President Donald Trump got some bad economic news Friday, and responded by shooting the messenger. Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hours after it sent markets tumbling with a report that showed a dramatic slowdown in US hiring.

President Donald Trump on Friday fired a top Labor Department official on the heels of a market-shocking weak scorecard of the U.S. job market, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the figures and adding to already growing concerns about the quality of economic data published by the federal government.

Surprisingly weak July hiring data released on Friday highlighted a fractious Federal Reserve debate over whether the central bank should have cut interest rates when it met this week, as it offered some support to those who’d favored an easing in borrowing costs.

"With economic growth slowing this year and signs of a less dynamic labor market, I saw it as appropriate to begin gradually moving our moderately restrictive policy stance toward a neutral setting," Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said in a statement.

The central bank this week kept interest rates steady for a fifth-straight meeting, prompting the first double dissent from members of the powerful Board of Governors since 1993.

Americans shopping for a mortgage may want to hold tight for now. At its July 30 meeting, the Federal Reserve did not deliver a rate cut. The majority of members voted to leave the federal funds rate unchanged at 4.