GM Beat and Fell | Brent Neared $111 | France Faces Moody's Friday | BlackRock's Fund Took $665 Million

Two big U.S. companies beat estimates before the open, and only one of them rose.

Nasdaq 100 futures were down about 0.5% at about 7:10 a.m. S&P 500 futures slipped about 0.1%, and Dow futures rose about 0.2%.

General Motors (GM) earned $3.70 a share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter. Analysts polled by LSEG expected $3.63, Reuters reported.

GM raised its forecast for adjusted automotive free cash flow to $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion. It narrowed its adjusted operating profit range around the same $15 billion midpoint. Its board approved a new $20 billion buyback.

GM shares fell more than 5% premarket.

3M (MMM) rose 3% to 4% premarket. It beat third-quarter profit estimates and raised its full-year outlook. On Monday, a filing showed it granted an Amazon unit a warrant for up to 3.16 million shares. Most of it vests as Amazon's data-center purchases approach $6 billion.

Same Beat, Different Mornings

A profit beat no longer settles the morning on its own. GM beat, lifted its cash forecast and added a buyback, then narrowed its profit range around the same midpoint. 3M beat and raised its full-year outlook. Only one of the two rose before the open.

Brent hit a five-month high, and a blockade bet gave back about half its Monday jump.

Brent was near $111 at about 6:30 a.m., up about 1.5% and at its highest since mid-May.

The Houthis said Monday they had carried out six attacks on Saudi targets over two days, including Riyadh's main airport. The claims have not been independently confirmed.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday that sanctioned ships can be refitted for unsanctioned oil. Kpler estimated that only 24 of nearly 160 sanctioned vessels could return to mainstream trade.

A Polymarket contract on a U.S. announcement ending the Iran blockade nearly doubled Monday morning. It rose from 6.5 cents to about 12 cents by 9 a.m. No U.S. official announced any step to ease the blockade.

The Oct. 31 contract was at 9.5 cents by 5:31 a.m. Tuesday.

Danger at Sea, Paper in Washington

Oil is pricing danger at sea, not paperwork in Washington. Brent hit a five-month high next to unconfirmed strike claims. Washington moved to put sanctioned tankers back to work the same day. Kpler counts few of those ships as able to return, and the blockade bet slipped back below 10 cents. Paperwork moves faster than ships.

France faces a rating review Friday, and the Fed hike bet barely moved.

Carrefour said rioters damaged about 50 of its French stores and looted 20. Chief Executive Alexandre Bompard put the cost in the tens of millions of euros. The interior ministry reported nearly 2,400 arrests.

France's 10-year yield eased to about 4.9% Tuesday after Monday's jump, Trading Economics data showed. Its gap over German yields held near 1.47 percentage points.

Moody's, which rates France Aa3 with a negative outlook, is scheduled to review the rating Friday. Lawmakers vote Tuesday on the revenue half of the 2027 budget.

In the U.S., Kalshi's contract on an October Fed hike traded at 13 cents at 5:05 a.m. The Fed meets Oct. 27 to 28. September housing starts are due at 8:30 a.m.

A Deadline for the Spread

France's risk now has a date attached. Riots added store losses and arrests to a budget fight, and the yield gap barely narrowed as yields eased. Moody's review on Friday gives that spread a fixed test. The spread now runs on a calendar, not a mood.

A listed buyer paid mostly cash for a privately held bond platform, and a Korean AI listing broke on its first day.

Tradeweb Markets (TW) agreed Monday to buy Trumid for about $1.97 billion, a filing showed. About $1.89 billion is cash, mostly from cash on hand, and $82 million is stock.

About $220 million of the price is for tax assets. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

In Seoul, data-center company Elice Group fell nearly a third in its debut, Reuters reported. It had raised 201.1 billion won, about $151 million, pricing at the top of its range. The Kospi fell 3.7%.

Cash Over Listings

Exits are running through buyers' checkbooks, not stock markets. Tradeweb is paying mostly from its own cash for a privately held platform. In Seoul, an AI data-center listing priced at the top of its range and then broke below it. This week, a strategic sale delivered a known price, and a debut did not.

Bitcoin buyers came in through fund wrappers, and the price did not follow.

Bitcoin traded near $81,400, down about 1% from a day earlier. Ether was near $2,380.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust took in $665.2 million Monday, Farside data showed. That was its largest daily inflow since Oct. 7, 2025.

Fidelity and Grayscale funds had outflows, leaving U.S. spot bitcoin funds about $527 million net positive. Ether funds lost $103.3 million, a fourth straight day of outflows.

BlackRock also filed Monday for an iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF. It would use options on its bitcoin trust to limit losses to about 10% per tranche before fees, and it caps gains. The fee and the cap are blank, and the filing says investors may lose some or all of their money.

The first of Germany's savings banks began selling bitcoin in their app Monday. Customers cannot withdraw coins to their own wallets. Another 30 to 40 savings banks are expected to join each month.

Price, Not Keys

A big inflow and a falling price can share a morning. BlackRock's trust drew its largest day in more than a year, while bitcoin slipped. Access is being built through wrappers. One fund would cap losses and gains, and a savings-bank app blocks withdrawals. Holders get the price, not the keys.

Tuesday morning treated two earnings beats very differently.

GM beat and fell premarket, while 3M beat, raised its outlook and rose. Brent neared $111 as France waited on Moody's.

Bitcoin money flowed into a BlackRock fund, and new products set limits on what holders can do.