Opening Comment — Friday, September 04, 2026
DJIA: 53,686.11, up 624.16
S&P 500: 7,747.71, up 81.11
NASDAQ: 26,584.06, up 366.23
Stocks mixed ahead of jobs report
Stock futures are mixed Friday morning ahead of today’s August jobs report. Investors are also looking ahead to next week’s inflation data, with the August Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) reports scheduled for release on Thursday and Friday, respectively. As of 7:27 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.1%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.5% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were higher on Thursday as comments by Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Christopher Waller helped fuel optimism that the Fed could remain on hold. The U.S. trade deficit widened less than expected in July following an increase in imports and decrease in exports, both by more than projected. The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) August Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 55.4, exceeding expectations for an unchanged reading, while the prices paid component unexpectedly increased to 72.6. Both initial claims and continuing claims for the week prior increased. In other labor market data, the finalized reading of second-quarter nonfarm productivity growth remained unchanged at 1.4%, while unit labor costs were revised down to 1.2%, lower than expected. The Dow was up 1.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4%. The S&P 500 increased 1.1% with eight of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Consumer Discretionary sector was the top performer, rising 1.6%, while the Energy sector was the bottom performer, falling 0.7%.
Technical Analysis:
As of midday Thursday, the S&P 500 remains in an uptrend. Resistance is at the recent high of 7,799, while support is provided by the 50-day moving average at 7,585 and the 200-day moving average at 7,137.
On the data front, the August jobs report is expected to show nonfarm payrolls increasing by 55,000, following the prior month’s decline of 23,000, while manufacturing payrolls are projected to rise by 5,000, matching the previous month's gain. Average hourly earnings are forecast to increase 0.3% month-over-month (MOM) and 3.1% year-over-year (YOY) in August, compared to the prior month’s 0.1% and 3.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 4.1%, while the labor force participation rate is projected to edge up to 61.5% from 61.4% in the prior month.
Across the pond, European stocks are mostly lower in mid-day trading as Germany’s July factory orders showed greater-than-expected increases of 2.5% MOM and rose 13.1% YOY. Germany’s August Construction PMI improved to 48.7, while the U.K.’s Construction PMI edged down to 44.3. In the eurozone, July retail sales unexpectedly declined 0.6% MOM and registered a smaller-than-projected increase of 0.6% YOY.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly higher as South Korea’s July current account surplus contracted to $42.1 billion from $49.7 billion in the prior month. In Japan, household spending fell 3.6% YOY in July, a larger-than-expected decline.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is higher ahead of today’s U.S. jobs report.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.9% lower at $90.47/barrel though up materially for the week following further developments in the U.S.-Iran conflict.
In the metals complex, gold is little changed at $4,474.09/ounce.