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. AI wars
Wall Street may be losing some of its excitement for artificial intelligence, but the battle among major technology companies for dominance in the field hasn’t cooled. After the bell today, investor attention will zero in on just one event: Nvidia‘s earnings report.
Here’s the latest on Nvidia and the sector:
Nvidia has fallen more than 4% this week as investors await its third-quarter results. Shares are up more than 1% in premarket trading today.
Nvidia and Microsoft yesterday announced a partnership with AI startup Anthropic. A source told CNBC that with the investments, Anthropic’s valuation now stands at around $350 billion — up from $183 billion in September.
Microsoft also unveiled its own product that can automatically detect the use of AI agents developed by the tech company or some other tech firms.
Target Corp. shopping baskets sit on the floor of a company store
Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Target posted third-quarter revenue that was slightly below Wall Street’s expectations this morning and cut the top end of its full-year profit outlook. Shares fell about 2% in premarket trading following the results.
Incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke said the retailer is focused on making investments and decisions that “get Target back to growth as quickly as possible.” But, as CNBC’s Melissa Repko notes, Fiddelke declined to say exactly when he thought the company would see positive sales again.
Lowe’s similarly lowered its full-year profit outlook before the bell. However, the home improvement retailer reported stronger-than-anticipated earnings per share for the third quarter, sending the stock up more than 6% in premarket trading.
3. Epstein files
A protester holds a placard after the House voted 427-1 to approve the Epstein Files Transparency Act and the release of documents and files at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Roberto Schmidt | Getty Images
Both chambers of Congress yesterday passed a bill that would release the Justice Department’s files tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The measure now heads to the desk of President Donald Trump, who has said he would sign it into law.
Meanwhile, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said this morning that he is resigning from OpenAI’s board. Two days ago, Summers said that he would step back from public commitments following the release of his emails with Epstein.
4. WhatsApproved
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Meta emerged victorious in its antirust case against the Federal Trade Commission yesterday. Judge James Boasberg said that the Facebook parent does not currently have a monopoly in social media, writing in his decision that TikTok and YouTube are “competitive threats.”
At the heart of the case was Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Regulators argued that the company should be forced to sever off the two brands.
The decision comes seven months after the trial began and five years since the FTC filed the suit. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former operating chief Sheryl Sandberg and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom all testified in the trial.
Get Morning Squawk directly in your inbox
5. Online to IRL
People linger in the restaurant of the Netflix House experience center.
The company has started jumping on product partnerships and marketing that traditional media firms have utilized for decades. As CNBC’s Sarah Whitten reports, Netflix’s push comes as the streamer’s original content library gains enough popular programming — think “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Bridgerton” — to justify retail investments.
Netflix has inked agreements with Hasbro, Mattel and Jazwares on merchandise tied to its media properties. The California-based company has also launched short- and long-term event spaces, including the new Netflix House Philadelphia.
The Daily Dividend
Trump lashed out at ABC yesterday after a reporter with the Disney-owned company’s news division asked the president why he had not released the Epstein files.
I think the license should be taken away from ABC. Because your news is so fake and so wrong.
President Donald Trump
— CNBC’s Ashley Capoot, MacKenzie Sigalos, Sean Conlon, Jordan Novet, Melissa Repko, Jonathan Vanian, Sarah Whitten and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.
An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023.
Roselle Chen | Reuters
Air taxi maker Joby Aviation in a new lawsuit accused competitor Archer Aviation of using stolen information by a former employee to “one-up” a partnership deal with a real estate developer.
“This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated,” Joby said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in a California Superior Court in Santa Cruz, where the company is based.
Archer and Joby did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The lawsuit alleges that former U.S. state and local policy lead, George Kivork, downloaded dozens of files and sent some content to his personal email two days before he resigned in July to take a job at Archer, which had recruited him.
By August, Joby said a partner that worked with Kivork said it had been approached by Archer with a “more lucrative deal.” Joby alleges that the eVTOL rival’s understanding of “highly confidential” details helped it leverage negotiations.
Joby also said the developer attempted to terminate the agreement, citing a breach of confidentiality.
