Futures Climb on Soft September Jobs Report as Nike Slides, Nvidia Retakes Top Pick

Brent crude traded below $100 a barrel Friday morning on reports of diesel and crude stockpile releases, Cramer added.

Nike shares fell another 8% after the apparel maker missed on revenue and issued a light sales forecast for fiscal 2027. Management said it expects to maintain and grow the dividend over time; Cramer called the payout stretched. He wrote that the company admitted to flooding the zone with Jordans and showed little recognition of competition. A November investor day remains scheduled, and the stock drew a parade of price target cuts.

Morgan Stanley reinstated Nvidia as its top pick in semiconductors. Analysts hosted CEO Jensen Huang and CFO Colette Kress for investor meetings and said they liked what they heard, including a strategy focused on increasing revenue per gigawatt in a power-constrained environment. They also called the valuation "very undemanding." Nvidia shares are trading just shy of their May record highs.

Two AI financing reports drew attention. The Financial Times reported that Amazon is trying to put $8 billion worth of Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips into a new investment vehicle and then lease the chips back, a structure aimed at improving its balance sheet; Amazon said in August that it was buying 2 million additional GPUs. Bloomberg reported that Broadcom's Wall Street bankers are working on a $60 billion financing to benefit Anthropic and other companies, split into $42 billion of senior secured debt and $18 billion of junior debt.

Boeing's white-collar union approved a new four-year contract, averting a potential strike. It was the second piece of good news this week for the planemaker, following its win over Northrop Grumman for a Navy fighter jet contract. Cramer wrote that his focus now turns to resolving the 737 Max software glitch in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Analysts raised price targets on Accenture after the consulting firm's strong quarter. Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all lifted their targets; Goldman's $260 target is the highest and carries the only buy rating. Accenture shares are up 70% from their June lows but still below January levels.

Seagate and Western Digital came under heavy pressure, down more than 11% and 8% respectively, after a report that Toshiba plans to double its AI hard disk drive production by investing $380 million to expand facilities in the Philippines. Both storage makers are big year-to-date winners in the memory and storage shortage trade, and Cramer asked whether the Toshiba move could erode their pricing power.

Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Abbott Laboratories to buy from hold and raised its price target to $127 from $119, with analysts arguing the healthcare company needs to exit slower-growing businesses such as nutrition.

TD Cowen raised its price targets on CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks, saying the cybersecurity business environment remains strong, which makes it easier for CrowdStrike to beat second-half fiscal 2027 net new annual recurring revenue estimates. The analysts also see multiple growth avenues at Palo Alto.

Linde drew positive analyst commentary after the first day of the industrial gas company's investor day, which focused on space and electronics. Citi said the company is engineered to win in both lanes, and Deutsche Bank called its space opportunity significant.