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CNBC Daily Open: Nvidia’s ‘drop-the-mic moment’

Published

11 months ago

August 26, 2024

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during morning trading in New York on August 23, 2024.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

What you need to know today

Wall Street rally
Stocks rose after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the “time has come” to cut interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 462 points, while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 climbed 1.47% and 1.15%, respectively. For the week, the Dow gained 1.3%, the Nasdaq 1.4% and the S&P 500 rose 1.45%. Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped, while U.S. oil prices rose more than 2% to move back above $74 a barrel.

‘The time has come’
Following Powell’s indication of an impending interest rate cut, market attention has pivoted to the timing and extent of the reduction. Traders currently anticipate a quarter-point cut in September, with rising expectations of a more aggressive half-point reduction. The likelihood of a larger cut is gaining traction, particularly if the August jobs report reflects the weakness seen in July’s figures. As the Fed’s mid-September meeting approaches, CNBC’s Jeff Cox cast an eye over the key economic indicators that could influence the final decision.

Returning empty
Boeing‘s Starliner capsule will return from the International Space Station without astronauts. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will instead return via SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, extending their stay on the ISS by about six months. The decision follows issues with Starliner’s propulsion system during its crew flight test. “We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. The setback could threaten Boeing’s involvement with NASA’s commercial crew program, which has already absorbed losses of more than $1.5 billion.

Activist defense
Intel is working with Morgan Stanley and other advisors to defend against potential activist investors as it struggles to compete with rivals like Nvidia. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs as part of a $10 billion cost-reduction program as CEO Pat Gelsinger attempts to turn the chip maker around. Morgan Stanley has previously worked with the Intel, including spinning off Mobileye in 2022. The company’s difficulties stem from missing key market trends, including the smartphone boom and the current AI surge.

Export control list
China strongly opposes the U.S. decision to add 42 Chinese firms to its export control list due to alleged ties to the Russian military. The United States also added 63 Russian companies and 18 from other countries for sending U.S. electronics to Russian military-linked entities that produced thousands of Shahed-136 drones for use against Ukraine. China’s Ministry of Commerce said the decision disrupts international trade, pledging that Beijing would protect the rights of Chinese companies.

[PRO] Trading Fed rate cuts
As the Fed prepares for interest rate cuts, Evercore ISI highlights a few regional banks poised to outperform. These banks are actively reducing asset sensitivity through strategic balance sheet adjustments, positioning them for success in a lower-rate environment.

The bottom line

“This is going to be a drop-the-mic moment” for Nvidia, Wedbush’s Dan Ives told CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange. “Powell, Jackson Hole — so important — but the market, what it’s going to do for the rest of the year and I could argue 2025, it starts with this Nvidia earnings.”

On Wednesday, Nvidia — the undisputed leader in AI — will deliver its second-quarter earnings after the closing bell. The stock has soared 161% this year, despite plunging to a low of $90.69 on Aug. 5, as markets capitulated on economic concerns.

Wall Street remains bullish on Nvidia. As CNBC’s Jesse Pound reports, the options market is betting that Nvidia will get a boost from its earnings report. Enthusiasm for the stock appears undiminished, even in light of the delay for its Blackwell chip — a project CEO Jensen Huang said cost the company $10 billion to develop.

“A delay of two to three months, I view that as a sort of an asterisk. This is not moving the needle in terms of a demand perspective,” Ives said.

As footnotes go, while Nvidia continues to dominate the AI chip market, its competitor Intel has fallen significantly behind. Not only did Intel miss the smartphone revolution, but it’s also lagging in the AI race. Nvidia has overtaken Intel as the largest chipmaker by revenue, with Intel now roughly 35 times smaller in market capitalization. Facing these challenges, Intel has enlisted the help of Morgan Stanley and other advisors to fend off potential activist investors.

Wall Street ended the week on a strong note, reassured by Powell’s signal for imminent rate cuts, though the timing and scale remain contingent on upcoming economic data.

Former PIMCO chief economist Paul McCulley expects a series of 25-basis-point reductions at the next several FOMC meetings. McCulley also believes a more aggressive 50-basis-point cut could be implemented if August’s jobs report, due on Sept. 6, shows signs of weakeness.

