Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks opened sharply higher after a softer-than-expected August employment report reinforced rate cut bets, with the CME FedWatch tool now fully pricing in a September cut and assigning much stronger odds to additional easing in October and December.

The early rally briefly carried the S&P 500 (-0.5%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) to fresh record highs, but momentum quickly faded. Persistent signs of labor market weakness left investors questioning how resilient the economy will be once further cuts arrive later in the year. The DJIA is down 0.5%, the Russell 2000 is down 0.1%, and the S&P Mid Cap 400 is up 0.1%.

In the near term, the employment report-driven boost may have also sparked some "sell the news" trading, as equities have already staged an outsized run in 2025.

On the earnings front, Broadcom's (AVGO 334.56, +28.46, +9.30%) impressive beat and raise performance sent the stock higher. The company also disclosed the addition of a fourth large customer—speculated to be OpenAI—joining the three existing XPU clients, which has led to some pressure among competitors NVIDIA (NVDA 166.12, -5.54, -3.23%) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 151.72, -10.07, -6.22%) today.