By Purvi Agarwal and Ragini Mathur
(Reuters) -Futures tied to the S&P 500 touched record highs and Nasdaq futures inched upward on Friday as investors awaited key nonfarm payrolls data, with chip major Broadcom's impressive quarterly earnings further boosting market sentiment.
Broadcom jumped 10.4% 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 through the 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 07:16 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis fell 33 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 E-minis gained 14.25 points, or 0.22%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis rose 126.5 points, or 0.54%.
Broadcom's results gave respite to investors who were unimpressed by Nvidia‘s quarterly results last week and concerned after the lofty valuations of AI-related firms briefly paused Wall Street's rally last month.
Conversely, Lululemon Athletica plunged 19% after the yogawear maker slashed its annual profit forecast the second time in a row, dragging larger rival Nike down 1.3%.
Despite the anticipation around payrolls, the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Thursday, with the Nasdaq and the Dow also finishing higher as rate-cut hopes remained intact after a slew of economic indicators.
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, Tesla added to gains and was last up 1.9% after the EV-maker proposed an about $1-trillion compensation package for top boss Elon Musk, subject to lofty targets being met.
