Connect with us

Published

on

A Dick’s Sporting Goods logo is displayed outside one of their stores on October 10, 2025 in San Diego, California.

Kevin Carter | 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. Checking out

A number of retail giants reported earnings this morning, offering the latest reading on the consumer in the run-up to Black Friday. The releases follow last week’s slew of retail earnings.

Here’s the latest reports:

2. AI’s leaderboard

A Broadcom sign is pictured as the company prepares to launch new optical chip tech to fend off Nvidia in San Jose, California, U.S., September 5, 2025.

Brittany Hosea-small | Reuters

3. Off the docket

FILE PHOTO: Former FBI Director James Comey testified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Senate Hart building on Capitol Hill, on Thursday, June 8, 2017.

Cheriss May | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie threw out criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James yesterday.

Currie said Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who led the indictments, was invalidly appointed. Both cases were dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning the charges could be filed again.

The rulings mark a loss for President Donald Trump, who pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against his political foes. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told CNBC that “this will not be the final word on this matter.”

Get Morning Squawk directly in your inbox

4. Amazon’s next frontier

People walk past the logo of Amazon Web Services (AWS) at its exhibitor stall at the India Mobile Congress 2025 at Yashobhoomi, a convention and expo center in New Delhi, India, October 8, 2025.

Anushree Fadnavis | Reuters

Amazon became the latest tech company to throw eye-popping sums behind AI buildout initiatives. The e-commerce giant said it will invest as much as $50 billion to expand its capacity to provide AI and high-performance computing capabilities for its cloud unit’s U.S. government customers.

The project is expected to begin in 2026 and will add close to 1.3 gigawatts of capacity. With the investment, government clients will also have access to Anthropic’s Claude models and Nvidia chips, in addition to Amazon hardware and software.

Also yesterday, Amazon said it will let businesses test its internet-from-space service, which was recently renamed Leo from Project Kuiper. As CNBC’s Annie Palmer notes, the product competes with SpaceX’s Starlink.

5. Power play

William Nylander #88 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period in Game Seven of the First Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 04, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Maddie Meyer | Getty Images

CNBC Sport is out this morning with its new NHL team valuations for 2025. The average franchise has seen its value rise 15% to $2.2 billion, driven by pricier media rights deals.

The Toronto Maple Leafs remained at the front of the pack with a valuation of $4.3 billion, up 8% from last year. The New York Rangers is the runner-up, rising by 9% year over year to $3.8 billion.

The Daily Dividend

Microsoft faced vocal community opposition to a data center plan in Caledonia, Wisconsin, leading the tech giant to scrap its plans and look elsewhere. CNBC’s Jordan Novet broke down the local reaction.

“We did seem to have awoken a sleeping giant.”

Fran Martin

Caledonia trustee

CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge, Sean Conlon, Pia Singh, Dan Mangan, Kevin Breuninger, Annie Palmer, Yun Li, Michael Ozian and Jordan Novet contributed to this report. Terri Cullen edited this edition.

Continue Reading

Technology

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

Published

on

By

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

Continue Reading

Technology

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

Published

on

By

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

Continue Reading

Technology

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

Published

on

By

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.

Get Morning Squawk directly in your inbox

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.

Continue Reading

Trending