North American Morning Briefing: Stock Futures Tumble, Mideast Tensions Push Oil Higher

Stock futures fell Thursday as artificial-intelligence stocks slid across

the globe and investors turned to the safety of Treasurys.

Many of the biggest names in artificial intelligence were down in premarket trading, including SpaceX, chip heavyweights Nvidia and Intel, memory company Micron and data-center provider CoreWeave.

Meanwhile, oil prices rose 3%, with Brent crude climbing above $112 a barrel as traders weighed renewed attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and the risk of further U.S.-Iran hostilities against recovering Middle East oil supplies.

"Global financial markets adopted a defensive stance overnight as escalating Middle East geopolitical risks propelled crude prices higher, capping the recent technology-led equity rebound," Tickmill Group said.

For the day ahead, the macro calendar is light besides weekly U.S. jobless claims. Procter & Gamble PG and Lockheed Martin LMT are among companies reporting earnings before the opening bell.

Stocks to watch

Lam Research dropped even though its revenue and adjusted profit topped analyst forecasts, a sign of lofty expectations for AI-related companies.

Meta Platforms reported record revenue for the third quarter and said it would create a new class of nonvoting stock to raise capital for its AI mega-bet. Shares slipped premarket, having initially risen after yesterday's close.

Spotify, Comcast, American Airlines and Blackstone are among the companies publishing results before the bell.

Tesla said it will spend about $20 billion in capital expenditures this year, less than an earlier estimate of $25 billion. Musk refused to discuss a possible merger with SpaceX on a call with analysts. Shares fell premarket.

Watch For:

Weekly Jobless Claims, Comcast 3Q earnings, Procter & Gamble 3Q earnings

Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:

- SpaceX Takes Conglomerate-Building to Sci-Fi Extremes

- France's Debt Crisis Deepens as Foreign Investors Look for the Exit

- It Looks Like a Music Festival. It's Really a Sales Pitch for Private Credit.

MARKET WRAPS Forex:

The dollar fell to a three-week low against a basket of currencies as Treasury yields declined and concerns about the sustainability of debt-funded investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The euro rose against a weaker dollar. "One can only conclude that the biggest market driver at the moment is the heavy and concentrated positioning in U.S. tech and the dollar, which is being gently pared back," ING said.

Bonds:

Treasury yields slid amid falls in equities and worries about the sustainability of debt-funded investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Concerns about economic growth meanwhile are increasingly outweighing inflation worries.

Energy:

Oil prices climbed after another deadly attack in Saudi Arabia. Wednesday's attack hit the international airport in the eastern city of Dammam, an oil-producing area near Bahrain. Metals:

Gold fell more than 1% as energy prices pushed higher, adding to inflation concerns. Investors now await next week's Federal Reserve meeting for further cues on the monetary policy path and its impact on bullion.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

SpaceX Takes Conglomerate-Building to Sci-Fi Extremes

Elon Musk's bid to combine SpaceX and Tesla might be good for Musk. It looks less so for shareholders-especially Tesla's.

A combination would bring under one roof Musk's main business pursuits, streamlining the sprawling empire of the world's richest person.

Hermes Sales Growth Slows Against Tough Luxury Backdrop

Hermes said sales growth lost pace in the third quarter, as hopes of a recovery in luxury demand dwindle.

The French luxury house booked revenue of 4.1 billion euros ($4.61 billion) for the quarter through September, 4.3% higher than in the same period a year earlier at constant currencies. In the second quarter, the Parisian maker of high-end handbags and silk scarves logged a 6.7% increase in revenue.

Aramco CEO Says East-West Pipeline Capacity Could Reach 10 Million Barrels a Day

Saudi Aramco is working to increase the capacity of its East-West oil pipeline network to 10 million barrels a day as the kingdom seeks to strengthen alternative export routes amid disruptions to Middle East energy supplies, Chief Executive Amin Nasser said.

Nasser in an interview aired Thursday on Al Arabiya Business said the company is conducting engineering studies for additional crude-export routes as it works to reduce its exposure to disruptions along major shipping corridors.

Nestle Sales Get Boost From Rebound of Hot Pockets and Frozen Pizza in America

Nestle booked a rise in sales for the third quarter amid a revival of its snacking businesses in the Americas.

The Swiss packaged-food group, which counts KitKat and Nescafe among its brands, reported third-quarter sales of 22.76 billion Swiss francs, equivalent to $27.61 billion. Sales grew 4.0% organically on year, above company-compiled analyst expectations of 3.4%.

