Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Blue-chip earnings
As earnings season continues, investors homed in on reports from two Dow Jones Industrial Average members Wednesday morning. Disney beat Wall Street’s expectations for earnings per share in its fiscal third quarter, but came up slightly short on revenue. McDonald’s, meanwhile, exceeded forecasts for both lines and said its same-store sales saw their biggest increase in almost two years. Stock futures are modestly higher in Wednesday’s premarket as investors reacted to the latest releases. Follow live market updates here.
2. Trump on CNBC
U.S. President Donald Trump waves from the roof of the West Wing of the White House as he takes a tour on August 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
3. Nvidia’s geopolitical tightrope
Co-founder and CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang spoke to journalists during a trip to Beijing in July.
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
As geopolitical tensions flare up around Nvidia, the company pushed back on a key accusation from China, insisting that its chips do not include “kill switches.” For the non-technical, CNBC’s Kif Leswing explains that a kill switch refers to a hardware function that can remotely deactivate a chip. China last week asked Nvidia for documents about what it called security vulnerabilities in the company’s H20 chip. The back-and-forth comes as Nvidia navigates a tough political backdrop despite countries and businesses around the world wanting its artificial intelligence chips. For China specifically, the U.S. has slapped export controls of some of Nvidia’s chips over concerns that the Asian country could gain an edge on the AI or military fronts.
4. Meet the ‘Kevins’
The Kalshi logo arranged on a laptop in New York, US, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Prediction markets see two men leading the pack to be Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s successor — and they’re both named Kevin. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh are among the names that have been floated to take on the central bank job. The pair also got a positive shout-out from Trump during his Tuesday interview with CNBC. “I’d say Kevin and Kevin, both Kevins are very good,” the president said. Hassett and Warsh have become the clear frontrunners on betting platform Kalshi in recent days, CNBC’s Yun Li reports.
5. A supreme CEO training ground
A view of a Taco Bell restaurant in Richmond, California, on Feb. 6, 2025.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Wondering who will be in the next class of CEOs? Look no further than the C-suites of fast-food brands Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, which are all owned by parent company Yum Brands. The restaurant conglomerate has for decades been considered an incubator for future industry leaders, CNBC’s Amelia Lucas reports. Take current Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, for example: Before leading the coffee chain, he had stints at both Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.
— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo, Amelia Lucas, Annika Kim Constantino, Jeff Cox, Hugh Son, Kif Leswing and Yun Li contributed to this report.
