Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox. Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching on Thursday and what’s on the radar for Friday’s session. AI in the spotlight It’s never a good idea to miss “Squawk Box,” but you really don’t want to miss it Friday morning. Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft ‘s AI CEO, will be joining Becky Quick, Joe Kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin for a “First on CNBC” interview at 8:45 a.m. ET. Microsoft’s stock has been struggling for much of the year but has been on a tear of late. It’s up 31% in the last three months, making it the best performing “Mag 7” name in that time period. It’s 42% off its June 25th low of $349.20. Despite the recent rally, it closed Thursday up just under 3% for the year to date. MSFT YTD mountain Microsoft shares year to date Apple Watch on sale Friday The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max go on sale Friday in the first big release under new CEO John Ternus. The doors open at 8 a.m. at Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store and CNBC will have a camera there to get a real time look at demand and the buzz around the new devices. You can check that out on “Squawk Box.” MacKenzie Sigalos will be covering it throughout the day and will access what Apple’s premium-pricing strategy means for the company’s outlook. Ternus took over as CEO on Sept. 1. The stock is up 6.4% in the early days of his tenure. The stock is up 24% year to date making it the top performer among the “Mag 7” this year. Shares are 2% off a July 29 high of $344.57. Financials in focus Through Thursday’s close, financials are the worst performing sector week to date, down 2.4%. Among the biggest laggards are Bank of America and Goldman Sachs . The sharp losses followed comments from their CEOs at an industry conference this week. On Monday, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said he expects third-quarter investment banking fees to fall more than 10%. On Wednesday, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he expects the bank’s fixed income, currencies and commodities business to be slightly softer in the third quarter. He did, however, note strong performance in its equities business. Bank of America is down 7% week to date, which if that holds would be its worst week since the week ended April 4, 2025, when the stock fell 16.6%. It’s up 5.8% year to date. Goldman Sachs is down 7.6% so far this week, which would be its worst since the week ended April 4, 2025. It’s up 8.2% in 2026. Some investors are seeing the recent decline as a potential buying opportunity. In the wake of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike on Wednesday, Frank Holland, anchor of CNBC International’s “U.S. Markets Edition,” spoke to one analyst who said, “The biggest bang you are going to get for your buck in a rising rate environment is the major money center banks.” Leslie Picker covers the banks for us and she’ll be all over the latest moves on Friday. BAC YTD mountain Bank of America performance year to date S & P quarterly rebalance effective after Friday’s close Some big names will be getting a new home starting Monday. Going into the S & P 500 are Bloom Energy , Everpure and Illumina . Bloom Energy is up 11% since the Sept. 4 announcement that it would be added to the index, and shares have added 233% year to date. Everpure is up 5% since the news broke and 55% so far this year. Illumina is up 12.4% since the announcement and 87% in 2026.
Friday’s big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session
Sep 18, 2026