Read more CNBC tech news
Kivork refused to return the files when Joby approached him after conducting an investigation, according to the suit. The company also said Archer denied wrongdoing, and would not disclose how it learned about the terms of the agreement or provide results from an internal investigation it allegedly undertook.
The lawsuit comes during a busy period for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology as companies race to gain Federal Aviation Administration certification to start flying commercially. ‘
Joby argued in the complaint that it’s “imperative” to protect Joby’s work “from this type of espionage” to promote the sector’s success and ensure fair competition.
Last week, Joby said it completed its first test flight for a hybrid aircraft it’s working on with defense contractor L3Harris. This month, Amazon-backed Beta Technologies, another electric flight company, also went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Joby shares have more than doubled over the last year, while Archer is up about 68%.
In August 2023, Archer settled a previous legal dispute with Boeing-owned Wisk Aero over the alleged theft of trade secrets. As part of the deal, Archer agreed to use Wisk as its autonomous tech partner.
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Markets : There was an ugly reversal in the market Thursday. Stocks soared for most of the morning in reaction to Nvidia ‘s strong quarter, bullish outlook on AI spending, and pushback that customers weren’t generating a sufficient return on their investment. Nvidia shares climbed as high as $196 on Thursday — a roughly 5% gain — and its gravitational pull helped lift other technology and AI-adjacent industrial stocks. The market’s gains pushed the S & P 500 into positive territory for the week. However, around 11 a.m. ET, the market began to fall rapidly, with technology and industrial names leading the decline. Nvidia gave up all of its gains and dropped 2%. Bitcoin hit its lowest level since late April. Notable defensive stocks like consumer staples held onto their gains, though. That resilience reinforces our decision to diversify further, which we did earlier this week , by adding Procter & Gamble to the portfolio. The S & P 500’s decline has pushed the index back toward the lows of its recent downturn, marking a roughly 5% pullback from its high. It remains to be seen whether Thursday’s reversal is a sign of investors continuing to retreat from risk assets or simply a retest of the recent downdraft. But Nvidia’s earnings report gave zero indication of a slowdown in demand for AI compute. Interest rate cut: Expectations for a 25-basis-point rate cut at the Federal Open Market Committee’s next meeting in December continue to fluctuate. One month ago, a rate cut seemed like a sure thing with a 98.8% probability, according to the CME FedWatch Tool . But the odds dropped to about 50% a week ago after a slew of hawkish commentary from Federal Reserve members. On Wednesday, the odds of a cut plummeted to 30% after the release of the October Fed minutes, which showed that the central bank was hesitant to lower rates again this year. But after the long-delayed September jobs data finally came out Thursday, the probability of a 25-basis-point reduction jumped to 40%. Although the economy added 119,000 jobs in September, more than double the forecasted figure, the unemployment rate ticked higher. The Fed is in a bind, trying to balance a softening labor market against the risk that a rate cut could reignite inflation. Up next: Gap, Ross Stores , Intuit , and Veeva Systems report after the closing bell. BJ’s Wholesale Club will post results Friday morning. On the economic data side, tomorrow we’ll get November’s S & P Global Flash PMI for Manufacturing and Services, along with the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Bitcoin dropped on Thursday to levels not seen in more than six months, as investors appeared to pull back exposure to riskier assets and weighed the prospects of another Federal Reserve rate cut next month.
The flagship digital currency fell to as low as $86,325.81, its lowest level since April 21. It last traded at $86,690.11.
The release of stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data raised questions about whether the central bank would lower its benchmark overnight rate. The U.S. economy added 119,000 in September, well above the 50,000 economists polled by Dow Jones expected.
That report sent the probability of a December rate cut to around 40%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Bitcoin’s pullback formed part of a broader cryptocurrency market decline. XRP was last down 2.3% on the day, and is below $2.00, while ether shed more than 3% to trade well below $3,000. Dogecoin was unchanged.
The world’s oldest crypto also led stocks lower, even after a blockbuster Nvidia earnings report. Traders who are heavily invested in AI-related stocks tend to also hold bitcoin, linking the two trades.
Bitcoin’s price has largely slid since a rash of cascading liquidations of highly leveraged crypto positions in early October.