North American Morning Briefing: Stock Futures Mixed as Tech Selloff Extends Into Second Day

Stock futures were mixed Thursday as tech stocks remain under pressure

with investor not seeming reassured by the latest robust results from major AI firms that demand remains resilient.

Shares in Nvidia traded around 2% lower in premarket, while Intel and SpaceX shares were down around 4% and 3%, respectively.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell as traders weighed signs of recovering Middle East crude supplies and a weaker demand outlook against persistent shipping risks around the Strait of Hormuz.

Later today, the Federal Reserve's Chairman Kevin Warsh will speak with International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva in Bangkok. Investors are also expecting PPI wholesale inflation data.

Stocks to Watch

CoreWeave's stock declined almost 6% on fears over the cloud-computing company's financial health as its bond yields surpassed 15%. Fellow neocloud names also decreased, with Nebius Group and Core Scientific down nearly 3% and IREN down around 2%.

Micron Technology fell more than 3% amid a broader selloff in chipmakers, led by South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which were both down between 9% and 11%. Intel shed 3%, while Marvell Technology and Advanced Micro Devices slipped by around 2.5%.

Netcapital said it had regained compliance with Nasdaq's minimum bid rule. Shares gained 36% in after-hours trading.

Rocket Lab said it is delaying the launch of its Neutron rocket until next year. Shares slid 8% after the bell.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals said its Phase 3 trial of a social-anxiety treatment failed to meet its endpoint. The stock declined 6%.

Watch For:

U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims; U.S. PPI for September; U.S. Advance Monthly Sales for Retail & Food Services for September; U.S. EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report; Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack speaks at Women's Trading Network Fireside Discussion; Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh speaks in Thailand

Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:

- Rising Rates Threaten Wall Street's Golden Goose in Trading

- Big Pharma Is Pouring Billions Into a New Class of 'Protein Degrader' Drugs

- Gas Exporter Venture Global Wants to Get In on AI Power Boom

MARKET WRAPS Forex:

The dollar eased after reaching an 18-month high Wednesday driven by higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data.

Bitcoin remained under pressure after hitting a near one-month low overnight.

The euro remained at risk of falling against the dollar due to French debt concerns and expectations for further interest-rate rises by the Fed, Commerzbank said.

Sterling moved a little after data showed the U.K. economy unexpectedly grew, albeit only slightly, in August. The data are unlikely to materially change the thinking of the Bank of England ahead of November's decision, Omnis Investments said.

Bonds:

Ten-year Treasury yields slid as bond investors absorbed higher-than-expected inflation data that had prompted a temporary but sharp bond selloff on Wednesday.

Energy:

Oil prices fell despite escalating Middle East hostilities amid Houthi strikes against Saudi Arabia and continued attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Metals:

Gold

Gold prices rose more than 1% in early European trading but remained below $4,200 a troy ounce, recovering some ground after Wednesday's selloff.

Copper

Copper prices were lower, as ongoing labor disputes at Chilean copper mines continue to pose risks to mine output.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

Ericsson Shares Surge on Strong Sales of Network Gear

STOCKHOLM-Ericsson shares surged Thursday as investors cheered strong growth in sales of network gear, shrugging off a company warning that higher component costs will be a headwind to profitability next year.

Shares rose over 10% in early Stockholm trade.

TSMC Weighs Texas Expansion, Holds Talks on Musk's Terafab

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. raised the prospect of additional U.S. manufacturing capacity beyond Arizona, including in Texas, as demand for artificial-intelligence chips continued to outpace supply despite a wave of capacity additions across the industry.

The world's largest contract chip maker on Thursday signaled its willingness to participate in large-scale AI infrastructure projects, such as Elon Musk's proposed Terafab initiative, underscoring how major technology companies are exploring new ways to secure the semiconductor capacity needed for the next phase of AI deployment.

Nasdaq Futures Slide as Global AI Selloff Gathers Pace

Nasdaq futures dropped sharply as a global rout in stocks linked to artificial-intelligence accelerated, while Treasurys strengthened as investors bid a hasty retreat from risk.

Renewed expectations for tighter Federal Reserve policy following Wednesday's hot inflation print added to already nervous sentiment around AI. Investors are fretting about the scale of corporate borrowing to fund the buildout in AI, compounding fears around political pushback against data centers and Chinese chip competition.

