stock futures wavered on thursday as investors awaited another batch of earnings reports and a monetarypolicy decision by the european central bank stocks have steadied in recent weeks after a torrid first half of the year earnings reports have given investors greater confidence to buy up beatendown tech stocks nonetheless many money managers expect more volatility ahead as the federal reserve keeps raising interest rates to curb inflation theres a bit more optimism around the growth sector than there was a couple of months ago said edward park chief investment officer at brooks macdonald the key question is whether we have a big earnings recession heading into 2023 ahead of the opening bell tesla rose 15 after the company reported its first decline in quarterly profit in more than a year united airlines which cautioned about the effects of higher fuel prices fell 68 in premarket trading american airlines att travelers and blackstone are due to file earnings before the market opens snap ppg industries and boston beer are scheduled for after the close on the economic front weekly data on jobless claims due at 830 am et are expected to show layoffs edged down in the week ended july 16 in europe russia began to pump fuel through the nord stream pipeline to germany at a reduced rate sending naturalgas prices down 3 governments had been waiting to see if moscow would restart the flow after routine maintenance as vladimir putin weaponizes energy supplies while waging war on ukraine the ecb is expected to raise interest rates for its first time in more than a decade the bank is weighing whether to raise its key rate by half a percentage point a larger increase than telegraphed by president christine lagarde the ecb faces a related challenge in convincing investors that a new policy tool likely to be unveiled thursday can shield fragile southern european economies from the risk of spiraling borrowing costs it is scheduled to publish the results of the meeting at 745 am et particularly vulnerable is italy where mario draghis resignation as prime minister thursday pushed politics back into a state of uncertainty draghis decision hit italian stocks sending the ftse mib down 25 the broader stoxx europe 600 fell 03 led lower by shares of oilandgas companies and banks the dollar could recover thursday as the eurodollar exchange rate may fall after the european central banks policy decision said ing the ecb is likely to raise interest rates 25 basis points whereas markets are pricing in 38bp of tightening after reports of a possible 50bp move ing said as we expect the postecb reaction to trigger some eurusd weakness and given the other downside risks to the pair italian government collapse and curtailed russian gas supply we see room for some dollar rebound today meanwhile the drivers of dollar weaknessreduced safe haven flows and the shrinking us rate advantageare starting to fade ing added oil extended losses in europe after the latest eia data revealed underwhelming signs of us gasoline demand the gasoline build comes despite the us being in driving season which should be a seasonally strong period for gas use but high pump prices are seen crimping demand russian natural gas began flowing again at a reduced volume through a critical pipeline into europe on thursday according to the operator of the pipeline buying time for governments to decouple from the kremlins exports amid what they expect will be an increasingly unreliable supply of energy from moscow heading into the winter copper prices fell on concerns that weak us data point to a recession housing starts in june fell to their lowest level since september 2021 high inflation is weighing on demand for new homes in the us which will also weaken demand for the metals involved in those building projects broad concerns about global growth and chinas continued lockdowns have undermined copper prices which are currently hovering close to their lowest level since november 2020 souring risk appetite usd strength chinas lockdowns weaker growth prospects and recessionary fears have led to prices coming off sharply from their march highs said analysts at standard chartered united airlines returns to profit but cautions on high fuel prices and economic slowdown united airlines holdings inc on wednesday reported its first quarterly profit without the help of government aid since the start of the pandemic but the carrier is planning a more restrained schedule to try to run more reliably its nice to return to profitabilitybut we must confront three risks that could grow over the next 618 months chief executive officer scott kirby said in a statement ford motor co is planning to cut several thousand whitecollar workers as it looks to trim costs to position the company for a longrange transition to electric vehicles according to people familiar with the matter the auto maker in coming weeks is expected to disclose plans to eliminate more than 4000 jobs the people said the cuts would mostly come from the dearborn michbased auto makers north american salaried ranks and arent expected to include factory workers the people said teslas tough second quarter shows what might happen in a recession tesla needs to keep growing to keep cash flowing the electricvehicle pioneer reported free cash flow of just 621 million wednesday down from 22 billion in the first quarter a poor performance was widely expected given the companys covidrelated production problems in china in april and may and increasingly bearish commentary from chief executive elon musk the final numbers came in slightly better than analysts had forecastfactset put consensus free cash flow at 487 million the shares didnt move much after hours sap se the german business software company reported lower profit and cut its outlook for the full year after losing business in the wake of the war in ukraine and the companys withdrawal from russia hit revenues from its software and cloud businesses the company said thursday that it expected its operating profit to take a 350millioneuro hit equivalent to 3568 million this year as a result of lost revenue restructuring costs and bad debt costs from the war in ukraine as the company continues to wind down its business in russia and belarus nokia corp on thursday posted a forecastbeating secondquarter net profit as demand for mobile networks and network infrastructure remained strong despite continuing supply chain constraints the component supply situation remains constrained but is showing signs of improvement and nokia said it expects to deliver net sales growth in mobile networks on a constant currency basis in 2022 singaporechinese authorities fined ridehailing company didi global inc the equivalent of about 12 billion bringing an end to a yearlong investigation into the companys cybersecurity practices the cyberspace administration of china said in a statement thursday that didi was found to have flouted the countrys cybersecurity datasecurity and personalinformation protection laws after an investigation by authorities italian prime minister mario draghi resigned on thursday plunging the country into a period of uncertainty as it fights surging inflation and an economic slowdown mr draghis announcement came a day after three large parties in his national unity coalition government didnt back the prime minister in a senate confidence vote though mr draghi won the vote the mass abstentions made clear he could no longer hold his disparate coalition together berlinrussian natural gas began flowing again at a reduced volume through a critical pipeline into europe on thursday according to the operator of the pipeline buying time for governments to decouple from the kremlins exports amid what they expect will be an increasingly unreliable supply of energy from moscow heading into the winter the nord stream pipeline connecting russia with germany under the baltic sea resumed operation after its annual maintenance ending 10 days of tense speculation about whether vladimir putins regime would cut off the gas flow to europe in retaliation for western sanctions after his invasion of ukraine tokyothe bank of japan said thursday inflation would likely rise above the banks 2 target this fiscal year but it kept ultralow interest rates unchanged to support the nations economic recovery from the covid19 pandemic the japanese central bank maintained shortterm interest rates at minus 01 and its target for the 10year japanese government bond yield at around zero the asian development bank has cut its growth forecasts over the next two years for developing countries in asia as the regions recovery is challenged by the russiaukraine war accelerated monetarypolicy tightening and chinas covid19 lockdowns