-percentage point cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool . In any case, Cramer said a cut will be welcome news for Wall Street. “If you care about interest rates like I do, then you’re going to have a good market.”
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