Five Takeaways From James Talarico's CNN Town Hall With Texas Voters

Texas Democrat and Senate hopeful James Talarico faced off with friendly, undecided and skeptical voters during a CNN town hall Wednesday night, five days before early voting starts in one of the country's most hotly contested midterm contests.

The race between Talarico, a state representative and seminary student, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been drawing mounting national attention and intensifying scrutiny as polls show a close contest. Democrats see Talarico as their best hope in a generation to win a statewide race in the deeply red Lone Star State, while Republicans are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to hold a seat that could help determine control of the Senate.

The Far-Left Firebrand Who Wants to Upend France's Politics-and Cancel Its Debt

PARIS-Jean-Luc Mélenchon has vowed to cancel hundreds of billions of euros in France's national debt, prosecute its central bank governor, nationalize swaths of the economy and pull out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

And as student protests have washed across the country-blockading schools and, in some cases, setting them on fire-the 75-year-old Mélenchon has joined the marches or cheered them from the sidelines, drawing parallels between the students and those who stormed the Bastille prison at the start of the French Revolution.

Starlink Suspicions and a Frantic Warning: Inside Trump's Turn on Zelensky

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Denys Sienik, the top Ukrainian diplomat in Washington, D.C., sent a frantic message to U.S. lawmakers: Ukraine was suddenly facing restrictions on its military-grade Starlink terminals, and he didn't know why. The change, Sienik warned, would give Russia an upper hand in the war and make it tougher for Kyiv to intercept strikes against Ukrainian civilians.

By the time Washington's morning rush hour was under way, other Ukrainian officials were already suspecting the worst: that President Trump had ordered Elon Musk, who owns the company that operates Starlink, to throttle Ukraine's access to the satellite systems.

Midterm Anxiety Mounts for GOP as Democrats Try to Expand Battleground

WASHINGTON-Republicans are playing defense on an expanding electoral map, spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the final stretch of the midterms to prevent a Democratic takeover of Congress as campaigns nationwide reach a fever pitch.

With less than three weeks until the election, deep-pocketed GOP groups are trying to push struggling candidates over the finish line, while President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are crisscrossing the country to shore up Republican support in red areas that seemed virtually unassailable just months ago.

Write to nina.kienle@wsj.com

TODAY IN CANADA Earnings:

Xtract One Tech Inc 4Q

Economic Indicators (ET):

0830 Aug Monthly Survey of Manufacturing 0830 Aug Wholesale trade 0830 Aug New motor vehicle sales

Stocks to Watch:

BTB Real Estate Investment Trust Buys Acheson, Alberta, Industrial Property for C$18.75M

Dream Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust Announces Offering of C$300M Senior Unsecured Debentures, Series I

Fairfax Declared "Strategic Buyer" in Auction to Acquire Interest in IDBI Bank; Plans to Contribute Digit Insurance and IIFL Cap to IDBI Bank

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Updates and Renews Certification of Westinghouse's AP1000 Reactor Design; Renewed Certification Extends AP1000 Design's Validity Through 2066; Streamlines Future Reactor Licensing

TC Transcontinental Owen Sound, Ontario, Printing Facility to Close at End of January 2027; Owen Sound Closure Affects About 360 Employees

Expected Major Events for Thursday 04:30/JPN: Aug Revised Industrial Production

04:30/JPN: Aug Revised Retail Sales

06:00/UK: Aug Index of production

06:00/UK: Aug UK trade

06:00/UK: Aug Index of services

06:00/UK: Aug Monthly GDP estimates

06:45/FRA: Sep CPI

10:00/FRA: Aug OECD Harmonised Unemployment Rates

10:00/FRA: 2Q OECD Quarterly Labour Market Situation

11:30/UK: Sep NIESR Monthly GDP Tracker

12:30/CAN: Aug Wholesale trade

12:30/US: Oct Empire State Manufacturing Survey

12:30/CAN: Aug Monthly Survey of Manufacturing

12:30/CAN: Aug New motor vehicle sales

12:30/US: Sep PPI

12:30/US: Sep Advance Monthly Sales for Retail & Food Services

12:30/US: Oct Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey

12:30/US: 10/10 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims

13:00/RUS: Weekly International Reserves

14:00/US: Aug Manufacturing & Trade: Inventories & Sales

14:30/US: 10/09 EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report

16:00/US: 10/09 EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2026 06:22 ET (10:22 GMT)