U.S. stock futures were up Friday morning. Payrolls rose 315,000 in August as companies keep up hiring pace. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, two-tenths of a percentage point higher than expectations and tied for the highest level of the year.
Market Snapshot
Dow e-minis were up 0.48%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.57%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 0.65%.
Pre-Market Movers
Lululemon - Lululemon rallied 9.5% in the premarket after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results and issuing an upbeat outlook. The athletic apparel and leisurewear maker said it continues to see strong sales momentum.
Broadcom – Broadcom rose 2% in premarket trading after quarterly earnings and revenue exceeded analyst forecasts. The chip maker also issued a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the current quarter. CEO Hock Tan said Broadcom expected strong demand across all its end markets to continue this quarter.
Starbucks – Starbucks named Laxman Narasimhan as its new chief executive officer. Narasimhan was most recently CEO of Lysol and Enfamil maker Reckitt Benckiser, and has served in executive positions at PepsiCo. Narasimhan will replace interim CEO Howard Schultz on October 1.
Bed Bath & Beyond – The housewares retailer’s stock slid 5.5% in premarket trading, setting it up for a possible fourth straight negative session. Bed Bath & Beyond – popular among “meme stock” traders – unveiled a number of steps on Wednesday designed to shore up its finances.
PagerDuty – PagerDuty shares jumped 5.8% in premarket action following a better-than-expected quarterly report and strong guidance. The operations management software company saw a 7.1% increase in total paid customers compared with a year earlier and a 37.5% surge in the number of customers providing annual recurring revenue exceeding $100,000.
Shell – Shell CEO Ben van Beurden is preparing to step down next year, after nearly a decade in that job, according to two company sources who spoke to Reuters. The sources say the energy producer has identified four candidates to succeed van Beurden. Shell gained 1.4% in off-hours trading.
Beyond Meat – Investment firm Baillie Gifford reported a 6.61% stake in the maker of plant-based meat alternatives as of August 31, compared with a 13.38% stake on December 31, 2021. Beyond Meat rose 1% in the premarket.
Rocket Lab USA – The space rocket company’s stock added 2.9% in premarket action after successfully test firing a reused Rutherford first stage engine for the first time. The Rutherford engine is a liquid propellant rocket engine designed and manufactured by Rocket Lab.
Market News
Meta, Qualcomm Strike Agreement on Custom Virtual Reality Chips
Meta Platforms Inc signed an agreement to have chip-maker Qualcomm Inc produce custom chipsets for its Quest virtual reality devices, the companies announced at a consumer electronics conference in Berlin on Friday.
The companies' engineering and product teams will work together to produce the chips, which will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon platforms, they said in a statement.
Tesla Canada Lists High-Volume Recruiter Opening in Montreal
Tesla’s Careers page has a new job listing, hinting that the electric vehicle maker is hiring a high-volume recruiter for Montréal, Quebec. The job listing has inspired speculations that Tesla may be planning a new Canada facility in the area.
Tesla’s potential new Canada facility has attracted a lot of interest since Elon Musk responded positively to the idea of a potential Gigafactory in the country during the 2022 Cyber Roundup. During the meeting, Musk was discussing future Gigafactory sites when the audience suggested Canada as a location. Musk responded with, “I’m half Canadian. Maybe I should.”
Sea Cuts Some Garena Unit Jobs, Shuts Projects
Sea Ltd. is trimming staff in its money-making gaming arm to rein in costs. It’s the e-commerce giant’s second round of job cuts this year, following a string of setbacks that is forcing the company to shift its focus away from unbridled growth to profitability.