U.S. equities are modestly higher ahead of the August employment report, the final major labor-market release before the September Fed meeting. At 4:24 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures were up 0.06%, Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.42% and Dow futures were down 0.07%. Thursday, the Dow gained 1.18%, the S&P 500 rose 1.06% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.40%, while the Russell 2000 gained roughly 0.4%. Fed Governor Christopher Waller’s willingness to consider holding rates steady if inflation continues to moderate pushed the implied probability of a September hike back toward 50% from 63% a day earlier.
Rates eased Thursday as Fed expectations shifted. The 2-year Treasury yield fell 3 basis points to 4.34%, the 10-year slipped 1 basis point to 4.77% and the 30-year declined 1 basis point to 5.25%. Early Friday, yields are around 4.33% on the 2-year, 4.75% on the 10-year and 5.23% on the 30-year. The DXY is near 99.0, after falling 0.63 Thursday. The euro is around $1.162, sterling near $1.3535, while the dollar is near ¥156.3 following the yen’s sharp rally as markets increased expectations for a September Bank of Japan rate increase.
October WTI gained 0.84% Thursday to $91.77 but is around $90.66 this morning. Crude is still up nearly 9% for the week as renewed U.S.-Iran fighting and reduced tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz maintain a sizable supply-risk premium. Only four commodity vessels transited Hormuz Thursday, versus a recent 10-day average of about 15. December gold surged 2.39% Thursday to $4,520, while spot gold is holding around $4,475-$4,480 ahead of payrolls.
The August employment report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Consensus expects nonfarm payrolls to increase approximately 56,000 after July’s 23,000 decline, with unemployment holding at 4.1%. July’s report also included substantial downward revisions to May and June employment. Thursday’s data showed stronger services activity but also the highest services input-price reading in nearly three years. Next week brings August CPI and PPI, leaving inflation data as the next major determinant of the September Fed decision.
Sector Highlights
Sector performance was broadly positive Thursday. Consumer Discretionary led with a 1.58% gain, followed by Financials +1.55%, Communication Services +1.51%, Real Estate +1.27% and Technology +1.25%. Industrials rose 1.04% and Utilities gained 0.85% but modestly lagged the S&P 500. Health Care added 0.19%, Consumer Staples slipped 0.03%, Materials fell 0.46% and Energy declined 0.72%. Breadth was constructive, with advancers leading 1.52:1 on the NYSE and 1.65:1 on the Nasdaq.
Information Technology
- Adobe (ADBE -3.2% premarket) is lower after announcing that longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen will step down after more than 18 years, becoming executive chair. Anil Chakravarthy, who joined Adobe in 2020 and currently oversees the Digital Experience business and global customer operations, will become CEO. The transition comes as Adobe faces increasing competition from AI-native creative platforms including Canva and Figma. Adobe shares entered Friday down roughly 18% in 2026 after declining 21% in 2025, despite stronger adoption of Adobe’s own generative-AI tools.
- Zscaler (ZS -3.4% premarket) is lower despite a strong fiscal fourth quarter. Revenue increased 25% to $898.2 million, annual recurring revenue rose 25% to $3.77 billion, and adjusted EPS reached $1.19, ahead of expectations. Zscaler guided fiscal first-quarter revenue to $935-$939 million and fiscal 2027 revenue to $3.91-$3.94 billion. The company reported a record 24% adjusted operating margin, although quarterly free-cash-flow margin fell to 7% as capital spending and internal-use software investment increased sharply.
- Samsara (IOT +14.8% premarket) is surging after fiscal second-quarter results exceeded expectations. Revenue increased about 30% to $508.4 million versus roughly $483 million expected, while adjusted EPS of $0.20 topped the $0.16 consensus. Annual recurring revenue surpassed $2.1 billion as large enterprises increased adoption of Samsara’s connected-operations and physical-AI platform.
