Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq rise amid weak ADP jobs data, Miran’s Fed Senate hearing

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, grilled Stephen Miran, President Trump’s nominee to the Federal Reserve board, during a tense question and answer session in today’s Senate hearing.

Warren kicked off her questioning by citing a portion of a 2024 paper in which Miran was quoted saying: “To pretend that one can easily shift between highly political and allegedly nonpolitical roles without letting political biases inform policy is, at best, naive, and at worst, sinister.”

Warren also asked Miran about:

Google’s (GOOG) AI chips called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are presenting a greater source of competition for Nvidia (NVDA).

Bank of America analyst Atif Malik said in a note to clients Thursday that the Alphabet-owned company “has potential to grow TPU units sharply next year.”

The note followed a report from The Information that Google has approached small cloud providers about hosting its AI chips in their data centers.

This is a diversion from how Google’s AI chips contribute to its business currently: To date, Google hosts the TPUs in its own data centers and rents that computing power to its own Google Cloud customers.

“We continue to believe GOOGL could unleash significant value if it started selling TPUs as a business, especially if it spun off that business,” wrote DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria in his own note Wednesday. “Based on NVDA’s current valuation that business could be worth $900 billion.”

President Trump’s Fed board nominee, Stephen Miran, is testifying before the Senate Banking Committee. The early questions he has faced are around how he will balance the central bank’s independence with Trump’s insistence on persistently lower interest rates.

“I couldn’t be more in agreement that the independence of the central bank is of paramount importance,” Miran said in a response to a question from Republican Sen. Tim Scott.

Miran said he would act independently if confirmed to the board. He did, however, acknowledge that Trump “nominated me because I have policy views that I suppose that he liked.”

You can watch the hearing live here.

A report from the Institute for Supply Management on Thursday showed economic activity in the services sector rose more than expected in August.

The Services PMI — which tracks the economic conditions of companies across over 15 non-manufacturing sectors — rose to 52 last month, higher than the reading of 51 expected by economists tracked by Bloomberg and the 50.1 in July. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the services sector, which accounts for the majority of US GDP.

The sector has recorded expansion in 13 of the past 14 months.

Still, employment in the services sector was weaker than expected, contracting for the third consecutive month. The ISM Services Employment index was 46.5, less than the 46.7 forecast but above the 46.4 reading in July.

Meanwhile, prices paid by companies for goods were lower than projected but remained elevated. The Prices Index hit 69.2, less than the 69.5 expected and the reading of 69.9 in July.

“The index has exceeded 60 percent for nine straight months, its longest such streak since 30 consecutive readings above 60 percent from October 2020 to March 2023,” said ISM chair Steve Miller in the report.

Investor hopes for a Fed rate cut remained high but softened slightly after the ISM report. Traders were pricing in 95.4% chances of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in September, less than the 97% earlier in the day.

Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports:

Read the full story here.

US stocks wavered on Thursday as Wall Street digested fresh jobs data that showed signs of further weakening in the labor market, which pushed investors’ hopes for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in September higher.

The S&P 500 moved up 0.18%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.4%. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped less than 0.1% after stocks mostly closed higher on Wednesday.

Here’s a look at the top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading:

Salesforce shares fell 7% after quarterly results failed to wow investors. The company’s revenue and earnings figures were in line or even beat Wall Street estimates, but compared to its AI and tech peers, the cloud software provider was seen as lagging behind.

Read more about Salesforce’s quarter and other corporate earnings here.

Figma stock tumbled 15% after its first quarterly report since its blockbuster IPO disappointed. The company reported breakeven earnings, less than the $0.09 profit analysts were hoping for, while revenue was slightly above estimates.

American Eagle Outfitters stock soared 24% on Thursday morning on better-than-expected forward guidance for the year and a $0.24 earnings beat. As my colleague Karen Friar notes below, the company said it’s seeing a surge in demand attributed to its high-profile ad campaigns with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce.