Powell “drew a line in that we don’t want to see further deceleration in the labor market — we’re there,” McCulley said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I don’t think that’s the base case yet, but clearly he’s opened the door for front-loading of the easing process.”

Powell’s dovish tone also sends a strong signal to the market, according to David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation. “This keeps a tailwind at the market’s back into year-end, making it harder to expect a retest of this month’s lows,” he said.

— CNBC’s Sarah Min, Rohan Goswami, Lisa Kailai Han, Michele Luhn, Michael Sheetz, Jesse Pound, Jeff Cox, Alex Harring, Yun Li, Pia Singh and Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.

Environment

How one man with a hacksaw and an e-bike became a Texas flood ‘hero’

Published

3 hours ago

July 15, 2025

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How one man with a hacksaw and an e-bike became a Texas flood 'hero'

Locals call him the “Bicycle hero,” but Texas man Evan Wayne says he’s just doing what he can to help his community after it was cut off due to the recent devastating and deadly flooding tragedy.

When the local Sandy Creek flooded following torrential rains in Texas, it destroyed the only bridge into one community. Residents were cut off from access to supplies, including everything from necessities like food, water, and medicine to basic comforts.

Although the bridge was impassable to cars, volunteers who quickly organized to help the stranded residents found that the damaged bridge could still be traversed on foot. Or in the case of Evan Wayne, it could be covered by an electric bike.

Evan joined hundreds of volunteers who answered the call of grassroots organizers by working together without any official capacity. While many started by hand-pulling garden carts of supplies uphill to reach the stricken community, Evan jury-rigged a trailer to an e-bike and took on as much of the load as he could, helping shuttle much-needed food and gear into the community over hundreds of round-trip journeys.

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“This was a dog trailer 48 hours ago. I had a hacksaw, hacked the top off, grabbed some bungee cords, and here we are,” explained Evan in an interview with CBS Austin, while waiting for the next load of gear to be stacked on his trailer.

In the first two days of the operation, he made around 100 round trips each day, shuttling food and water as well as critical rescue supplies. “Right now, I’m waiting on a couple of chainsaws that I’ll bring in for a crew that’s been going at it with handsaws so far.”

In addition to delivering needed supplies, Evan has often found himself moving something even more important: information. “I’ve flagged down medics. I’ve been the guy that goes between Austin EMT and STAR Flight because I’m quicker than cell phones sometimes, people don’t have signal a lot of the time.”

Evan quickly points out that he isn’t the only one helping. “I’ve got an e-bike, but other people are pulling carts. People are walking, people are carrying things. Everyone is doing what they can.” But there’s no doubt that his ability to carry more gear at higher speeds and make hundreds of round-trip journeys so far in and out of the stricken neighborhood has helped impact countless lives.

“This is all volunteers here. They’re just taking it upon themselves to get people where they need to go. I think there’s an umbrella company coming in, taking over tomorrow, but until they get here, people are just taking care of people, which is what you’ve got to do.”

E-bikes proving their worth in emergencies

While many people consider electric bicycles just another form of recreation, they’ve proven to be potent transportation alternatives after natural disasters worldwide.

Not only do their small and efficient batteries make performing hundreds of rescue trips like Evans’ possible, but recharging can be done simply and easily with a solar panel when electricity is out after a disaster. And when gas stations are out of fuel (or simply can’t pump it with the power grid down), e-bikes can keep running while gasoline-powered motorcycles or ATVs run dry.

Electric bicycle batteries have also proven to be a handy source of emergency power after hurricanes and other disasters, often helping owners keep their phones charged up for days to remain in contact with family or rescue services.

While most hope to never need theirs for emergency purposes, electric bicycles have proven their worth in countless disaster scenarios, adding benefits far beyond just alternative transportation, recreation, or fitness riding.

E-bikes can be kept running nearly indefinitely after natural disasters with access to solar recharging equipment

Image credits: CBS Austin (screenshots), used under fair use

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Environment

Block leads rebound in fintech stocks as analysts downplay JPMorgan data fee risk

Published

10 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Block leads rebound in fintech stocks as analysts downplay JPMorgan data fee risk

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on “Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation” in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2021.

