Tonight's Highlights: Weak Nonfarm Payrolls Propel Gold Higher; Top AI Performers Reverse Losses

Ahead of the final US trading session of the week, the three major index futures spiked concurrently on the back of early nonfarm payrolls data. Following today's closing bell, US markets will enter a long holiday weekend to celebrate the nation's 250th Semiquincentennial.

The freshly released data shows that US nonfarm payrolls increased by 57,000 in June, arriving significantly below consensus expectations of 113,000.

Additionally, figures for May and April were revised downward by 31,000 and 43,000, to 148,000 and 129,000, respectively. The June unemployment rate came in at 4.2%, slightly better than expected.

As of press time, Nasdaq 100 Index futures (September 2609 contract) rose 0.53%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.37%, and Dow Jones futures edged up 0.49%.

The latest soft payrolls print has heavily diluted market anxieties over potential Fed rate hikes. Spot gold surged vertically, with the latest quote scaling the $4,100 per ounce mark.

Meanwhile, the impact of the Meta "compute-selling" rumors appears to have faded. Top AI momentum plays that slumped yesterday—including Micron Technology, SanDisk, and Corning—stabilized and turned positive in pre-market trading.

Addressing yesterday's sharp market sell-off over the Meta rumors, Brent Thill, Head of Tech Research at Jefferies, pushed back in his latest note: "We reject the bearish 'overbuilding' narrative. Meta is not retreating from the AI race; it is translating early, aggressive capacity commitments into a strategic, value-creating option.

In a market severely constrained by power grid shortages and hardware bottlenecks, Meta can easily generate substantial revenue by leasing out a portion of its capacity."

Coincidentally, just hours ago, SoftBank Group announced its expansion into the US compute-leasing market, outlining plans to bring 10 gigawatts of hyperscale data centers online around 2030.

Reports suggest that by providing compute capacity in the US, the annual operating profit of SoftBank's telecom subsidiary (SoftBank Corp.) could "easily triple or quadruple."

Finally, the Japanese yen—which touched its lowest level since 1986 this week—showed sharp technical moves. This afternoon, the yen surged rapidly from above 162.5 against the dollar, breaking below 161 at its peak.

Responding to speculation regarding potential FX market intervention by Tokyo, Japan's top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, told media on Friday: "I have no intention of making any comment; I will maintain total silence."

Following past intervention patterns from Japanese authorities, if action was indeed taken on Thursday, similar sharp moves are highly likely to recur over the coming days.

Other News

Apple Reportedly Hikes Year-End Foldable iPhone Production Targets: According to reports on Thursday, people familiar with the matter revealed that Apple has instructed suppliers to prepare for the production of approximately 10 million foldable iPhones this year, up from previous estimates of 7 to 8 million a few months ago. Apple has also informed select component suppliers that second-half production volumes for the new iPhone lineup could reach up to 85 million units, compared to initial component orders pegged at 80 million.
Elon Musk Posts Group Photo Hinting Optimus Line May Be Ready: On Wednesday, Musk shared a team photo captioned as a visit to the Optimus robot production line at the Fremont factory. The statement suggests that Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus, is entering a critical mass-production phase.
OpenAI Reportedly Seeking "Equity-for-Access" Deal: Artificial intelligence firm OpenAI is in discussions to offer a 5% equity stake to the US government, aiming to secure funding support from the Trump administration and resolve looming political hurdles.
SoftBank Enters US Compute Market; Telecom Unit Profits Seen Tripling: On Thursday afternoon, SoftBank Group and its telecom arm, SoftBank Corp., announced the joint creation of a cloud services entity named "SB Neo" to spearhead compute-leasing operations in the US. Junichi Miyakawa, head of SoftBank's telecom unit, stated the new venture would bring profits of a "completely different order of magnitude." Thursday reports citing sources familiar with the company's plans noted that providing US compute services could boost the telecom unit's annual operating profit "three-to-four-fold," pushing it to between 3 and 4 trillion yen.