- Guidewire Software (GWRE -16% premarket) is falling despite a fiscal fourth-quarter beat. Adjusted EPS of $0.99 topped the $0.93 consensus and revenue increased about 15% to $411.1 million, while annual recurring revenue grew 19% in constant currency to approximately $1.24 billion. The negative reaction reflects first-quarter revenue guidance of $372-$378 million, below the roughly $387 million consensus, following a roughly 35% rally in the stock since late July.
- UiPath (PATH -8% to -10% premarket) is declining even after quarterly revenue reached approximately $410 million, above the $398 million consensus, and management raised its fiscal-year revenue outlook to $1.789-$1.794 billion. Investors remain focused on whether UiPath’s agentic-AI strategy can reaccelerate growth in its core robotic-process-automation franchise after the stock’s strong run over the past year.
- DocuSign (DOCU) rose about 5% in after-hours trading after reporting second-quarter revenue of $875.8 million versus roughly $857 million expected and adjusted EPS of $1.16 versus $1.09 expected. DocuSign raised fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $3.499-$3.507 billion, while third-quarter revenue guidance of $886-$890 million was roughly in line with consensus. Management cited increased adoption of AI tools within its agreement-management platform.
- Nvidia (NVDA +1.8% Thursday) remains in focus after agreeing to acquire open-source AI platform Hugging Face for approximately $12.9 billion. Nvidia plans to keep the platform interoperable while expanding its presence beyond semiconductors into the developer ecosystem used to build, distribute and fine-tune AI models. Hugging Face provides access to hundreds of thousands of models and has become an important infrastructure layer for developers using both proprietary and open-source AI.
Consumer Discretionary
- Lululemon Athletica (LULU -17.7% premarket) is plunging after cutting its full-year forecast for the second time this year. Revenue in the Americas fell 8% year over year during the second quarter compared with 1% growth a year earlier as merchandising missteps, higher promotional activity and competition from Alo Yoga, Vuori and other athletic brands pressured demand. Incoming CEO Heidi O’Neill, a former Nike executive, takes over September 8. At least 12 brokerages lowered their price targets following the report.
- Tesla (TSLA) remains active after formally introducing public rides in its purpose-built Cybercab in limited areas of Austin. Texas registration data show Tesla currently has 45 Cybercabs among 420 registered autonomous vehicles, while the Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is evaluating Tesla’s deployment because federal safety standards generally require conventional human controls. Tesla ultimately plans to make Cybercab the primary vehicle in its robotaxi network.
Financials
- Fair Isaac (FICO -3.4% premarket) is lower after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow all mortgage lenders to use VantageScore immediately. The move expands competition with FICO’s long-dominant mortgage credit-scoring system after an initial VantageScore rollout involving 50 lenders. VantageScore is jointly owned by Equifax (EFX), Experian and TransUnion (TRU), although Pulte also criticized the major credit bureaus over consumer pricing.
- Robinhood (HOOD +16.6% Thursday) and Coinbase (COIN +10.1%) remain in focus after bitcoin’s rebound above $80,000 drove another sharp rally in crypto-linked equities. Strategy (MSTR) gained 17.6% Thursday. Softer Fed-hike expectations and a weaker dollar supported the move across digital assets and high-beta financial stocks.
Consumer Staples
- Tyson Foods (TSN) remains under pressure after cutting its fiscal-year profit outlook for the second time in a month. Tyson now expects adjusted operating income of approximately $1.85-$2.05 billion, down from its prior $2.1-$2.3 billion range, as historically tight U.S. cattle supplies continue to squeeze its beef business. High cattle acquisition costs, declining cattle inventory values and increasingly price-sensitive consumers are offsetting strength in chicken and prepared foods. Shares fell roughly 7% following the announcement.
Energy
- Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) remain leveraged to crude prices holding near $90 despite Energy’s 0.72% decline Thursday. WTI is on pace for its strongest weekly increase since mid-July, while the continued slowdown in Strait of Hormuz traffic is supporting crude differentials and refining margins. The competing medium-term supply story remains Venezuela, where Chevron and other producers are moving ahead with new investment agreements aimed at substantially increasing production.
