The jobs report, Nike’s China conundrum, Burger King’s franchise bet and more in Morning Squawk

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Happy Friday. If you missed it yesterday: More than 60 million children were automatically enrolled in Trump Accounts after the Treasury Department proposed the change earlier this week. CNBC’s Jessica Dickler and Kate Dore have what parents need to know.

Stock futures are higher across the board this morning. The three major indexes rose modestly yesterday.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

It’s “jobs day,” and Wall Street is expecting September’s nonfarm payrolls report to show another month of job growth. If their predictions pan out, the release could offer a positive sign for what’s been dubbed a “low hire, low fire” labor market.

Here’s what to know:

• Economists expect the report to show 84,000 jobs added last month and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.1%.
• As CNBC’s Jeff Cox writes, Federal Reserve officials have cited the labor market’s stability as reason not to rush toward another rate hike, even as inflation remains elevated.
• ADP’s private payroll report for September surpassed economist expectations earlier this week, saying company employment increased by 90,000 in the month.
• While stocks ended Thursday’s session in the green, all three indexes are heading into this morning’s report on track for a down week.
• Meanwhile U.S. Treasury yields are flat this morning after the 10-year Treasury note touched 24-year highs yesterday. Brent crude prices popped 4% yesterday but fell 3% overnight on reports of a diesel and crude stock release.
• Follow live market updates here.

Shares of Nike are down more than 8% this morning after the athletic retailer reported weaker-than-expected revenue for its first quarter. The company also announced a restructuring plan yesterday that it said would result in layoffs next year.

Nike said its China business weighed on its results for the period, while its North American revenue came in slightly better than expected. For the full 2027 fiscal year, Nike said to expect revenue to decrease by a high-single-digit percentage.

But Thursday also brought a bright spot for Nike: WNBA star Caitlin Clark’s shoe with the brand were nearly sold out within two hours of its U.S. release yesterday. CEO Elliott Hill said on the company’s earnings call yesterday that Nike’s “most powerful growth opportunities is the women’s game.”

General Motors said its year-over-year sales declined 5.5% in the third quarter, reporting just under 671,000 new vehicles sold in the period as sales of its all-electric vehicles plunged across the board.

This time last year, the automaker was seeing record EV sales before the Trump administration ended federal incentives to buy the cars. Now, as CNBC’s Michael Wayland and Catriona Marangi write, GM’s relatively small hybrid offering is expected to hurt the company as hybrids gain favor.

Indeed, hybrids helped Toyota and Honda outpace GM in third-quarter sales. Meanwhile, Stellantis said its sales were around flat compared with a year ago, and Nissan and Kia sales rose by around 1% and 8%, respectively.

As the debate over the risks and regulation of artificial intelligence rages on, OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor told CNBC’s AI Forum yesterday that the company has “an obligation” to make its technology safe. He added that people should be “very happy the labs are asking themselves these hard question,” referring to AI leaders’ calls for a development slowdown.

Meanwhile, Andy Markus, AT&T‘s data and AI chief, said the telecom giant uses 45 billion AI tokens each day: “Even at that level, we’re still getting a return on investment, but we have to control that cost,” he told CNBC’s Scott Wapner.

See all the biggest moments from the forum here.

As part of its turnaround efforts, Burger King is refranchising hundreds of its company-owned locations, focusing on franchisees who live close to their restaurants and visit them often.

When all is said and done, Burger King is looking to have around 300 company-owned restaurants in the U.S., with the more than 6,000 others owned by franchisees. As CNBC’s Amelia Lucas writes, that means the future of the business lies with these owners.

“A franchising contract is 20 years. The average marriage in the U.S. is 8.2,” Burger King U.S. President Tom Curtis said. “So you got to get it right.”

Here are some stories to circle back to this weekend:

• Walmart is using light-up digital shelf labels to help shoppers and employees find items
• The next OpenAIs and Anthropics may come straight to the retail market
• David Ellison names Ynon Kreiz co-CEO of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery
• The U.S. just made it much easier for retail investors to access private markets
• OpenAI follows Meta into the red-hot market for personal agents. Will users pay?
• United Airlines gets aggressive in battle for top Delta, American flyers
• Trump could target three Fed governors. Removing them may be harder than it looks

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Davis Giangiulio, Ananya Chetia, Spencer Kimball, Sam Meredith, Laya Neelakandan, Jessica Golden, Catriona Marangi, Michael Wayland, Ian Thomas, Colleen McKown, CJ Haddad and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.

Caleigh Keating assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.