France's Debt Crisis Deepens as Foreign Investors Look for the Exit

As France tries to restore order to the public finances and the streets, the government faces a significant financial challenge: an unusual reliance on foreign investors who no longer have a strong reason to come to its rescue.

More than most other major economies, the French government depends on overseas lenders, especially in Japan, to fund its deficit. Almost 55% of French debt was owned outside the country last year, according to the European Union's data service. In the U.S., the figure stood at 31% and in Japan, 13%.

Oil Prices Rise More Than 2% as Attacks on Saudi Arabia, U.S.-Iran Risks Persist

Oil prices rose more than 2% Thursday, with Brent crude climbing above $111 a barrel as traders weighed renewed attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and the risk of further U.S.-Iran hostilities against recovering Middle East oil supplies.

December Brent crude futures rose 2.7% to $111.7 a barrel, while December West Texas Intermediate futures gained 2.5% to $99.57 a barrel.

Cybersecurity Stocks Whipsaw Over AI Anxiety

Wall Street's nerves over the spiraling cost of artificial intelligence rattled technology stocks last week, hitting cybersecurity companies particularly hard.

AI is creating new security risks and driving demand for protection, lifting cybersecurity stocks while also exposing them to negative shifts in market sentiment around the technology. Those competing forces showed up last week, when shares of the five largest U.S. cybersecurity companies all fell by double digits, far outpacing the broader selloff.

Elon Musk's Starlink Speed Cap Has Scrambled Ukraine's Defenses

KYIV, Ukraine-As six Ukrainian drones buzzed toward a Russian army warehouse in occupied eastern Ukraine on Monday, the pilots found their connections disrupted.

Any time they flew faster than 100 miles an hour, the video feed cut out-the result of new limits put in place last week for Ukrainian drones using Starshield, a military version of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite-internet service. Musk himself imposed the limits, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

One Person Killed and 8 Injured in Airport Attack in Saudi Arabia

Authorities in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday blamed Iran-backed Houthi militants for a new attack on a civilian airport that resulted in casualties, as the U.S. said it was pulling some diplomatic personnel from the country in response to continuing threats from the Yemen-based group.

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said one person was killed and eight others were injured in Wednesday's attack that hit the international airport in the eastern city of Dammam, an oil-producing area near Bahrain that is home to thousands of the industry's foreign workers.

Iran's Fleet of Shadow Tankers Has Run Out of Oil After Monthslong U.S. Blockade

For most of the war, Iran had an invaluable cushion: dozens of oil tankers holding millions of barrels of crude sitting safely in waters in Asia. Tehran steadily sold the oil to China, bringing in billions of much-needed cash.

Now, that floating storage is gone. By mid-October, the reserves were fully depleted, according to analysts at Kpler, as a U.S. naval blockade prevented Iran from replacing the crude it normally sells to Chinese refineries.

AI Just Found a Bug That Puts up to 70% of the World's Websites at Risk

First, artificial intelligence heralded the Bugmageddon. Now it is triggering an all-hands-on-deck cyber emergency.

The creators of PHP, a technology that powers as much as 70% of the world's websites, disclosed a critical security issue Wednesday that could be leveraged by hackers to take control of any system running its software. That would allow an attacker to steal information or launch a cyberattack on anyone visiting a hacked website.

Write to priscila.barrera@wsj.com

TODAY IN CANADA Earnings:

FirstSvc 3Q Mullen Grp 3Q Winpak Ltd. 3Q

Economic Indicators (ET):

0830 Aug Employment Insurance 0830 Sep Industrial product and raw materials price indexes 0830 Sep New Housing Price Index Stocks to Watch:

Pulse Seismic 3Q Free Cash Flow CAD 11.5M; 3Q EBITDA CAD 14.7M; 3Q Net Income CAD 11.4M; 3Q Revenue CAD 17.3M

StorageVault Canada 3Q FFO CAD 27.2M; 3Q Revenue CAD 94.2M; FactSet Est. CAD 93.1M (2 Est.); 3Q Adj FFO CAD 28.9M; 3Q Net Loss CAD 6.4M

Xtract One Technologies 4Q Revenue CAD 8.2M; FactSet Est. CAD 8.87M

Expected Major Events for Thursday 05:00/JPN: Sep Steel Production

06:45/FRA: Oct Monthly business survey (goods-producing industries)

10:00/UK: Oct CBI Industrial Trends Survey

12:30/CAN: Sep Industrial product and raw materials price indexes

12:30/CAN: Aug Employment Insurance

12:30/US: 10/17 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims

12:30/US: U.S. Weekly Export Sales

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October 22, 2026 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)

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