Coming off a third straight losing session, trading on Wall Street was mixed in the early going as major U.S. companies continued to report their most recent financial results.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1%.
Tesla was the big winner overnight, gaining nearly 14% after it reported a jump in third-quarter profit on stronger electric vehicle sales. CEO Elon Musk predicted 20% to 30% sales growth next year, even as the broader EV sector continues to face headwinds.
Package delivery company UPS climbed 7.5% after it handily beat Wall Street's sales and profit targets heading into its busiest stretch of the year. Competitor FedEx also rose, but a more modest 2.8%.
Shares in Southwest Airlines were unchanged after the Dallas carrier posted record third-quarter revenue that topped forecasts. Profit fell nearly two-thirds, to $67 million, on higher costs for labor and other expenses, though it also beat analysts' targets.
Southwest said it would speed up repurchase of $250 million worth of its stock, under a $2.5 billion share-buyback plan it announced last month.
American Airlines fell 1.8% after it posted a third-quarter loss.
Boeing gave back 3.9% after factory workers voted against the company’s latest contract offer. The worker remain on the picket lines six weeks into a strike that has stopped production of the troubled aerospace giant’s bestselling jetliners.
In Europe at midday, Germany's DAX climbed 0.8%, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.7%, and Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.6%.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed larger early gains, ending 0.1% higher at 38,143.29 as purchasing manager indexes showed worsening conditions in Japan for both manufacturing and services. The overall composite PMI compiled by au Jibun Bank fell to a two-year low.
“Japan's private sector fell into contraction territory at the start of the fourth quarter of the year,” Usamah Bhatti, an economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a commentary. “Confidence about business activity growth in the next 12 months softened in October and was the least pronounced since August 2020.”
Chinese markets declined, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing 1.3% to 20,489.62, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.7% to 3,280.26.
In Seoul, the Kospi gave up 0.7% to 2,581.03 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,206.30.
Taiwan's Taiex lost 0.6% and the Sensex in India edged 0.1% lower. Bangkok's SET declined 0.2%.
“A cocktail of worries about China’s economic outlook and a contentious U.S. presidential election weighed heavily on market sentiment,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management wrote in a commentary.
Stocks have sagged this week under rising pressure from Treasury yields. Higher yields can make investors reluctant to pay high prices for stocks, which critics say already look too expensive after they rose faster than corporate profits.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell early Thursday to 4.19% from 4.25% late Wednesday, finally giving stocks some breathing room.
Treasury yields have been climbing after a raft of reports have shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. That’s good news for Wall Street, because it bolsters hopes that the economy can escape from the worst inflation in generations without the painful recession that many had worried was inevitable.
In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 42 cents to $71.19 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 43 cents to $75.39 per barrel.
The dollar slipped to 152.02 Japanese yen after surging above 153 yen on Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.0795 from $1.0783.
