A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell on November 26, 2024, in New York City.
- Stock futures are little changed while investors await PCE data.
- Fed governors are likely to keep cutting interest rates, albeit gradually.
- This weekend's Thanksgiving box office is set to be the best in years.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Data ahead
Stocks futures are little changed Wednesday morning as investors await the latest personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) report. It's the Fed's favorite inflation gauge and is due out at 10 a.m. ET. New personal income and consumer spending data is also expected at 10 a.m. Follow live market updates.
2. Fed minutes
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Fed governors are likely to keep cutting interest rates, albeit gradually. The central bank's meeting minutes from November showed confidence around the pace of inflation and the labor market. If those trends continue, "it would likely be appropriate to move gradually toward a more neutral stance of policy over time," the minutes said.
3. OpenAI offer
SoftBank is ready to invest another $1.5 billion into OpenAI via a tender offer that allows employees of the artificial intelligence startup to sell shares, CNBC's Hayden Field and Kate Rooney report. It comes after OpenAI closed a financing round in October, raising $6.6 billion at a valuation of $157 billion. Employees will have until Dec. 24 to take advantage of the tender offer, which comes at a similar value to the most recent round.
4. Froth
Shares of beermaker Constellation Brands fell Tuesday on the risk that President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexican goods would make Modelo and Corona more expensive. Constellation imports all of its beer from Mexico, and beer accounted for 86% of the company's sales in the first half of the fiscal year. Trump's proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican goods would raise Constellation's cost of goods sold by roughly 16%, according to estimates from Wells Fargo Securities.
5. Thanksgiving at the theater
This weekend's Thanksgiving box office is set to be the best in years. That's thanks to the "holy trinity" of "Moana 2," "Wicked" and "Gladiator II," according to Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. Moana is poised to tally between $120 million and $150 million in its theatrical debut, and "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" have thus far outperformed in their runs. The trifecta could make for the "biggest all-around box office results the holiday frame has ever seen," Robbins said.
Money Report
– CNBC's Sean Conlon, Jeff Cox, Hayden Field, Kate Rooney, Amelia Lucas and Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.