Handout | Via Reuters

Block jumped more than 5% on Monday, leading a rally in shares of fintech companies as analysts downplayed the threat of JPMorgan Chase’s reported plan to charge data aggregators for access to customer financial information.

The recovery followed steep declines on Friday, after Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan had circulated pricing sheets outlining potential fees for aggregators like Plaid and Yodlee, which connect fintech platforms to users’ bank data.

In a note to clients on Monday, Evercore ISI analysts said the potential new expenses were “far from a ‘business model-breaking’ cost increase.”

In addition to Block’s rise, PayPal climbed 3.5% on Monday after sliding Friday. Robinhood and Shift4 recorded modest gains.

Broader market momentum helped fuel some of the rebound. The Nasdaq closed at a record, and crypto rallied, with bitcoin climbing past $123,000. Ether, solana, and other altcoins also gained.

JPMorgan announces plans to charge for access to customer bank data

Evercore ISI’s analysts said that even if JPMorgan’s changes were implemented, the most immediate effect would be a slight bump in the cost of one-time account setups — perhaps 50 to 60 cents.

Morgan Stanley echoed that view, writing that any impact would be “negligible,” especially for large fintechs that rely more on debit, credit, or stored balances than bank account pulls for transactions.

PayPal doesn’t anticipate much short-term impact, according to a person with knowledge of the issue. The person, who asked not to be named in order to speak about private financial matters, noted that PayPal relies on aggregators primarily for account verification and already has long-term pricing contracts in place.

While smaller fintechs that depend heavily on automated clearing house (ACH) rails or Open Banking frameworks for onboarding and compliance may face real pressure if the fees take effect, analysts said the larger platforms are largely insulated.

WATCH: Congress moves to redraw $3.7 trillion crypto market rules, opening door to Wall Street

Environment

EV sales hit 9.1M globally in H1 2025, but the US just hit the brakes

Published

10 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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EV sales hit 9.1M globally in H1 2025, but the US just hit the brakes

The global EV market is still charging ahead. According to new numbers from global research firm Rho Motion, 9.1 million EVs were sold worldwide in the first half of 2025, up 28% compared to the same period last year. But not every region is accelerating at the same pace.

China and Europe are doing the heavy lifting

More than half of the world’s EVs this year have been bought in China. That market hit 5.5 million sales in the first six months of 2025 – a 32% jump year-over-year. Around half of new cars bought in China are now electric.

While some Chinese cities’ subsidies have dried up, Rho Motion expects momentum to pick back up later in the year as more funding is released.

In Europe, 2 million EVs were sold in the first half of the year, up 26%. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales also rose 26%, thanks in part to affordable models like the Renault 4 (pictured) and 5 entering the market. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) weren’t far behind, growing 27% year-to-date. Chinese automakers are leaning into PHEVs as a way to work around the EU’s new tariffs on BEVs.

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Spain is leading the pack with EV sales soaring 85% so far this year. Its generous MOVES III incentive program was extended in April and has kept sales strong. The UK and Germany are also seeing solid growth – 32% and 40%, respectively. France, however, is slumping. With subsidies cut, EV sales there have dropped 13%.

North America is stuck in the slow lane

Things aren’t looking quite as bright in North America. EV sales in the US, Canada, and Mexico are up just 3% so far this year.

Mexico is the one bright spot, with a 20% boost. The US is up 6%. But Canada is down a whopping 23%.

And things could get bumpier. On July 4, Trump signed Congress’s big bill into law, which axes all the Inflation Reduction Act EV tax credits. Those consumer credits for EVs now officially end on September 30.

Just over half of the EVs sold in the US this year qualified for those credits. Rho Motion predicts a rush in Q3 before the subsidies disappear – and a decline in sales after that.

Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said, “With Trump’s latest cuts in his ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ the US could struggle to see any growth in the EV market overall in 2025.”

Global EV sales snapshot, H1 2025 vs H1 2024

Global: 9.1 million (+28%)
China: 5.5 million (+32%)
Europe: 2.0 million (+26%)
North America: 0.9 million (+3%)
Rest of world: 0.7 million (+40%)

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