US stock futures were mixed on Thursday as Wall Street parsed the latest batch of quarterly results from closely watched companies, including Tesla (TSLA) and IBM (IBM).

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) hovered below the flatline. Contracts on the broad benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) added roughly 0.2%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose about 0.3%.

A flood of third-quarter earnings arrived after Wednesday's closing bell. Tesla shares fell over 3.5% after the EV maker posted mixed third-quarter results, kicking off the “Magnificent Seven” earnings cycle. IBM stock dropped around 6.5%, as stronger-than-expected profits were offset by in-line software revenue that nevertheless disappointed investors.

Next highlights are results from T-Mobile (TMUS) and Blackstone (BX), set to report before market open on Thursday, while Intel (INTC) takes center stage after the bell.

Trade developments continue to grip markets. President Trump said Wednesday that a long-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is "scheduled," offering a bit of reassurance to markets unsettled by rising US-China tensions. Stocks came under pressure earlier in the day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the White House could expand export restrictions on China-bound software products by Nov. 1.

Also looming is the release of September consumer inflation data on Friday, delayed due to the US government shutdown. The reading is in even higher focus than usual, given that the stoppage — now in its fourth week — has dried up the flow of official economic reports. Investors are hoping for clues about the Federal Reserve's next moves, to test expectations for another quarter point interest-rate cut at its meeting next week.

Gold (GC=F) pulled back for a third straight day, while still trading over it's $4,000 price point that sparked the flurry of interest leading to investors taking profits.

Bloomberg reports:

Spot gold slipped to around $4,090 an ounce in early Asian trading on Thursday, reinforcing a technical reset, while investors also weighed the prospects for a US-China trade deal to relieve some of the geopolitical tensions that have bolstered demand for haven assets. The metal has dropped nearly 6% in the last two sessions from a record high.

Technical indicators have shown that the rally was likely overstretched, with this week’s pullback taking some heat out of the market. The so-called debasement trade, in which investors avoid sovereign debt and currencies to protect themselves from runaway budget deficits, has been a driver of gold’s growth since mid-August.

Gold is still up about 55% this year, with prices also supported in recent weeks by bets the Federal Reserve will make at least one quarter-point cut by the end of the year.

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