Inflamed Oil Prices Send Pre-Markets Lower

Thursday, October 22nd, 2026

Tensions are increased on the global oil market this morning, seeing a +2% hike in spot oil prices and stock market futures tumbling into the red as a result. Drone attacks on both Saudi and Russian infrastructure — two of the world’s biggest oil producers — as well as continued attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz are sending oil prices per barrel (/bbl) to $99 on WTI and $112 on Brent, which is back up to a five-month high. Of course, this is all happening within two weeks of the U.S. midterm elections.

The Dow is -285 points at this hour, with the S&P 500 -69 and the Nasdaq -479 points. The small-cap Russell 2000 is presently down -16 points. Meanwhile, bond yields have all receded so far this morning: the 10-year is +5.038%, the 2-year +4.731% and the 30-year +5.353%. This is the first time in recent memory we’ve seen a notable downturn in both pre-market equities AND bond yields at the same time.
 

Jobless Claims Remain at Historic Lows: +194K, +1.728M

Initial Jobless Claims this Thursday morning came in at +194K, the lowest single week since mid-July, and now the sixth-straight week sub-200K, which is already an historically low level. We feel that, while these numbers are no doubt impressive, they do not tell the full story of an overall flat labor market over the past two-and-a-half years. Depending on the state, collecting unemployment benefits may provide less of an economic household remedy than driving for Uber (UBER) or DoorDash (DASH), or renting out rooms via Airbnb (ABNB).

Continuing Claims is much the same story: while the +1.728 million reported for last week is up from the downwardly revised +1.703 million the previous week, these downward revisions have become commonplace of late, as well. This is also six-straight weeks sub-1.73 million, which is still more than a quarter of a million longer-term claims than needed for economists to feel concerned about the state of the workforce.
 

Q3 Earnings at a Glance: PG, LMT, SPOT & More

We’ll just do a quick rundown on some of the biggest players reporting earnings this morning. We’re now in the heart of Q3 earnings season:

Procter & Gamble PG reached earnings of $2.00 per share in fiscal Q1 this morning, up from $1.89 expected in the Zacks consensus and a penny stronger than the year-ago quarter. Revenues came in +2.5% ahead of estimates to $23.28 billion, and shares are up +2.46% so far in early trading today. For more on PG’s earnings, click here.

Defense giant Lockheed Martin LMT topped earnings estimates in its Q3 report ahead of the opening bell, with $7.97 per share above the projected $7.49 by +6.4%. Revenues also beat expectations, with $20.71 billion ahead of the Zacks consensus by +1.35%. Shares are up +5% in today’s pre-market, adding to its +14% gains year to date. For more on LMT’s earnings, click here.

Stockholm, Sweden-based Spotify SPOT missed on its bottom line this morning by -8%: earnings of $2.85 per share came in beneath the $3.10 projected, but record Gross Margins of +33% and premium subscriptions rising to 6 million in the quarter are two reasons the stock is trading +7.5% higher at this hour.

Oil refining market strength bolstered Valero Energy VLO in its Q3 earnings report this morning, with a +12.3% earnings surprise to $23.90 per share reported. Revenues of $46.1 billion in the quarter were an eye-opening +23.3% higher than the Zacks consensus. Shares, which were already up +168% year to date, have gained another +1.6% so far this morning.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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