Airbnb is adding new social features to its platform that allow guests attending experiences to communicate and keep in touch.

The new updates add a direct messaging feature for attendees to connect with other guests and a pre-event dashboard that shows profiles of other participants attending the experience.

Business chief Dave Stephenson said the updated tech builds on the company’s “vision for where to take Airbnb next.” Users need to opt in to social features for every experience and can unsubscribe at any time, Airbnb said.

The updates follow the travel company’s major app redesign in May, which brought services such as catering and personal training to the platform. Those changes also included a revamp of the company’s experiences business.

For years, the company has sought to expand beyond the home rental business, but hit pause in 2020 as the onslaught of the pandemic wreaked havoc on travel. Earlier this year, Airbnb said it would invest $200 million to $250 million in a new business opportunities.

At the time of the May app overhaul, Stephenson told CNBC that Airbnb felt it had a “strong foundation” to expand its offerings.

Airbnb also updated its artificial intelligence chatbot it started rolling out this year to answer personalized customer support questions. The tool can now cancel reservations or adjust dates when prompted and is available in English, Spanish and French to users in North America.

Other updates include new flexible carousels that show alternative listings outside initial search criteria. Maps will also include nearby landmarks, restaurants and attractions, and allow users to toggle between different views.

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Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

What began as an early morning outage report for Amazon Web Services snowballed into a daylong saga that limited access to popular websites used for work, school, entertainment and travel. Monday evening, the company said all its services returned to normal operations.

Here’s a recap:

• Downdetector showed users had problems accessing a variety of sites, ranging from Snapchat to Lyft to The New York Times to Venmo. Travelers reported problems with finding airline reservations and checking in online, while the British government said it was in communication with AWS over impacted services.
• AWS is the leading vendor of cloud infrastructure technology, with millions of companies and groups using its services tied to servers and storage.
• Cybersecurity executive Rob Jardin told CNBC that the outage didn’t seem to be caused by a cyber attack and was likely due to a technical issue with one of Amazon’s key data centers.
• It’s not the only outage in recent memory: AWS faced a disruption in 2023, and Microsoft Windows systems went dark last year following a problematic CrowdStrike software update.
• AWS said it will share a “post-event summary” following Monday’s outage.

On the other hand, yesterday was a great day for Apple investors. Shares rallied to all-time highs after a report from technology research firm Counterpoint showed iPhone 17 sales were off to a good start in the U.S. and China.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Apple’s surge shows why you’re better off holding the stock than dumping it. Meanwhile, Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown said on CNBC that Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts can create a “whole different story” for the investing outlook.

Apple’s jump helped juice the broader market, with the three major indexes all gaining more than 1%. Follow live market updates here.

General Motors blew past analysts’ consensus expectations for both earnings per share and revenue in the third quarter. The automaker also lifted its full-year guidance and said the impact from tariffs would be lower than previously forecast. Shares surged 8.5% in premarket trading.

Coca-Cola also beat the Street’s forecasts on both lines for the third quarter, sending shares up nearly 2% before the bell. However, the soda maker said demand remained soft.

There could be light at the end of the tunnel for the federal government shutdown. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC the closure — which is now on its 21st day — “is likely to end sometime this week.”

The White House adviser warned, however, that the Trump administration could impose “stronger measures” if a resolution isn’t reached. Hassett said he heard that Senate Democrats felt it would be “bad optics” to reopen the government before the “No Kings” protests against Trump that took place nationwide Saturday.

As the focus on rare earth materials intensifies, the U.S. and Australia inked an agreement that includes project plans totaling as much as $8.5 billion. As CNBC’s Spencer Kimball notes, this deal comes as Trump pushes to build a rare earth supply chain that’s independent of China.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said each country would contribute $1 billion over the next six months. Later, the White House said in a fact sheet that the countries would each invest more than $3 billion in that time frame.

Shares of U.S.-listed rare earth stocks jumped in Monday’s session. Notably, Cleveland-Cliffs soared more than 20% after the steel producer said it was considering creating a rare earth mining business.

Famed entrepreneur Mark Cuban sat down with CNBC’s Bertha Coombs in Las Vegas for an exclusive, 30-minute interview about the health-care industry. Watch it here.

— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball, Tasmin Lockwood, Kevin Breuninger, Jaures Yip, Luke Fountain, Sean Conlon, Annie Palmer, Katrina Bishop and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report. Terri Cullen edited this edition.

China’s exports of rare earth magnets to the U.S. fell sharply in September, ending months of recovery as the two economic superpowers remain locked in trade disputes and Washington pushes to secure alternative supply chains.

Data from China’s General Administration of Customs on Monday showed that U.S.-bound exports fell 28.7% in September from August to 420.5 tonnes. That figure was also nearly 30% lower than a year prior.

It was the second consecutive monthly decline after a short-lived rebound that started in June, when Beijing had agreed to expedite rare earth export permits during trade talks with U.S. officials in London.

Chinese rare earth magnet companies have reportedly been facing tighter scrutiny on export license applications starting in September. The customs figures also come from before Beijing expanded its export licensing regime earlier this month.

China has a stranglehold on the production of rare-earth permanent magnets, with an estimated 90% of the market, and a similar dominance in refining the elements used to make them, according to the International Energy Agency. 

The magnets are vital for technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, electronics and defense systems. Beijing’s previous restrictions caused shortages and supply disruptions across industries earlier this year.

China’s export curbs have also extended beyond just the U.S., with total rare earth magnet shipments falling 6.1% in September from August, according to customs data. 

The disruptions have prompted the U.S. and its partners to accelerate efforts to build alternative rare earths and critical mineral supply chains. 

On Monday, the U.S. and Australia signed a minerals deal worth up to $8.5 billion. The agreement includes funding for multiple projects to boost supplies of rare earth and critical mineral materials used in defense manufacturing and energy security.

The deal comes as U.S.-based Noveon Magnetics signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths earlier this month to form a strategic partnership aimed at developing a scalable American supply chain for rare earth magnets.

However, manufacturing rare earth magnets is highly complex and relies on upstream rare earth element mining and refining operations. 

Currently, only a handful of U.S. companies manufacture magnets domestically, with many in the early stages of production.