Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Twenty thousand
The Nasdaq Composite closed above 20,000 for the first time on Wednesday, ending the day 1.77% higher at 20,034.89. Tech stocks helped boost the index, as four of the sector’s seven megacaps closed the day at all-time highs. The broad market S&P 500, meanwhile, added 0.82%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the outlier, dropping 99.27 points, or 0.22%, for the day. The moves came after November’s inflation report met economists’ projections. Follow live market updates.
2. Tes-ooh la la
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024.
Brandon Bell | Via Reuters
Tesla shares are on a tear. The EV maker’s stock hit an all-time high Wednesday, closing at a new record of $424.77 and topping its last high set in 2021. Shares are up about 71% this year, and almost all of those gains have come since President-elect Donald Trump won the White House last month. Tesla CEO Elon Musk backed Trump in the campaign, putting $277 million into an effort to elect him. Musk — the world’s richest man — has been increasingly close with Trump.
3. Supermarket spill
An Albertsons grocery store in Grand Prairie, Texas, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024.
Shelby Tauber | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Albertsons is suing Kroger, accusing its supermarket competitor of violating a proposed $25 billion merger deal. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, comes a day after a judge blocked the planned tie-up, which would have put nearly 40 supermarket chains — including Kroger’s Fred Meyer and Albertsons’ Safeway — under a single company. Albertsons formally terminated the proposal and said Kroger didn’t follow through on commitments to help get the deal approved, violating its contract. The lawsuit is something of a corporate divorce battle, as the two sides argue about who should pay for the legal fees associated with the merger, as well as a potential breakup fee.
4. SiriGPT
Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Hey, Siri. Meet ChatGPT. Apple on Wednesday released the latest updates for its software, including a long-awaited integration that will bring OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Apple’s Siri assistant. That new artificial intelligence update will apply to iPhone, iPad and Mac software. ChatGPT will be triggered if a user asks Apple’s assistant a complicated question. Apple said it has built privacy protections into the feature, which it is hoping will help will boost iPhone sales and drive an upgrade cycle.
5. ‘Junior Mint’
A JetBlue Airways plane prepares to take off from the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on January 31, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
JetBlue Airways is rolling out a domestic first class in 2026 on airplanes that don’t have its top-tier “Mint” option. Mint has lie-back seats for longer international flights, but the airline said that same formula won’t work on shorter flights, so it had to come up with a new concept for customers who are willing to pay for more room. “Since launching Mint over a decade ago, we’ve explored the idea of expanding a version of it across the fleet, often playfully calling it ‘mini-Mint’ or ‘junior Mint,'” Marty St. George, JetBlue’s president, said in a note to employees. It’s the latest initiative for the carrier, which has been cutting routes to get back to profitability.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Lora Kolodny, Ari Levy, Melissa Repko, Kif Leswing, and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
