Broadcom Soars on AI Boom as Jobs Report Disappoints

On September 5th, 2025, the tech and business world saw a mix of news, with some companies thriving while others faced challenges.

Broadcom, the semiconductor giant, reported better-than-expected sales and profits for its fiscal third quarter. The company's strong performance was driven by surging demand for its AI-powered chips, with AI revenue rising 63% year-over-year. Broadcom also said it had secured a $10 billion order from a new customer, later revealed to be OpenAI. As a result, Broadcom's shares surged 9.4%, making it the top performer in the S&P 500 index.

However, the broader US equity markets lost ground on the same day, with the S&P 500 sliding 0.3% and the Nasdaq ending the session with a fractional loss. This came after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest employment report, which showed the US economy added fewer-than-expected jobs in August and shed jobs in June, the first month of losses since 2020.

Lululemon Athletica, the popular athletic apparel brand, also faced a setback. The company's shares plummeted 18.6%, the biggest drop in the S&P 500, after it reported softer-than-expected same-store sales growth for its fiscal second quarter and trimmed its full-year revenue guidance. Lululemon cited the impact of tariffs and sluggish US sales as the reasons for the downgrade.

Elsewhere, shares of Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, dropped 9.4% after reports emerged that the Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., planned to release a report suggesting a link between the over-the-counter painkiller and autism in pregnant women. Kenvue contested the claims, but the news still weighed on the company's stock.