C3.ai shares dropped nearly 14% after the artificial intelligence application company widely missed Wall Street estimates in its fiscal first quarter and reported declining revenue year over year. C3.ai, which has been grappling with a structural reorganization, also appointed Stephen Ehikian as its new CEO.

American Bitcoin Company shares declined 4% in Thursday’s premarket after debuting on the Nasdaq on Wednesday. The company, which is backed by President Trump’s sons, rose 16% on its first trading day.

Check out more trending tickers here.

The US labor market continues to show signs that it entered a lower gear over the summer.

ADP’s private payrolls report for August out Thursday morning showed there were just 54,000 private sector jobs created last month, fewer than the 73,000 that were expected and the 106,000 jobs added to the private sector last month.

The largest job gains were seen in the leisure & hospitality and construction sectors, where 50,000 and 15,000 jobs were created last month, respectively.

Job losses were steepest in the transportation & utilities sector, as well as education and health services, with 17,000 and 12,000 fewer folks employed in those sectors in August when compared to the prior month.

In a release, Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said labor market momentum from earlier this year had been “whipsawed” by uncertainty around the economy.

“A variety of things could explain the hiring slowdown,” Richardson added, “including labor shortages, skittish consumers, and AI disruptions.”

ADP’s report comes a day before the government is set to release its monthly jobs report, with that release garnering added attention after significant revisions to May and June’s data prompted President Trump to fire the head of the BLS, which publishes the data.

C3.AI (AI) shares are getting slammed premarket after the disastrous quarter they pre-announced a few weeks ago was fully uncovered. The earnings call was brief and not exactly upbeat. The company pulled its full-year guidance as its new CEO, who was announced last night, digs in with his plan.

The new CEO, Stephen Ehikian, comes straight from the Trump administration, where he was a key player in DOGE tasked with cutting government expenses (especially government building leases). But his extensive tech background (sold two businesses to Salesforce) also helped him secure AI deals between large private companies and the government.

Given Ehikian’s resume, this is a good hire on paper. However, he will have to move quickly to restore investor confidence.

I have Ehikian and C3.AI founder Tom Siebel on with me today at 9:40 a.m. ET live on Opening Bid. Tune in here.

I have been picking through Goldman’s bullish note on gold (see prior post below), and what’s not getting talked about much (but should) is what they said on the outlook for copper prices.

Seeing as copper is an important industrial metal, Goldman’s bullishness could have ramifications for the profit margins of many industrial powerhouses.

Goldman’s co-head of commodities research Samantha Dart said:

Google can thank OpenAI for its big win in court, Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban writes in today’s Morning Brief:

Read more here.

Salesforce (CRM) shares dropped nearly 7% before the bell on Thursday, after the cloud software provider’s weak third quarter revenue forecast hinted at a delayed payoff from its AI investments.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) shot up nearly 24% in premarket trading after the clothing retailer applauded the impact of high-profile ad campaigns in its earnings report late Wednesday.

American Eagle’s CEO Jay Schottenstein credited high-profile ads featuring actor Sydney Sweeney and National Football League (NFL) star Travis Kelce with spurring demand for its jeans and apparel.

“The fall season is off to a positive start. Fueled by stronger product offerings and the success of recent marketing campaigns with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce, we have seen an uptick in customer awareness, engagement and comparable sales,” Schottenstein said in the results release.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Gold (GC=F) could rally to almost $5,000 an ounce if the Federal Reserve’s independence were damaged and investors shifted just a small portion of holdings from Treasuries into bullion, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.

“A scenario where Fed independence is damaged would likely lead to higher inflation, lower stock and long-dated bond prices, and an erosion of the dollar’s reserve-currency status,” analysts including Samantha Dart said in a note. “In contrast, gold is a store of value that doesn’t rely on institutional trust.”

The bank outlined a range of possible outcomes for the metal, with a baseline forecast for a surge to $4,000 an ounce by mid-2026; a so-called tail-risk scenario of $4,500; and an estimate of almost $5,000 if just 1% of the privately-owned US Treasury market were to flow into gold.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Read more here.