Markets today: a quiet Monday ahead of a jobs-report week

A thin Monday calendar opens a week built around Friday's August employment report, with ISM surveys and job openings in between and two large-cap takeovers announced overnight.

The trading week runs toward Friday’s August employment report, and it opens quietly. The open is calm. Today brings a single regional manufacturing survey and no earnings from the companies Bellwize covers. The days in between fill with labor and activity data before nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate close the week. Overnight, two large-cap names, SLB and Eli Lilly, each announced a multibillion-dollar acquisition.

On the calendar today

The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index, a medium-billing regional survey, is the day’s lone scheduled release, due at 10:30 a.m. ET. Its previous reading was 1.3. No companies Bellwize covers are scheduled to report.

Backdrop

The major indexes ended Friday lower. The S&P 500 closed at 7,711.76, down 0.25%. The Dow finished nearly flat at 53,559.99, off 0.02%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.52% to 26,402.42. The VIX settled at 15.29, and the 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.67%.

The week ahead

Tuesday, Sep. 1. The ISM manufacturing PMI and JOLTS job openings both land at 10 a.m. ET, following prior readings of 55.6 and 7.36 million. Palo Alto Networks and Dell Technologies report results.

Wednesday, Sep. 2. Broadcom and Snowflake report.

Thursday, Sep. 3. The ISM services PMI arrives at 10 a.m. ET, after a prior reading of 54.1. Lululemon reports.

Friday, Sep. 4. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate at 8:30 a.m. ET. The prior month’s payroll change was −23,000, and the unemployment rate held at 4.1%.

Monday, Sep. 7. Markets are closed for Labor Day.

What to watch

SLB said it agreed to acquire Kelvion, a maker of cooling systems for data centers and industrial sites, for about $3.4 billion in cash, with assumed debt lifting the total to roughly $4.1 billion. The seller is a group of Apollo-managed funds. Data-center cooling is Kelvion’s largest and fastest-growing business, which is what draws an oilfield-services company deeper into the hardware behind AI computing. The two sides expect the deal to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approvals.

Eli Lilly said it agreed to buy Merida Biosciences for up to $2.875 billion in cash, including milestone payments, adding an early-stage pipeline aimed at autoimmune and allergic diseases. The drugmaker has been an active acquirer this year. It expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter.

The Dallas Fed survey is a narrow regional gauge, and it lands first in a week the market will spend on the national labor and activity data. Its last reading was 1.3. That sits just above zero. It carries little weight against the broader releases still to come this week.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.