Stocks got slammed for the second day in a row on Wednesday after weak payroll numbers stoked fears that President Trump’s trade wars were slowing down the US economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by nearly 600 points, to a low of 25,974.12, after data from ADP showed that private US employers had hired fewer workers than expected. The Dow ended the day down 494.42 points, or 1.9 percent, to 26,078.62.

The report, a precursor to the Labor Department’s more comprehensive jobs report due Friday, followed dismal numbers on US manufacturing Tuesday that showed activity was at its lowest level in more than a decade.

Investors are worried that the long-simmering trade war between the US and China is starting to hit business investment and could lead to a paring of hiring — and even layoffs, according to analysts.

“Businesses can only stall for so long,” Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at R.W. Baird, told The Post.

“There’d been some hope for a while that this [trade war] was going to get resolved.”

Wednesday’s selloff was the second day of steep losses in the stock market. The Dow had fallen more than 800 points since opening on Tuesday morning, the steepest selloff since August.

The S&P 500, a broader index of US companies, fell 52.6 points, or about 1.8 percent, to 2,887.61.

Technology stocks were the biggest losers, led by declines from Microsoft and Apple. The sector has been extremely sensitive to shifts in economic forecasts and swings in the ongoing trade war between the US and China.

The hiring slowdown hit investor faith in the strength of the domestic economy, a key reason for a rally in the benchmark index this year, wiping out the third-quarter gains on the S&P 500 and the Dow.

The Dow is now about 4 percent below its all-time high hit in July, after coming within striking distance of it two weeks ago.

“There’s concern that maybe the US economy isn’t the island of strength it would be,” Delwiche said.

Banks were also among the biggest losers as bond yields continued to slide. Citigroup fell 2 percent and Bank of America fell 1.9 percent. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.61 percent from 1.64 percent late Tuesday. Lower bond yields force interest rates on loans lower, hurting banks.

The industrial and materials sectors dropped about 1.5 percent each, posting the biggest declines among the 11 major S&P sectors.

The Federal Reserve, which cut interest rates for the second time this year in September, has indicated it would rely on economic data to determine future rate cuts. The Fed’s next policy meeting will be held at the end of the month.

With Post wires