Market Summary
U.S. equity futures point to a modestly lower open on Thursday, September 3, with S&P 500 futures trading 6.00 points below fair value and Nasdaq futures off a steeper 82.00 points, as renewed strength in crude oil offsets a further easing in Treasury yields. The setup follows a broad rebound in Wednesday’s session, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 295.07 points (+0.6%) to 53,061.95, the S&P 500 gained 35.13 points (+0.5%) to 7,666.60, and the Nasdaq Composite added 118.05 points (+0.5%) to 26,238.88. Ten of eleven S&P 500 sectors advanced Wednesday, led by materials (+1.5%) and communication services (+1.3%), while the Russell 2000 (+1.2%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (+0.7%) outpaced the large-cap benchmarks in a sign of broadening participation.
This morning’s tone has shifted back toward caution. WTI crude is trading near $92-93/bbl — approaching its July high just below $94 — as hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz continue to fan supply concerns, even as the 10-year Treasury yield eases three basis points to 4.77%, extending Wednesday’s stabilization after yields touched fresh 2026 highs overnight earlier this week. Tech earnings are driving individual stock dispersion: Broadcom (AVGO) is down 3.3% in early trading despite a solid beat and above-consensus Q4 guidance, dragging on semiconductors, while Snowflake (SNOW) is surging roughly 24% on blowout Q2 results and raised guidance, providing an early bright spot for beaten-down software names after Wednesday’s steep sector-wide slide.
Investors now turn to a busy domestic data slate — trade balance, weekly jobless claims, ISM Non-Manufacturing, and revised productivity/unit labor costs — for further confirmation of the “fickle,” rate-sensitive tone that has defined trading this week. WaveFinder breadth metrics show Primary Sentiment registering “Very Bullish” (1,046 bulls vs. 807 bears), even as only 41.46% of stocks remain above their 40-day moving average and just 7% sit above their 20-day average, underscoring a market still working through a choppy, narrow-leadership phase.
Market Snapshot
Wednesday’s Close (Sep 2):
- DJIA: 53,061.95 (+295.07, +0.6%)
- S&P 500: 7,666.60 (+35.13, +0.5%)
- Nasdaq Composite: 26,238.88 (+118.05, +0.5%)
- Russell 2000: +1.2% (day); +19.0% YTD
- S&P Mid Cap 400: +0.7% (day); +13.4% YTD
- S&P 500 Equal-Weighted Index: +0.6%
YTD Performance: Russell 2000 +19.0% | S&P Mid Cap 400 +13.4% | Nasdaq Composite +12.8% | S&P 500 +12.0% | DJIA +10.4%
Thursday Pre-Market Futures:
- S&P 500 futures: -6.00 vs. fair value
- Nasdaq futures: -82.00 vs. fair value
WaveFinder Breadth (Sep 3):
- Primary Sentiment: Very Bullish (Bulls 1,046 / Bears 807)
- 4% Sentiment: Neutral (Bulls 0 / Bears 0)
- 40 SMA Sentiment: Neutral
- Stocks Above 20-day SMA: 7%
- Stocks Above 40-day SMA: 41.46%
- 9M Bulls: 0 / Bears: 0 | 9M Bull Follow-Through: 0%
Sector Performance
Ranked by Wednesday’s (Sep 2) S&P 500 sector performance:
1. Materials +1.5% — led by steel names (Steel Dynamics +5.79%) amid U.S.-Canada trade focus
2. Communication Services +1.3% — Charter Communications +8.74%, Reddit +9.31%
3. Financials +0.8% — broad contribution to DJIA outperformance
4-9. Health Care, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Energy, Utilities — among the remaining sectors that closed higher (10 of 11 sectors advanced), specific closing figures not detailed in source data
10. Information Technology +0.3% — modest gain masking a sharp internal divide; semiconductors (PHLX Semiconductor Index +0.5%, NVIDIA +3.20%) offset a 2.6% decline in the iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF
11. Real Estate -0.8% — lone S&P 500 sector decliner
Pre-Market Volatility Watch (WaveFinder ATR):
