US stock futures fluctuated on Thursday as oil prices surged and 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 flat line. Contracts on the broad benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) ticked up 0.1%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose about 0.2%.

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.

Meanwhile, oil futures jumped over 4% after the US placed sanctions on Russia's giant producers, piling pressure on President Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Brent crude (BZ=F) rose to above $65 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) topped $61.

On the trade front, President Trump said a long-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi is "scheduled," offering a bit of reassurance to markets unsettled by rising US-China tensions. Stocks came under pressure early Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the White House could expand restrictions on China-bound software exports 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.

Nokia (NOK) beat estimates for its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, driven by strong optical and cloud demand, including AI-focused data centre sales following its Infinera acquisition.

The Finnish telecommunications company saw its shares rise 8% before the bell.

Reuters reports:

Comparable operating profit in the quarter through September reached 435 million euros ($507 million). Analysts polled by LSEG expected the same metric to reach 342 million euros.

U.S. tariffs, a market slowdown and a weaker dollar had weighed on Nokia's business this year, prompting it to issue a profit warning in July.

The company had lost ground in the North American telecoms market as U.S. carrier AT&T phases out Nokia’s 5G contract in favour of Nordic rival Ericsson, which won a $14 billion deal in 2023.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Oil rallied after the US announced sanctions on Russia’s biggest producers, as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on his counterpart Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

Brent (BZ=F) advanced as much as 3.9% to trade near $65 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) surged toward $61 after the US blacklisted state-run giant Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC, citing Moscow’s lack of commitment to peace in Ukraine. Senior refinery executives in India — a key buyer of Russian crude — said the restrictions would make it impossible for flows to continue.

The sanctions mark a U-turn for Trump, who had announced last week he would meet Putin in the coming weeks and said repeatedly he believed Russia wanted to end the war. But on Tuesday, he said he didn’t want a wasted meeting.

The penalties “mark a shift in President Trump’s approach to Russia and open the door for tougher sanctions down the road, which could ultimately impact Russian oil flows,” said Warren Patterson, the head of commodities strategy for ING Groep NV in Singapore. “The uncertainty is how effective these sanctions will be and what impact they actually have” on exports, he added.

Read more here.

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.

Read more here.