U.S. equities showed a mixed performance at the opening bell, with the Dow and S&P 500 edging lower while tech-heavy indexes held steady, after a robust August jobs report intensified expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike at its upcoming meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.22%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.12%, and the Nasdaq remained flat. Significant movers included lululemon athletica inc plunging 18.06%, Fair Isaac Corp dropping 16.80%, 艾可菲 sliding 10.65%, and Albemarle Corp declining 4.90%. On the upside, Astera Labs Inc gained 3.89%, Oracle rose 3.43%, and SanDisk climbed 3.31%.

Among the "Magnificent Seven" stocks, Nvidia gained 0.83%, Amazon rose 0.55%, Meta Platforms edged up 0.18%, Google added 0.17%, and Apple increased 0.09%. Conversely, Microsoft slipped 0.07%, while Tesla dropped 3.55%.

The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, significantly exceeding the 53,000 gain economists surveyed by Dow Jones had predicted. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, in line with expectations. Additionally, job creation figures for both June and July were revised upward. Following the release of the employment data, U.S. Treasury yields moved higher, with the 2-year yield hitting its highest level since January 2025.

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, traders in federal funds futures now price a 58% probability of a rate hike at the Fed's next policy meeting in two weeks, up from 49.4% the previous day. Ellen Zentner, Chief Economic Strategist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, commented, "The stronger-than-expected jobs data will likely heighten market concerns about a rate hike, but the final outcome will depend on next week's inflation figures. If inflation data comes in lower than expected, the Fed may downplay the potential inflationary signals emanating from the labor market."

During regular trading on Thursday, all three major indices closed higher. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average surged over 600 points, or 1.2%, marking its best single-day performance since August 4. The S&P 500 rose more than 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4%. Fed Governor Christopher Waller stated his preference to keep the federal funds rate in its current target range of 3.5%-3.75% at the September 15-16 meeting, which led to a pullback in Treasury yields and provided a boost to equities.

For the week, U.S. stocks are on track to close higher: the S&P 500 is projected to gain 0.5%, the Nasdaq is expected to rise 0.7%, and the Dow is set to add 0.2%.

In Asian markets, South Korea's KOSPI index advanced 1.64% on Friday, while Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 1.26%. Mainland China's CSI 300 index closed slightly lower at 4,548.05 points, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.82% in the final hour of trading. European equities were mixed, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index edging higher on Friday as major national bourses traded divergently.

Venture capital experts suggest that as valuations in certain sectors begin to show signs of being stretched, investors should shift their focus to productivity gains driven by AI. Nitra, founding partner at venture capital firm Purple Ventures, noted, "As investors become much more demanding about where technology is creating genuine value and where it is merely packaging a feature as a business, we may witness a major industry shakeout." He anticipates capital becoming far more selective over the next 6 to 12 months. While acknowledging that AI has the potential to transform the economy, Nitra pointed out that not every company mentioning AI in its business plan "deserves an extraordinary high valuation." He added, "The true winners will be those using AI to tackle high-cost and extremely complex problems."

Amid one of the most aggressive synchronized sell-offs in global bond markets in nearly two decades, with long-term yields in the U.S., Japan, Europe, and the U.K. hitting multi-year highs, renowned economist Nouriel Roubini, known for his bearish forecasts, has surprisingly offered an optimistic view. The "Dr. Doom" economist, who accurately predicted the 2008 global financial crisis, stated that the recent surge in yields is not a signal of a fiscal crisis, but rather a reflection of the optimism and capital expenditure growth driven by the AI boom. He believes the largest driver of rising real yields is the capital spending, AI, and the future technology boom. He noted that part of the rise in bond yields may actually signal stronger growth—"Typically, when risk appetite increases, economic growth strengthens, stock prices rise, and bond yields also move up."