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Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., during a Bloomberg Television interview at the Nvidia AI summit in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.

Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

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

1. Hand over fist

Nvidia took center stage yesterday — literally and figuratively. In addition to inking deals with multiple well-known companies, CEO Jensen Huang made a major domestic production announcement during the chip titan’s technology conference.

Here’s the full rundown:

  • Nokia said Nvidia is taking a $1 billion stake in the company. U.S.-listed shares of the Finnish networking firm surged more than 22%, their best day since 2021, following the announcement.
  • Eli Lilly and Nvidia announced a partnership to build a supercomputer and artificial intelligence factory for the pharmaceutical industry aimed at speeding up drug discovery and development.
  • EV maker Lucid said it’s using Nvidia’s technology in its push to become the first automaker to provide highly advanced self-driving capabilities — what it calls “mind-off” driving — within the next couple of years.
  • Speaking at the company’s GTC conference in Washington, D.C., Huang said Nvidia’s fastest AI chips are now being manufactured in Arizona. The Blackwell GPUs were previously being made in Taiwan.
  • Shares of Nvidia jumped 5% yesterday, helping drive U.S. stocks to another day of all-time highs. The gains put the chipmaker — the largest company in the world by market cap — on course to become the first company to hit the $5 trillion valuation mark.
  • Follow live markets updates here.

2. Decision day

Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Fall meetings at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.

Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Federal Reserve will announce its penultimate interest rate decision for 2025 at 2 p.m. ET today, and traders see a cut as a foregone conclusion: Fed funds futures are pricing in a 99.9% chance of a 25 basis point cut, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

Still, investors will keep an eye on whether any Fed officials break with the majority, and whether Fed chair Jerome Powell’s post-announcement press conference provides any clues into the future path on monetary policy. Respondents to CNBC’s October Fed Survey also expressed concern about how the central bank is analyzing the economy with some data on hold thanks to the government shutdown.

3. What’s in a name?

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.

Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images

OpenAI officially wrapped up its restructuring into a nonprofit yesterday. The startup’s nonprofit, now named the OpenAI Foundation, has a controlling stake worth around $130 billion in OpenAI’s for-profit business, which is called OpenAI Group PBC. (PBC stands for public benefit corporation.)

The buzzy AI startup also confirmed that longtime backer Microsoft holds an investment in the for-profit arm that amounts to $135 billion. As CNBC’s Ashley Capoot notes, that’s equivalent to about 27% of the company on an as-converted diluted basis.

Microsoft is set to report earnings after the bell today, along with Big Tech peers Alphabet and Meta.

4. One month in

The U.S. Capitol building, weeks into the continuing U.S. government shutdown, in Washington on Oct. 27, 2025.

Kylie Cooper | Reuters

The federal government shutdown is officially one month old — and Washington is feeling the heat.

A group of more than two dozen states sued President Donald Trump’s administration yesterday to maintain benefits tied to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, which provides food stamps. The Agriculture Department, which oversees SNAP, has said the benefits will end this weekend.

A federal judge yesterday also extended a temporary ban on firing federal workers during the shutdown. Air traffic controller union officials meanwhile said some of their members have picked up second jobs to bring in money while they work without pay.

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5. Flight status

A Boeing 777X sign in the Boeing Co. booth at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany, on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Boeing are slightly down in premarket trading this morning after the planemaker reported earnings for its third quarter. The company returned to cash-positive territory for the first time since 2023 but logged a $4.9 billion charge tied to delays of its 777X plane.

Boeing — which has been plagued by manufacturing and supply chain issues, as well as the fallout of two crashes — is on track for its most deliveries since 2018. CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took Boeing’s helm in 2024, said in a staff note that “there’s still more work to do to advance our development programs” but “we’re seeing positive signs across our business.”

The Daily Dividend

CNBC’s Kif Leswing, Annika Kim Constantino, Mike Wayland, Sean Conlon, Ashley Capoot, Jeff Cox, Kevin Breuninger, Dan Mangan and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

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Stocks end November with mixed results despite a strong Thanksgiving week rally

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Stocks end November with mixed results despite a strong Thanksgiving week rally

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Palantir has worst month in two years as AI stocks sell off

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Palantir has worst month in two years as AI stocks sell off

CEO of Palantir Technologies Alex Karp attends the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

It’s been a tough November for Palantir.

Shares of the software analytics provider dropped 16% for their worst month since August 2023 as investors dumped AI stocks due to valuation fears. Meanwhile, famed investor Michael Burry doubled down on the artificial intelligence trade and bet against the company.

Palantir started November off on a high note.

The Denver-based company topped Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. Palantir also posted its second-straight $1 billion revenue quarter, but high valuation concerns contributed to a post-print selloff.

In a note to clients, Jefferies analysts called Palantir’s valuation “extreme” and argued investors would find better risk-reward in AI names such as Microsoft and Snowflake. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets raised concerns about the company’s “increasingly concentrated growth profile,” while Deutsche Bank called the valuation “very difficult to wrap our heads around.”

Adding fuel to the post-earnings selloff was the revelation that Burry is betting against Palantir and AI chipmaker Nvidia. Burry, who is widely known for predicting the housing crisis that occurred in 2008 and the portrayal of him in the film “The Big Short,” later accused hyperscalers of artificially boosting earnings.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp vocally hit the front lines, appearing twice in one week on CNBC, where he accused Burry of “market manipulation” and called the investor’s actions “egregious.”

