Stocks surged Friday after a highly anticipated monthly report on the labor market reinforced confidence in the health of the economy amid concerns about the impact of tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1% in mid-afternoon trading, while the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.2% and 1.4%, respectively. Stocks had closed lower on Thursday as market participants digested a handful of economic indicators and news of progress on trade talks between the U.S. and China, while shares of Tesla plunged as a spat between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump played out in a very public way.
The benchmark S&P 500 index hit 6,000 points this morning for the first time since late February. The stock market has rallied in recent months as investor concerns about Trump’s tariff plans have eased, while corporate earnings and economic data have remained strong. The major indexes are poised to post gains for the second consecutive week, after the S&P 500 in May had its strongest month since late 2023.
The monthly employment report from the Labor Department, released early Friday, showed that U.S. employers added 139,000 jobs in May, compared with the 125,000 that economists had expected, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. The jobs report underscored the continued resilience of the labor market amid concerns that tariffs could hinder economic growth.
Tesla (TSLA) shares were up 5.5% on today, after tumbling 14% on Thursday and pushing the EV maker’s market capitalization below $1 trillion.
Other mega-cap technology stocks were mostly higher. Alphabet (GOOG) was up 3%, while Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META) each gained about 2%, and Microsoft (MSFT) rose slightly to a new all-time high. Shares of Broadcom (AVGO) bucked the trend, falling nearly 4%, after the chip giant released strong quarterly results but issued a forecast that fell short of lofty expectations.
Among other noteworthy tech sector movers, shares of chipmaker Marvell Technology (MRVL) and data analytics software provider Palantir (PLTR) were each up about 6%, leading Nasdaq gainers, while chip designer Arm Holdings (ARM) and memory chip maker Micron (MU) each gained more than 3%.
Shares of Lululemon (LULU) plunged 19%, leading S&P 500 decliners, after the athletic apparel maker trimmed its full-year outlook, offsetting quarterly results that came in slightly better than expectations.
Crytpo-related stocks were on the rise as the price of bitcoin jumped to $105,200, up from a low of $104,800 yesterday. Major bitcoin buyer Strategy (MSTR) was up 2%, while crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN) added 4% and bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (RIOT) jumped 11%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on a wide range of loans, notably mortgages, was at 4.50%, up from 4.39% at yesterday’s close. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.4% to 99.18.
Gold futures were down 0.9% at $3,345 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 1.7% to $64.45, gaining ground for the second day in a row.
Microsoft Hits Record High as Analysts See More Room to Rise
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Microsoft (MSFT) shares are on pace to close at a second record high in as many days Friday, but analysts say there’s still a lot of upside left on the table for the world’s most valuable company.
Bernstein this week raised its target to $540 from $520, arguing the company’s partnership with OpenAI “can generate huge potential revenue upside for Azure” by the end of the decade, according to CNBC. Wedbush meanwhile said Microsoft “is currently in the driver’s seat on the AI front,” in a note to clients.
Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes the Azure cloud computing platform, delivered 21% revenue growth year-over-year last quarter, beating analysts expectations. Microsoft called for similar growth in the current quarter, which runs through June. Following the company’s Microsoft Build event last month, Goldman Sachs analysts said the company could reach $300 billion in cloud revenue by 2029, compared to $135 billion in fiscal 2024. The bank raised its price target to $550 from $480.
The consensus price target for Microsoft shares among analysts tracked by Visible Alpha is near $525, with all 19 analysts issuing a buy or equivalent rating. Microsoft shares were up 0.8% at around $471 in recent trading.
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Microsoft has jockeyed with Nvidia (NVDA) this week for the title of the most valuable company in the world by market capitalization. Each company currently has a market cap of around $3.5 trillion.
The Staggering Per-Employee Value of Nvidia
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What would you get in the—unlikely, to be sure—event that your employer was sold and every worker got an equal share of the take? For Nvidia employees, we’re talking millions and millions of dollars.
Nvidia (NVDA), the world’s most valuable company, is worth about $3.5 trillion. With just 36,000 employees, its market capitalization per employee stands at above $90 million. That’s nearly three times competitor Broadcom’s (AVGO) per-employee value, and it dwarfs Apple’s (AAPL) $18 million and Microsoft’s (MSFT) $15 million.
These figures were recently crunched by Deutsche Bank research strategist Jim Reid, who wondered: “Are today’s largest companies structurally employing fewer people than in the past?”
To answer that question, Reid looked back at some of America’s most valuable companies since 1950 and their respective headcounts when their value was at its peak. One might assume there’s been a structural shift toward smaller employee rolls as technological advancements improved efficiency, but history suggests “employment density” at America’s biggest companies goes through cycles.
General Motors (GM), America’s largest company in the 1950s, employed about 600,000 people at its peak. Just years later, in the late ’60s, Eastman Kodak surpassed GM in market value with just one-sixth of the workforce. In the ’70s, General Electric employed about 400,000 people.
These are enormous workforces compared with Nvidia’s, which from a market cap per employee perspective is in a league of its own, Reid says. But a few companies with headcounts comparable with Nvidia’s have become the world’s most valuable. Oil company Amoco’s margins were padded by elevated oil prices in the late 1970s, helping its market cap surge with only about 50,000 workers.
Cisco is the historical example that most resembles Nvidia. Like Cisco in the late ’90s, Nvidia is “operationally lean, highly reliant on intellectual property and engineering talent, and outsources the more labour-intensive aspects of production,” wrote Reid.
The analysis could offer some relief to those concerned that the proliferation of artificial intelligence will result in mass unemployment as AI agents and robots replace human workers.
