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U.S. stocks opened Friday's trading session higher following an in-line August jobs report.

Shortly after the opening bell, the S&P 500 was up 0.7%, the Nasdaq up 0.7%, and the Dow was up about 150 points, or 0.5%.

This jump follows a volatile trading session on Thursday that saw all three major indexes sink before paring losses, with the S&P 500 and Dow finishing September's first trading session in the green.

Data from the Labor Department published Friday morning showed nonfarm payrolls grew by 315,000 in August while the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%.

Economists had expected job gains would total 298,000 with the unemployment rate expected to hold at 3.5%.

Wage gains moderated somewhat last month, with average hourly earnings rising 0.3% month-on-month and 5.2% over the prior year. Both readings were 0.1% below expectations.

The biggest highlight from Friday's jobs data, however, was the increase in participation, with 786,000 Americans entering the workforce last month and pushing the labor force participation rate to 62.4%, its highest since March 2020.

Investors were laser-focused on Friday’s data after Fed Chair Jerome Powell asserted in a hawkish speech at the Jackson Hole symposium last week that he is willing to accept weaker labor conditions in exchange for cooling prices.

"The slower pace of payroll gains in August, together with the big rebound in the labour force, and the more modest increase in wages, would seem to favor a smaller 50bp rate hike from the Fed next month, rather than a 75bp increase, but officials will put a lot more weight on August’s CPI data, due the week after next," Michael Pearce, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note on Friday.

Shares of Lululemon (LULU) were up more than 11% in early trading after the athletic apparel retailer reported quarterly earnings that topped Wall Street estimates. The company also lifted its annual profit and revenue guidance above analysts forecasts as wealthy customers snap up its new accessory offerings.

Broadcom (AVGO) shares also rose Friday morning after the chipmaker delivered a strong sales outlook for the current quarter, quelling fears of a recessionary decline in chip demand.

While some better-than-feared financials this season have helped buoy sentiment, many strategists have recently sounded the alarm on imminent weakness in earnings.

According to Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson, while the first half of the year was dictated by Federal Reserve policy and tighter financial conditions, the second half will be determined by earnings expectations for next year.

“As a result, equity investors should be laser focused on this risk, not the Fed, particularly as we enter the seasonally weakest time of the year for earnings revisions, and inflation further eats into margins and demand,” Wilson said.

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