“The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats— crazy,” Karp told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Despite the vicious selloff, Palantir has notched some deal wins this month. That included a multiyear contract with consulting firm PwC to speed up AI adoption in the U.K. and a deal with aircraft engine maintenance company FTAI.

But those announcements did little to shake off valuation worries that have haunted all AI-tied companies in November.

Across the board, investors have viciously ditched the high-priced group, citing fears of stretched valuations and a bubble.

In November, Nvidia pulled back more than 12%, while Microsoft and Amazon dropped about 5% each. Quantum computing names such as Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum have shed more than a third of their value.

Apple and Alphabet were the only Magnificent 7 stocks to end the month with gains.

Sill, questions linger over Palantir’s valuation, and those worries aren’t a new concern.

Even after its steep price drop, the company’s stock trades at 233 times forward earnings. By comparison, Nvidia and Alphabet traded at about 38 times and 30 times, respectively, at Friday’s close.

Karp, who has long defended the company, didn’t miss an opportunity to clap back at his critics, arguing in a letter to shareholders that the company is making it feasible for everyday investors to attain rates of return once “limited to the most successful venture capitalists in Palo Alto.”

“Please turn on the conventional television and see how unhappy those that didn’t invest in us are,” Karp said during an earnings call. “Enjoy, get some popcorn. They’re crying. We are every day making this company better, and we’re doing it for this nation, for allied countries.”

Palantir declined to comment for this story.

WATCH: Palantir CEO Alex Karp: We’ve printed venture results for the average American

Palantir CEO Alex Karp: We've printed venture results for the average American

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CME disruption, Black Friday, the K-beauty boom and more in Morning Squawk

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CME disruption, Black Friday, the K-beauty boom and more in Morning Squawk

CME Group sign at NYMEX in New York.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

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

1. Down and out

Stock futures trading was halted this morning after a data center “cooling issue” took down several Chicago Mercantile Exchange services. Individual stocks were still trading before the bell, while the CME said futures indexes and options trading would open fully at 8:30 a.m. Follow live markets updates here.

The stock market has rebounded during the holiday-shortened trading week. But the three major indexes are still on pace to end November’s trading month — which ends with today’s closing bell — in the red. The Dow and S&P 500 are poised to snap six-month winning streaks, while the Nasdaq Composite is on track to see its first negative month in eight.

Today’s trading session ends early at 1 p.m. ET.

2. Shopping and dropping

A Black Friday sale sign is displayed in a shop window at an outlet mall in Carlsbad, California, U.S., Nov. 25, 2025.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Black Friday was once considered the biggest in-person shopping day of the year, drawing huge crowds to stores in search of bargains. But while millions are still expected to partake in the occasion, it’s not what it used to be.

Here’s what to know:

  • In the past six years, online sales have outpaced brick-and-mortar spending on Black Friday. Data shows in-person foot traffic has been mostly flat over the last few years, as well.
  • No matter where they make their purchases, shoppers are also skeptical that they’re getting the best deals.
  • As CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge reports, the shift has meant a change in strategy for many of the retail industry’s biggest names. Some have started offering their holiday sales earlier in the season, while others are spacing out their promotions.
  • Deloitte reported that the average consumer will shell out $622 between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1, a decrease of 4% from last year.
  • Even as the day of deals loses its allure, AT&T found that Gen Z participates the most, while their older counterparts do their shopping closer to Christmas.

3. AI comeback

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Alphabet has been a notable exception to the recent tech downturn. Shares of the Google parent have surged more than 13% this month as Wall Street sees the company as an AI leader.

Alphabet began the month by announcing its latest tensor processing units, or TPUs, called Ironwood. Last week, the company launched its latest AI model, Gemini 3, which caught positive attention from Silicon Valley heavyweights.

Shares of the stock are now up close to 70% this year, making it the best-performer within megacap tech. But experts told CNBC’s Jennifer Elias that Alphabet’s lead in the competitive AI market is marginal and could be hard to hold onto.

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4. Tech’s tug of wars

Alibaba announced plans to release a pair of smart glasses powered by its AI models. The Quark AI Glasses are Alibaba’s first foray into the smart glasses product category.

Alibaba

The Alphabet-Nvidia AI race isn’t the only tech rivalry that has heated up in recent days.

Alibaba‘s AI-powered smart glasses went on sale yesterday. With its new wearable tech offering, the Chinese tech company is going up against major players — namely Meta, which unveiled its smart glasses with Ray Ban in September.

Meanwhile, Counterpoint Research found Apple is poised to ship more smartphones than Samsung this year for the first time in 14 years. Apple is also poised to boast a larger market share, driven by strong iPhone 17 sales.

5. From Seoul to Los Angeles

Carly Xie looks over facial mask items at the Face Shop, which specializes in Korean cosmetics, in San Francisco, April 15, 2015.

Avila Gonzalez | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images

American shoppers are increasingly looking to South Korea for their cosmetics. NielsenIQ found U.S. sales of so-called “K-beauty” products are slated to surge more than 37% this year to above $2 billion.

Retailers ranging from beauty product hubs Ulta and Sephora to big-box chains Walmart and Costco are jumping on the trend. On top of that, Olive Young — aka the “Sephora of Seoul” — is opening its first U.S. store in Los Angeles next year.

The Daily Dividend

Here are some stories worth circling back to over the weekend:

CNBC’s Chloe Taylor, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Laya Neelakandan, Jessica Dickler, Sarah Min, Sean Conlon, Jennifer Elias, Arjun Kharpal and Luke Fountain contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

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