Elon Musk arrives for the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States.
- The S&P 500 rose to a new all-time high.
- Elon Musk cast doubt on three tech giants' ability to fulfill their pledges to President Donald Trump's new AI investment project.
- CNN is planning to lay off hundreds of employees.
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WATCH HEREHere are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Three-peat
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The S&P 500 hit a new all-time high on Wednesday and notched its third-straight winning session. The index ended the day up 0.61% — just shy of its record closing high —on the back of gains in the tech sector and strong earnings reports. AI optimism boosted stocks like Oracle and Nvidia, while Netflix and Procter & Gamble both got a lift from their quarterly results. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, popped 1.28% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130.92 points, or roughly 0.3%. Follow live market updates.
2. Wet blanket
Just hours after President Donald Trump unveiled a new AI infrastructure investment on Tuesday, his close ally Elon Musk cast doubt on the project, undercutting Trump's announcement. In late-night X posts Musk accused the project's big tech backers — OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank — of not having the money to fulfill their $500 billion pledge. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who CNBC learned had a phone call with Trump about AI last week, denied Musk's claims, responding on X, "wrong, as you surely know."
3. 'Get over it'
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon downplayed fears that the looming Trump tariffs could reignite U.S. inflation, saying Wednesday that "If it's a little inflationary, but it's good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it." Speaking to CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Dimon also said the U.S. stock market is "kind of inflated." Trump himself is set to address the WEF today, speaking virtually at 11 a.m. ET.
4. CNN layoffs
Warner Bros. Discovery's CNN is planning to lay off hundreds of employees on Thursday, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. The cuts — which aren't expected to affect CNN's more recognizable names — will help the network lower production costs and consolidate teams, the people said. NBC News is also planning layoffs this week, according to people familiar with the matter, but the cuts will be well under 50, two of the people said.
Money Report
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and NBC News.
5. Relegated
Shares of Electronic Arts were down 15% before the opening bell on Thursday after the company slashed its full-year guidance for bookings. The video game maker said it now expects to report about $2.215 billion in net bookings for the fiscal third quarter, down from its previous guidance of $2.4 billion to $2.55 billion. EA blamed the shortfall on underperforming games, specifically its soccer franchise which it said began to see a slowdown during the December quarter.
— CNBC's Samantha Subin, Alex Harring, Sarah Min, Jesse Pound, Kevin Breuninger, Kate Rooney, Jeff Cox, Hugh Son, Alex Sherman and Kif Leswing contributed to this report.