“What’s clear through history is that while we’ve always found ways to employ people, how they’re distributed across firms and sectors is constantly evolving,” Reid wrote.
Docusign Sinks as Firm Cuts Billing Outlook
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Docusign (DOCU) shares tumbled Friday, a day after the electronic signing software maker’s billings missed estimates and it slashed its full-year billing outlook as the company shifted to an AI model.
The company reported fiscal 2026 first-quarter billings of $739.6 million, while the average estimate by analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha was $747.8 million. For the full year, Docusign sees billings in the range of $3.285 billion to $3.339 billion, down from its previous outlook of $3.300 billion to $3.354 billion.
CEO Allan Thygesen explained on the earnings call that the company expected a decline in billings this year because of “foundational go-to-market changes” as it employed its AI-driven agreement platform, Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM), according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. However, Thygesen said that “the impact happened sooner than anticipated,” which caused a drop in first-quarter early renewals, negatively impacting billings growth.
The news offset better-than-expected first-quarter results. Docusign reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.90, with revenue rising 8% year-over-year to $763.7 million. Both exceeded Visible Alpha forecasts.
In addition, the company announced an increase in the current stock buyback program by up to $1.0 billion. The plan’s current authorization is $1.4 billion.
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Docusign shares were down 19% in late-morning trading, pushing the stock into negative territory this year.
Omada Health Set to Debut on Nasdaq Friday
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Shares of Omada Health are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday after the virtual chronic care firm priced its initial public offering in the middle of its expected range.
San Francisco-based Omada Health on Thursday priced its offering of 7.9 million shares at $19 each. On May 29, the company said in a regulatory filing that it expected the IPO price would be between $18 and $20 each.
Omada Health, which calls itself “the virtual between-visit healthcare provider,” added that it had granted underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 1.185 million shares at the IPO price.
Shares are set to begin trading on the Nasdaq today under the ticker symbol “OMDA.”
On Thursday, shares of USDC stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group (CRCL) soared 168% in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Circle Shares Continue Soaring After Big Debut
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The gains just keep on coming for Circle Internet Group (CRCL) after shares of the USDC stablecoin issuer soared on their first day of public trading yesterday.
The stock was up 18% at $98 in recent trading, after soaring 168% during their debut on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday. The stock opened Thursday at $69, more than double its IPO price of $31, which was already above the $27 to $28 price at which it had planned to sell shares.
Co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire told Bloomberg that “the world has already woken up to the fact that stablecoin money is here to stay.”
Michael Nagle / Bloomberg / Getty Images
The company already has drawn interest from well-known tech investor Cathie Wood, whose ARK Investment Management has expressed interest in purchasing up to $150 million shares of the Class A stock. Bloomberg reported that investment firm BlackRock (BLK) planned to buy 10% of the IPO shares.
Lululemon Stock Plunges on Disappointing Outlook
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Shares of Lululemon Athletica (LULU) sank after the apparel maker’s second-quarter outlook came in below estimates, and the company also cut its full-year profit forecast.
Lululemon projects second-quarter revenue of $2.54 billion to $2.56 billion and earnings per share from $2.85 to $2.90, each below the analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha of $2.57 billion and $3.28.
The company still expects $11.15 billion to $11.30 billion in full-year sales, but lowered its EPS forecast to a range of $14.58 to $14.78, down from $14.95 to $15.15 previously. Responding to the lowered profit expectation, analysts from JPMorgan and UBS each lowered their price targets for the stock to $303 and $290, respectively, from $389 and $330.
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CEO Calvin McDonald said customers have “responded well to the product innovations” the company has introduced, as it looks to fix the “newness problem” it has described previously. However, McDonald said in Lululemon’s earnings call that U.S. consumers “remain cautious right now, and they are being very intentional about their buying decisions,” per an AlphaSense transcript.
“We are planning to take strategic price increases, looking item by item across our assortment as we typically do, and it will be price increases on a small portion of our assortment, and they will be modest in nature,” CFO Meghan Frank said regarding Lululemon’s plans for mitigating the impact of tariffs. She added that the company is also planning to make some changes to its supply chain that will have more of an impact on the second half of the year.
First-quarter top- and bottom-line results came in as analysts expected at $2.37 billion in sales and $2.60 EPS, but comparable sales growth of 1% fell well short of the 4.56% growth that analysts had expected.
Lululemon shares were down 18% in the opening minutes of Friday’s session. Entering the day, the stock had lost about 14% since the start of the year.
Tesla Stock Price Levels to Watch After Thursday’s Plunge
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Tesla (TSLA) shares rebounded in premarket trading after plunging Thursday amid an intensifying spat between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump.
The stock was up more than 4% at around $297 before the opening bell. Yesterday’s 14% decline wiped a sizable portion of the gains that Tesla shares had posted after Musk said in late April that he planned to step away from his role as head of the government’s Department of Government Efficiency to spend more time at the automaker.
Since bottoming out in early April, Tesla shares staged a countertrend rally within a rising wedge. However, the price broke down from the pattern this week, indicating a resumption of the stock’s longer-term downtrend that started in December.
In recent days, selling has accelerated, with the price closing below both the 50- and 200-day moving averages in Thursday’s trading session, a move that coincided with the relative strength index falling sharply below its neutral threshold toward oversold territory. Moreover, today’s drop occurred on heavy volume, signaling that larger market participants drove the selling.
Investors should watch major support levels on Tesla’s chart around $265, $215 and $170, while also monitoring a key overhead area near $365.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
Major Index Futures Slightly Higher Before Jobs Data
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Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3%.
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S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures also tacked on 0.4%.
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