Stock futures pulled back for another day on Thursday as investors digested a slew of quarterly earnings releases, including those from Tesla and IBM.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
The moves lower add on to the three leading U.S. indexes meaningful losses in the previous session, with the S&P 500 falling roughly 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing about 334 points, or 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.9% as investors rotated out of riskier assets.
On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the White House is mulling plans to curb exports to China made with U.S. software. Those plans would build on Trump’s statement almost two weeks ago that the U.S. will implement export restrictions by Nov. 1 on “any and all critical software.”
The selling continued in premarket trading Thursday, as Tesla – which kicked off reports from the “Magnificent Seven” megacap tech group – saw shares dip 3% on the back of mixed third-quarter results. IBM shed 7% after the tech company beat Wall Street estimates but reported in-line software revenue.
Those on Wall Street also monitored a rise in oil prices after Trump administration imposed additional sanctions on Russia’s two biggest crude companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, due to the country’s “lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Bessent said when announcing the new sanctions.
Investors continue to watch earnings releases from the biggest U.S. companies, which many believe could be make-or-break for the current bull market rally. More than three-quarters of S&P 500 companies reporting so far have exceeded earnings expectations, per FactSet.
Trade remains in focus as well. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening that his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is “scheduled,” easing some fears about U.S.-China relations that had put markets under pressure on Wednesday.
Chris Grisanti, MAI Capital Management chief market strategist, advised traders to reallocate away from winners to pocket some gains after the broader market’s run-up this year, and instead favor less expensive pockets of the markets such as health care.
“I do think this is a particularly stressful point in the market … valuations are the second-highest they’ve been in a hundred years,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “The market seems strong, you’ve got momentum, … but we still have these valuations.”
Grisanti added that he sees several similarities between the current landscape and the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.
“They say history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. I mean, this is rhyming pretty closely. … You’re getting meme stocks. You’re also starting to get companies that are getting priced on 2030 or 2035 projections,” he said. “These are things that we saw in ’98 and ’99, and it’s just spooky.”
Oil gains after Trump administration sanctions Russian oil companies
Oil prices jumped around 5% on Thursday after the Trump administration imposed further sanctions on Russia’s two largest crude companies, citing Moscow’s “lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”
Global benchmark Brent was last up $3.06, or 4.89%, to $65.65 per barrel. U.S crude oil rose $3.10, or 5.3%, to $61.60 per barrel. On Wednesday, Brent gained 2% to close at $62.59 a barrel, while U.S. crude climbed 2.2% to settle at $58.50. Read more.
— Dan Mangan, Spencer Kimball
American Airlines shares rise after latest quarterly results
American Airlines posted a smaller-than-expected loss for the third quarter, and its outlook for the rest of the year came in ahead of Wall Street forecasts, sending the stock higher.
American expects to earn between 45 cents and 75 cents per share in the fourth quarter, above the 31 per share cents analysts expected. That brought American’s full-year earnings guidance to between 65 cents and 95 cents per share, well above the projected 43 cents per share Wall Street forecast. The carrier expects its fourth-quarter capacity to grow between 3% and 5% over the same period last year.
Once a slam-dunk quarter, airlines have found it harder to make money in the summer than in years past. Schools reopen earlier than they used to and some travelers opt to take bigger trips later in the year, when the weather is cooler and there are fewer crowds at many popular destinations.
American posted a net loss of $114 million, or 17 cents a share on revenue of $13.69 billion. Revenue was up 0.3% from last year. Read more.
— Leslie Josephs
Quantum computing stocks jump on report that Trump administration is seeking stakes in the space
Quantum computing stocks rose broadly following a Wall Street Journal report that the Trump administration was in talks with several companies about taking stakes in the sector.
Shares of IonQ and D-Wave Quantum popped more than 11% each, while Rigetti Computing and Quantum Computing jumped 7% and 9%, respectively.
President Donald Trump’s administration has already announced stakes in other companies such as MP Materials and Intel.
— Fred Imbert
Near-term trends for S&P 500 are bullish, says Fundstrat
The technical outlook looks favorable for the S&P 500 in the near term, according Mark Newton of Fundstrat.
“I anticipate a sharp rally to finish the month of October after an interesting period of sector rotation in recent weeks,” he said in a note to clients. “Monday’s success in climbing over last week’s highs for SPX and QQQ should enable these to both push back to new all-time high territory. Despite some minor warnings regarding breadth, high yield spread widening, and/or lack of broad-based participation, it looks like breakouts in AAPL and GOOGL should help Technology show sufficient leadership to carry US stock indices over the next few weeks.”
— Fred Imbert
Trump administration sanctions big Russian oil companies
The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed additional sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, citing “Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire.” He added that the Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary. The sanctions apply to Rosneft and Lukoil.
The news comes after President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he didn’t want to “have a wasted meeting” with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin — referencing a meeting the two leaders were set to have in Hungary in the next few weeks — as it became clear Russia opposes an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine.
— Dan Mangan, Pia Singh
Tesla, Moderna among stocks moving in after-hours trading
Check out the companies making headlines after Wednesday’s close:
- Southwest Airlines — Shares of the airline gained 2% on the back of a surprise quarterly profit. Southwest also said that demand and fares are both improving. The company reported adjusted earnings of 11 cents per share, while analysts polled by LSEG had expected a loss of 3 cents per share. Revenue came out at $6.95 billion, meanwhile, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $6.92 billion, per LSEG.
- Tesla — The electric vehicle stock, which has shone greater attention to its robotics and humanoid ambitions in recent months, fell nearly 2% after reporting mixed third-quarter results. The company beat third-quarter revenue estimates with a 12% increase to $28.1 billion on the back of strong automotive sales. However, earnings of 50 cents per share after adjustments fell short of the LSEG estimate of 55 cents per share.
- Moderna — Moderna announced topline results from a Phase 3 study of its investigational cytomegalovirus, or CMV, vaccine that did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint of preventing CMV infection in select female participants. Shares of the pharmaceutical giant fell nearly 6% on the back of the announcement. Moderna said it doesn’t expect any impact to its 2025 financial guidance.
For the full list, read here.
— Pia Singh
