U.S. equity futures were broadly unchanged on Friday as markets awaited the August nonfarm payrolls report, while comments from Federal Reserve officials affected expectations for the central bank’s September interest-rate decision.
Company developments were also in focus after Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) lowered its full-year outlook again and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) announced that Anil Chakravarthy will succeed Shantanu Narayen as chief executive. OpenAI also announced the introduction of GPT-6 Astra.
Markets Await U.S. Labour Data
S&P 500 futures edged down to 7,752.25 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed after the previous session ended with gains on Wall Street.
The August nonfarm payrolls report is expected to provide investors with further evidence about conditions in the U.S. labour market ahead of the Federal Reserve’s September 15-16 policy meeting.
Stronger employment growth could support expectations for interest rates to remain restrictive. A weaker report could increase expectations that policymakers will keep rates unchanged, with the possibility of reductions at a later stage.
Fed Comments Shift Rate Expectations
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said recent economic figures had provided signs that inflationary pressures were easing.
Waller indicated that he would favour leaving interest rates unchanged at the September meeting if upcoming economic releases continue to show inflation moderating.
New York Fed President John Williams has also advocated a cautious wait-and-see approach to monetary policy.
Following the comments, financial markets lowered the implied probability of a 25-basis-point September rate increase to approximately 50%, compared with almost 65% previously.
Lululemon Drops Following Forecast Cut
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) shares declined approximately 18% in extended trading after the athleticwear company reduced its full-year forecasts for a second time and reported quarterly sales below expectations.
Incoming Chief Executive Heidi O’Neill will take responsibility for the company as it works to refresh its product range and compete with other brands in the athleticwear market.
Future sales performance and changes to the company’s product offering are expected to remain areas of attention as the management transition takes place.
Adobe Announces Chief Executive Transition
Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) named Anil Chakravarthy as its next president and chief executive, with the appointment taking effect on December 1.
Chakravarthy currently leads Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations and will join the company’s board as part of the appointment.
Shantanu Narayen will move to the position of executive chair and work alongside Chakravarthy during the leadership transition.
The change comes as Adobe increases the integration of artificial intelligence across its creativity, productivity and customer-experience products. Chakravarthy said his priorities would include the next era of “agentic software.”
OpenAI Announces GPT-6 Astra
OpenAI announced GPT-6 Astra, initially making the model available to enterprise customers before a broader rollout to Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users.
The model will also be offered through the OpenAI API and AWS. OpenAI set standard API pricing at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens.
The announcement comes as artificial intelligence companies continue developing new models and expanding their use across consumer and business applications.
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