Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Rally continues
2. CEO fatally shot
Flags fly at half mast outside the United Healthcare corporate headquarters on December 4, 2024 in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
Stephen Maturen | Getty Images
Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group‘s insurance unit, was fatally shot outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning. New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a full investigation is ongoing, but that “every indication is that this was a pre-meditated, pre-planned, targeted attack.” Thompson, 50, led UnitedHealthcare, the largest private health insurer in the U.S., and was on the way to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day at the Hilton, the NYPD said. The company canceled the event after the shooting.
3. Trump picks continue
Peter Navarro, former Director of the U.S. Office of Trade & Manufacturing, smiles as he speaks on Day 3 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 17, 2024.
Mike Segar | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump announced more senior staff picks, including Peter Navarro for “Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing.” Previously a top trade aide during Trump’s first term, Navarro later served a roughly four-month sentence in a federal facility for defying a congressional subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump also announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move will replace Gary Gensler, who is not well-liked in the cryptocurrency community for the agency’s regulation-by-enforcement approach to the industry.
4. Bitcoin’s new heights
A representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin is seen in this illustration taken Nov. 25, 2024.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
The price of bitcoin surpassed the long-awaited $100,000 milestone for the first time Wednesday. The cryptocurrency hit a high of $103,844.05 and is up more than 140% in 2024 and up 48% since the election. The move came hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins as chair of the SEC. Crypto investors are hopeful that Trump will deliver on several pro-crypto initiatives, including the establishment of a national strategic bitcoin reserve, no taxes on crypto transactions and opening up the crypto public equity markets with more IPOs.
5. A prime lawsuit
A worker sorts boxes inside an Amazon delivery van in San Francisco, California, on Oct. 24, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Washington, D.C.’s attorney general sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the company of covertly depriving residents in certain ZIP codes from access to Prime’s high-speed delivery. The lawsuit alleges that, since 2022, Amazon has “secretly excluded” two “historically underserved” D.C. ZIP codes from its two-day shipping service while charging residents the full Prime subscription price. That year, Amazon allegedly stopped using its own delivery trucks in the two ZIP codes based on concerns over driver safety, the suit states.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Annika Kim Constantino, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Kevin Breuninger, Jeff Cox, Tanaya Macheel and Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
