U.S. Futures Steady as Investors Await Jobs Report; Lululemon and Adobe in Focus: Dow Jones, S&P, Nasdaq, Wall Street

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Friday as investors awaited the August nonfarm payrolls report and assessed comments from Federal Reserve officials on the interest-rate outlook.

Corporate developments included a decline in Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) shares following another reduction in its full-year forecasts, while Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) announced a change in chief executive. Investors were also assessing a new artificial intelligence model announced by OpenAI.

U.S. Futures Little Changed Ahead of Payrolls

S&P 500 futures edged lower to 7,752.25 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures were broadly unchanged following gains on Wall Street in the previous session.

Attention remained focused on the August nonfarm payrolls report, which could provide further information on U.S. labour-market conditions and influence expectations for Federal Reserve policy.

A stronger employment report could support expectations that monetary policy will remain restrictive, while weaker job growth could strengthen the case for leaving rates unchanged or potentially reducing them at a later stage.

Waller Comments Reduce September Rate Hike Expectations

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said recent economic data showed signs of easing inflationary pressures.

Waller indicated that if forthcoming data continue to show inflation moderating, he would favour keeping interest rates unchanged at the Fed’s September 15-16 meeting.

His comments followed remarks from New York Fed President John Williams, who has supported a cautious wait-and-see approach to monetary policy.

Financial markets subsequently reduced the implied probability of a 25-basis-point rate increase in September to around 50%, from almost 65% previously.

Lululemon Shares Fall After Outlook Reduction

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) shares fell about 18% in extended trading after the company lowered its full-year forecasts again and reported quarterly sales below expectations.

Incoming Chief Executive Heidi O’Neill is expected to oversee the company’s efforts to update its product range and respond to competition in the athleticwear market.

Investors will be monitoring subsequent sales trends and the company’s product strategy as the leadership transition progresses.

Adobe Appoints Anil Chakravarthy as Chief Executive

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) said Anil Chakravarthy will become president and chief executive on December 1, succeeding Shantanu Narayen.

Chakravarthy currently serves as president of Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations. He will also join the company’s board.

Narayen will become executive chair and work with Chakravarthy during the transition.

Adobe said the leadership change comes as it expands the use of artificial intelligence across its creativity, productivity and customer-experience products. Chakravarthy said his focus would include the next era of “agentic software.”

OpenAI Introduces GPT-6 Astra

OpenAI introduced GPT-6 Astra, with an initial rollout to enterprise customers before broader availability for Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users.

The company said the model will also be available through the OpenAI API and AWS. Standard API pricing was set at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens.

The launch adds to ongoing competition among artificial intelligence companies seeking to expand model capabilities and adoption across business and consumer applications.

Lululemon Athletica stock price

Adobe stock price