(Reuters) -Futures tied to the S&P 500 touched record highs and Nasdaq futures edged upward ahead of key nonfarm payrolls data on Friday, with chip major Broadcom’s quarterly earnings adding to gains.
Broadcom jumped 9% before the bell after the chip designer forecast fourth-quarter revenue above estimates and expected AI revenue growth to “improve significantly” in fiscal-year 2026.
The jobs report for August is the last major labor market dataset expected to be released ahead of the September 16 and 17 U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.
Markets have priced in a more than 99% chance of a 25-basis-point cut, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool, after weak July payrolls as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish comments in August.
Labor market data released this week reinforced the view that the U.S. jobs market was weakening.
“Labor markets aren’t collapsing, but they aren’t reaccelerating either… instead, the trend of linear cooling continues as the labor market remains in stasis,” said Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis IM Solutions.
“While the 25- versus 50-bps debate is rippling up again, barring a massively negative headline payrolls print paired with a surge in the unemployment rate, 50 bps at the September meeting seems a bridge too far.”
At 05:05 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 4 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 15 points, or 0.23%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis gained 115.75 points, or 0.49%.
Investors, who were unimpressed by Nvidia’s quarterly results and concerned after the lofty valuations of AI-related firms briefly paused Wall Street’s rally last month, welcomed Broadcom’s results.
Conversely, Lululemon Athletica plunged 17.3% after the yogawear maker slashed its annual profit forecast the second time in a row, dragging larger rival Nike down 1.1%.
Despite the anticipation around the payrolls, the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Thursday, with the Nasdaq and the Dow also ending higher as rate-cut hopes remained intact after a slew of economic data.
The benchmark index is within touching distance of an intraday record high set on August 28.
Wall Street’s three main indexes were on track for gains in the first week of September. The S&P 500 has lost 1.5% on average in September since 2000, according to LSEG data, making it the worst month historically for U.S. equities.
In other moves, Samsara advanced 9.7% after the software firm beat second-quarter revenue expectations.
Cryptocurrency stocks rose as bitcoin prices hit a more than one-week high. Strategy was up 2.3%, Coinbase added 1.9% and miner Riot Platforms climbed 2%.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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