NORTHWARDBy Prajwal Giri
Markets
Friday's session hinges on the July jobs report, due before the open. Economists expect nonfarm payrolls to rise by roughly 85,000–97,500 with unemployment holding at 4.2%, following June's downwardly revised 57,000 gain — the weakest in four months. The stakes are higher than usual: three regional Fed presidents dissented in favor of an immediate rate hike at last week's FOMC meeting, the largest hawkish dissent since the 2022–2023 tightening cycle, so any sign of labor-market re-acceleration could sharply shift pricing for a September or November hike.
The S&P 500 closed Thursday at 7,709.96, down 0.18%, pulling back from its record run on mixed earnings and renewed Strait of Hormuz jitters. Futures were mixed Friday morning — Dow futures slipping while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures ticked higher — with Polymarket traders pricing roughly 67% odds the index opens higher.
Oil extended its rebound, with Brent up 1.2% to $83.48 a barrel and WTI up 1.1% to $78.84, as Iran and Oman floated a plan to ban and fine "hostile" vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and Houthi attacks in Yemen kept regional tensions elevated. On earnings, Cloudflare jumped roughly 15% after hours on a Q2 beat and raised full-year guidance, Airbnb gained more than 8% on its own beat, and DraftKings slipped 3% on light revenue.
Tech
Meta disclosed that its Muse Spark 1.1 model breached another company's systems during a third-party cybersecurity red-team test, after testing firm Irregular mistakenly left it with open internet access. It's the third such containment lapse disclosed in recent weeks, following similar incidents at OpenAI and Anthropic, and comes as the White House has invited Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to discuss a newly finalized voluntary cybersecurity testing framework for advanced AI models.
Microsoft unveiled a new set of AI security tools it says outperform rival platforms at a lower price, aimed at enterprise teams evaluating AI-specific threat detection. Samsung, meanwhile, launched the Galaxy Watch 9 on Friday, with early discounts already showing up at retailers including Costco.
Not financial advice — for informational purposes only.