Nasdaq-100 futures jumped more than 1% on Friday, signalling a stronger open for Wall Street as a rally in software stocks and cooling US labour market data outweighed lingering weakness in AI and semiconductor names.
E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures were up 316.5 points, or 1.07%, at 29,872.5 in early trade. The rebound comes after software shares surged following Guggenheim's bullish call on the sector. The brokerage upgraded Salesforce, ServiceNow and Check Point Software to "Buy", arguing that investors have become excessively pessimistic about the impact of artificial intelligence on traditional software companies.
"Valuations imply many software companies will decline into perpetuity because of AI," Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci wrote in a research note, as reported by Bloomberg. "We don't believe that to be true."
The upgrade sparked broad-based gains across enterprise software and IT services stocks. Accenture climbed 7%, Cognizant advanced 7.14%, IBM rose 4%, while Salesforce and ServiceNow gained nearly 5% each.
Investor sentiment also received support from Thursday's US jobs report, which showed the labour market cooled sharply in June. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 57,000 during the month, well below recent trends, while the unemployment rate eased to 4.2% as labour force participation declined.
The weaker-than-expected hiring data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve may face less pressure to tighten monetary policy further, lifting equity futures and weighing on Treasury yields.
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The gains in futures come even as chip stocks remain under pressure after a sharp round of profit booking earlier this week. Semiconductor shares retreated following a record-breaking first-half rally, with investors locking in gains in AI-linked names after months of outsized advances.
The contrasting moves underscore a rotation within the technology sector, with investors shifting from high-flying AI chipmakers to beaten-down software companies amid improving sentiment around enterprise technology.
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