- Energy: +3.92% ATR, rising (P100) — highest volatility percentile, tracking crude’s advance
- Consumer Staples: +1.24% ATR, flat (P95)
- Communication Services: +2.86% ATR, flat (P84)
- Health Care: +2.40% ATR, falling (P32)
- Materials: +1.04% ATR, falling (P37)
- Financials: +0.44% ATR, falling (P16)
- Technology: -1.54% ATR, falling (P5)
- Consumer Discretionary: -0.54% ATR, falling (P5)
- Real Estate: -2.12% ATR, falling (P0)
- Industrials: -1.73% ATR, falling (P0)
- Utilities: -2.56% ATR, falling (P0)
Key Earnings & Movers
- Broadcom (AVGO) 354.97, -12.27 (-3.3%) — Beat EPS by $0.10 and beat revenue expectations; guided Q4 revenue above consensus, but shares fell as semiconductor peers followed suit
- Snowflake (SNOW) 379.06, +73.22 (+23.94%) — Beat Q2 earnings/revenue; issued strong Q3 and full-year product revenue guidance
- Five Below (FIVE) 257.24, +14.16 (+5.83%) — Beat quarterly expectations; comp sales +14.1%; guided Q3 EPS/revenue above consensus and raised full-year outlook
- Ciena (CIEN) 364.00, +9.84 (+2.78%) — Topped quarterly EPS/revenue; guided Q4 revenue above consensus
- Dell (DELL) 492.00, +67.00 (+15.76%, Wed close) — Strong earnings beat; raised FY27 AI-Optimized Servers revenue outlook to $74B from $60B
- HPE 51.86, +0.98 (+1.94%, Wed close) — Moved higher ahead of its own earnings, benefiting from Dell’s positive read-through
- Palo Alto Networks (PANW) 328.39, -33.70 (-9.31%, Wed close) — Beat Q4 and issued above-consensus FY27 guide, but sold off on elevated expectations
- MongoDB (MDB) 375.40, -58.81 (-13.54%, Wed close) — Fell sharply following earnings
- Palantir (PLTR) 169.44, -10.48 (-5.83%, Wed close) — Added to software-sector weakness
- CrowdStrike (CRWD) 203.42, -11.65 (-5.42%, Wed close) — Added to software-sector weakness
- Steel Dynamics (STLD) 247.64, +13.55 (+5.79%, Wed close) — Gained on U.S.-Canada trade negotiation focus
- Charter Communications (CHTR) 158.97, +12.78 (+8.74%, Wed close)
- Reddit (RDDT) 158.11, +13.47 (+9.31%, Wed close)
- NVIDIA (NVDA) 224.40, +6.96 (+3.20%, Wed close)
Stock Spotlight
Snowflake (SNOW) — up ~24% in after-hours/pre-market trading. The cloud-data company delivered a broad Q2 beat and sharply raised guidance, offering compelling evidence that AI demand is translating into accelerating platform consumption rather than remaining a distant narrative. Product-revenue growth accelerated for a third consecutive quarter, and FY27 product-revenue guidance was raised to $6.07 billion (36% growth, roughly one point of which stems from the Observe acquisition). Q3 guidance of $1.588-$1.593 billion implies 37-38% growth, suggesting momentum is stable to slightly accelerating. Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) rose 30% yr/yr to $9.0 billion, with 54% expected to convert to revenue over the next 12 months — about 42% more than the comparable figure a year ago.
Beyond the headline growth, execution metrics were broadly strong: CoCo surpassed 9,100 accounts (adding over 2,000 in Q2) while CoWork reached 5,800 accounts, up nearly 11% sequentially. SNOW added 692 net new customers (+32% yr/yr), and its $1 million-plus revenue cohort grew to 828 customers, with 65 now exceeding $10 million. Non-GAAP operating margin expanded more than 400 bps yr/yr to 15%, and management raised FY27 operating margin guidance to 14.5% from 13.5% even as a 100-bp reduction in product gross-margin guidance reflects the growing but lower-margin AI mix. The key forward tests, per Briefing.com analysis, are whether CoCo/CoWork adoption produces durable cohort-level consumption and whether AI-driven gross margin can stabilize alongside continued operating leverage.
Bond Market & Treasuries
U.S. Treasuries are on track for a modestly higher start Thursday, building on Wednesday’s near-unchanged finish that masked a brief morning dip to fresh 2026 highs in yields.
