Stocks dropped after that report, eliminating gains seen earlier. Money shifted into Treasury bonds, a traditional safe haven, indicating that investors were willing to accept the prospect of smaller rewards in exchange for refuge from risk.

Prices for crude oil fell, another sign that markets were assuming weaker global economic growth ahead. Less commercial activity spells less need for fuel to power jets, construction equipment, freight engines and other key pieces of industrial life.

Money moved into the dollar, another reach for safety, lifting its value against other currencies. A stronger dollar makes American goods more expensive in world markets compared to those produced in other countries.

President Trump — now embroiled in an impeachment investigation and looking ahead to his re-election bid next year — has long bemoaned the stronger dollar as a threat to American factories. On Tuesday, he took to Twitter to excoriate the Federal Reserve chair he nominated, Jerome H. Powell, blaming him for the strong dollar while accusing the central bank of keeping interest rates too high.

“As I predicted, Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve have allowed the Dollar to get so strong, especially relative to ALL other currencies, that our manufacturers are being negatively affected,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Fed Rate too high. They are their own worst enemies, they don’t have a clue. Pathetic!”

The Fed, after raising interest rates four times in 2018, has dropped them twice this year, though not enough to satisfy Mr. Trump.

As the Fed lowered rates last month, Mr. Powell said his shift toward easier money had been triggered by concerns that the global economy was weakening, in part because of “trade policy tensions.”