Dow Jones futures fell slightly early Friday, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures rose modestly as AI play Broadcom surged. The August jobs report is due early Friday.
The stock market rally had solid gains Thursday, with the S&P 500 setting a record close. Amazon.com, Netflix, Robinhood Markets and Shopify offered early buy points.
Meanwhile, Tesla's board of directors has proposed a pay package to Elon Musk that could be worth $1 trillion if he meets ambitious targets. The board also proposed an investment in his xAI startup. Tesla rose modestly before the open, near aggressive entries.
The video embedded in this article reviews Thursday's market action and analyzes Amazon, Shopify and Netflix stock.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures fell 0.2% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures climbed 0.15%. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%, signaling tests of record highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite.
The 10-year Treasury yield dipped to 4.15%, extending weekly losses.
Late Thursday, President Trump signed an order to implement a U.S.-Japan trade pact that will impose a 15% maximum tariff on most Japanese goods. That followed months of talks following a tentative accord in July.
The August jobs report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with economists expecting a rise of just 77,000 jobs as the unemployment rate ticks up to 4.3%. Labor data has been soft this week, including job openings, jobless claims and the ADP Employment Report.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Join IBD experts as they analyze leading stocks and the market on IBD Live
Broadcom Earnings
AVGO stock rose sharply before the open. Broadcom narrowly beat earnings views and guided higher. The tech giant also touted a $10 billion order for custom AI chips from a new, unnamed customer, with The Financial Times saying it's OpenAI.
Broadcom stock is set to gap out of a short consolidation.
Notably, Nvidia and AMD edged lower before the open, as Broadcom's custom AI chips gain favor vs. their GPUs.
Other Earnings
AGX stock tumbled late as Argan earnings easily beat but revenue missed. Shares of the heavy construction firm, also an AI play, closed up 4.8% to 278.83, continuing a rebound from Tuesday's lows. AGX stock is on track to have a new base with a 253.79 buy point after Friday.
Guidewire Software, DocuSign and Samsara were three software winners late. GWRE stock is set to gap above its 50-day line while the other two may break deeper downtrends.
Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally saw the major indexes steadily gain momentum during the session. with the S&P 500 setting a closing high.
Economic reports Thursday didn't change Fed rate-cut expectations ahead of the jobs report, but Treasury yields did fall.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.8% in Thursday's stock market trading. The S&P 500 index rose 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1%. The small-cap Russell 2000 leaped 1.3%, almost at 2025 highs.
The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF 0.7%, rising off the 21-day.
The First Trust Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted Index ETF gained 0.8%, still stuck below its 50-day line
In addition to megacaps Amazon, Netflix, homebuilders acted well, with industrials, financials and medicals also looking interesting.
Software stocks struggled on weak Salesforce.com guidance, but CRM and the sector came off lows.
U.S. crude oil prices fell 0.8% to $63.48 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield 3.5 basis points to 4.18%, a four-month low.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF climbed 0.9%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF fell 0.45%, but slashed early losses. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF rose 1.2%, with Broadcom stock a major holding.
ARK Innovation ETF advanced 0.3% and ARK Genomics ETF edged up 0.2%.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF were just above break-even. U.S. Global Jets ETF fell 1.8%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF jumped 3.2%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF gained 0.7% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund was up 0.4%
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund rallied 1.1% while the Financial Select SPDR ETF popped 1.05%.
Best Growth Stocks To Buy And Watch
Amazon, Netflix Flash Buy Signals
Amazon stock popped 4.3% on Thursday to 235.68, bouncing from the 50-day line and breaking a downtrend within a flat base. The traditional buy point is 236.53. While volatile on a daily chart, AMZN stock shows tight action.
Amazon's alliance with AI startup giant Anthropic is helping its data center buildout and the pending ramp-up of its in-house Trainium AI chip, SemiAnalysis reported.
Netflix stock gained 2.55% to 1,257.48, retaking the 50-day line, breaking a trendline and moving above a 1,251.16 short-term high. NFLX stock has a flat-base buy point of 1,341.15, according to MarketSurge.
Shopify stock advanced 3.5% to 145.15, breaking a trendline in an emerging consolidation after an earnings gap up on Aug. 6. On Tuesday, shares nearly tested their 10-week line but rallied to hold the 21-day.
Robinhood stock climbed 2.1% to 102.91, back above the 50-day line and just breaking a short downtrend. That could offer an early entry. Shares stopped short of the 21-day and 10-week lines, though.
What To Do Now
Sideways action is tough because promising entries can quickly fizzle. Early entries can be especially important in this environment, but they're no guarantee. Netflix and Amazon offered buy signals, but can they hold.
A big factor is whether or not the market is about to start a new leg higher. You definitely want to pay attention to stocks making bullish moves as you work on watchlists.
In the short run, Broadcom earnings and the jobs report could drive the market on Friday.
Amazon stock and Broadcom are on Leaderboard, with Argan and Robinhood stock on the Leaderboard watchlist. Shopify stock and Robinhood are on SwingTrader. Argan stock and Netflix are on the IBD 50. Broadcom stock is on the IBD Big Cap 20.
Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Please follow Ed Carson on Threads at @edcarson1971 and X/Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