Overnight/Pre-Market Yields (Sep 3):
- 2-year: 4.36% (-3 bps)
- 3-year: 4.43% (-2 bps)
- 5-year: 4.53% (-2 bps)
- 10-year: 4.77% (-3 bps), +6/32 in price
- 30-year: 5.25% (-2 bps)
Wednesday’s Close (Sep 2): 2-year 4.39% (UNCH) | 10-year 4.80% (UNCH) | 30-year 5.27% (UNCH)
Key drivers include a rally in the Japanese yen after Treasury Secretary Bessent’s comments fueled speculation of an imminent Bank of Japan rate hike, plus final August Services PMI readings showing deeper-than-expected contractions in France (48.0 vs. 48.4 expected) and Germany (49.7 vs. 49.8 prior). The U.S. session brings a heavy data slate — Trade Balance, revised Productivity/Unit Labor Costs, weekly jobless claims, Services PMI (final), and ISM Non-Manufacturing — that could further influence the rate path.
Commodities
- WTI Crude Oil: $92.63/bbl, +1.8% — trading near its July high just below $94/bbl amid continued hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz
- Gold: $4,482.30/ozt, +1.5%
- Copper: $6.63/lb, +0.5%
- Silver: Not reported in available data
Overseas Markets
Asia-Pacific (mixed, narrow ranges):
- Nikkei (Japan): 64,214.48, -111.20 (-0.20%)
- Hang Seng (Hong Kong): 25,213.31, -97.90 (-0.40%)
- Shanghai Composite (China): UNCH
- Sensex (India): -0.6%
- Kospi (South Korea): +0.3%
- ASX All Ordinaries (Australia): +0.4%
Key driver: The yen rallied to its September high against the dollar (USD/JPY -1.6% to 156.14) amid speculation of a potential Bank of Japan rate hike following comments from Treasury Secretary Bessent.
Europe (near flat lines):
- STOXX Europe 600: +0.2%
- DAX (Germany): UNCH
- FTSE 100 (U.K.): +0.3%
- CAC 40 (France): -0.3%
- FTSE MIB (Italy): +0.3%
- IBEX 35 (Spain): +0.4%
Key driver: Investors are digesting mixed services PMI data and positioning ahead of next week’s ECB policy meeting, which is expected to result in a rate hike; Germany’s Chancellor Merz is set to meet with ECB officials ahead of the decision.
Economic Data
Overnight releases:
- China August RatingDog Services PMI: 51.4 (expected 50.6; prior 50.4)
- Japan August Services PMI: 52.5 (expected 52.3; prior 51.2)
- Hong Kong August Manufacturing PMI: 49.5 (prior 51.0)
- Australia August Services PMI: 53.2 (expected 52.9; prior 53.6); July trade surplus AUD1.923B (expected AUD1.400B)
- New Zealand Q2 Terms of Trade: -9.0% qtr/qtr (expected -2.1%)
- India August Services PMI: 54.1 (expected 54.5; prior 53.3)
- Eurozone August Services PMI: 51.6 (expected 51.7); July PPI +1.6% m/m, +5.8% yr/yr
- Germany August Services PMI: 49.7 (expected 48.5; prior 49.8) — contraction
- France August Services PMI: 48.0 (expected 48.4; prior 49.6) — deeper contraction
- Swiss Q2 GDP: +1.9% qtr/qtr, +2.8% yr/yr (both above expectations); August CPI +0.4% m/m, +0.8% yr/yr
Wednesday’s U.S. data:
- MBA Mortgage Applications: +0.8% (prior -1.0%)
- August ADP Employment Change: 38K (consensus 47K; prior revised to 46K from 44K) — softer-than-expected, bond-market friendly
- July Factory Orders: +0.9% (consensus 0.6%; prior revised to -0.2% from -0.3%)
Looking Ahead
Today’s remaining U.S. economic calendar (Sep 3):
- 8:30 ET: July Trade Balance (consensus -$89.6B; prior -$73.3B)
- 8:30 ET: Q2 Productivity – Revised (consensus 1.4%; prior 1.4%)
- 8:30 ET: Q2 Unit Labor Costs – Revised (consensus 1.3%; prior 1.3%)
- 8:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims (consensus 205K; prior 203K)
- 8:30 ET: Continuing Claims (prior 1,778K)
- 9:45 ET: August S&P Global U.S. Services PMI – Final (prior 56.8)
- 10:00 ET: August ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (consensus 54.1%; prior 54.1%)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventories (prior +15 bcf)
Markets will continue to monitor crude oil’s advance toward $94/bbl amid Strait of Hormuz tensions and any further developments on Bank of Japan rate-hike speculation. Investor focus also remains on the divergent earnings reactions across technology, with software-sector stabilization (following Snowflake’s post-earnings surge) a key theme to watch after this week’s broad software-sector selloff.