T. Rowe Price, Amazon Stocks Rise; Salesforce Sinks After Soft Guidance

Major U.S. equities indexes advanced on Thursday as a report showed a month-over-month decline in private-sector hiring in August. The latest signal of a cooling labor market came a day before the release of the August jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The S&P 500 ended the session with a gain of 0.8%. The Dow also advanced 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1%.

Shares of investment management company T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) surged 5.8%, logging the S&P 500’s top performance Thursday. The gains followed the announcement of a partnership with financial giant Goldman Sachs (GS), with the two firms saying they will collaborate to provide clients with public-private investment solutions. Goldman intends to purchase up to $1 billion in T. Rowe Price stock as part of the agreement. Shares of Goldman Sachs also traded higher, adding 2.5%.

Williams-Sonoma (WSM) shares gained 5.6%. Analysts at several research firms have raised their price targets on Williams-Sonoma stock since the home goods retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly profit in its earnings report last week. The stock was one of several exposed to the U.S. housing market that caught an updraft from Thursday’s private payrolls data, which added to investor confidence the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its meeting later this month. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) rose 3.2% while shares of construction supplies provider Builders FirstSource (BLDR) gained 5.1%.

Amazon (AMZN) stock rose 4.3% after JetBlue (JBLU) became the first airline to partner with the e-commerce and technology giant’s low Earth orbit satellite internet business known as Project Kuiper. The air carrier plans to begin using Project Kuiper to provide free Wi-Fi service aboard certain aircraft starting in 2027. Having deployed its first satellites in April, Amazon’s offering could represent an emerging competitor to Starlink, the satellite internet venture operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. JetBlue shares sank 6.6% on Thursday.

Although Salesforce (CRM) topped sales and profit expectations for its fiscal second quarter, its guidance for revenue and earnings per share in the current quarter came in below consensus forecasts. Shares of the enterprise software firm slipped 4.9%. A top executive said the company faced headwinds related to sales of its marketing and commerce products, although CEO and co-founder Marc Benioff stressed that the soft outlook was “appropriately conservative.”

Shares of Indiana-based regulated utility NiSource (NI) fell 4.7%. The move lower came amid growing uncertainty around the regulatory approval of NiSource’s proposed spinoff of a subsidiary focused on data centers and other high-demand customers. According to reports, two of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s five commissioners resigned on Wednesday, shortly before an expected decision on NiSource’s spinoff.

Barclays slashed its price target on Centene (CNC) stock, and shares of the health insurer plunged 4.7%. Analysts pointed to ongoing concerns about Centene’s financial outlook after the company withdrew its 2025 guidance in July. The move to rescind the full-year forecast came after an independent report showed higher levels of morbidity and slower market growth than previously anticipated in many of the states where Centene operates.