Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. A little fall sunshine
Stocks are coming off a strong week, thanks in large part to a cooler-than-expected inflation reading that prompted hopes of lighter rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 had its best week since June, while the Nasdaq had its best frame since March. Even with the Democrats holding the Senate (more on that below) there is still strong potential for the GOP to win the House and usher in gridlock in Washington, which would likely limit new regulations and tax increases. Still, Fed officials are cautioning that it could take a while for the central bank to bring inflation to heel. "Quit paying attention to the pace and start paying attention to where the endpoint is going to be. Until we get inflation down, that endpoint is still a ways out there," Fed Governor Christopher Waller said Sunday. Read live market updates here.
2. Dems hold the Senate
The U.S. Senate will remain in Democrats' hands after their incumbents in Arizona and Nevada – Mark Kelly and Catherine Cortez Masto, respectively – were projected to win their races over the weekend. Those victories once again give Democrats 50 votes in the chamber, good enough for a majority, with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as the tie-breaker. The party could boost its leverage a bit more with a win in December's runoff between Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker. That would take some power away from centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and conservative West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, but they would remain pivotal on tight votes. Even if the House flips Republican, Democratic control of the Senate will make it easier for Biden to appoint judges and new Cabinet members.
3. The FTX collapse
There's been a whilrwind of revelations and developments since fallen investor Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto company FTX filed for bankruptcy Friday. The company, now under the control of new CEO and restructuring chief John Ray, clamped down on trading and withdrawals after a series of "unauthorized transactions" took place soon after it declared bankruptcy. Meanwhile, new CNBC reporting says Alameda, a trading firm that Bankman-Fried founded, quietly used billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX in a manner that evaded the attention of investors, employees and auditors. Bankman-Fried, who had donated millions to Democratic political causes, also came under fire from Washington, signaling a major shift for the crypto industry. His downfall has prompted calls for stronger scrutiny from the right and left alike.
4. Big retailers report this week
It's retailers' turn in the earnings spotlight, and it couldn't be a more crucial time for the industry. The holiday shopping season is practically under way, even though Black Friday is just under two weeks away. This week, investors will get a clearer picture of how well retailers are drawing customers, as well as whether the companies are having any success plowing through piles of unwanted inventory at steep markdowns. writes CNBC's Melissa Repko. Here is a schedule of retailers' earnings reports this week:
5. Biden meets with Xi
President Joe Biden on Monday met face-to-face with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for the first time since he moved into the White House in January 2021. While the two presidents have spoken through multiple video conferences and calls, the in-person meeting ahead of the G-20 summit comes at a particularly tense time, between concerns over Taiwan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, among other things. "We need to find the right direction for the bilateral relationship going forward and elevate the relationship," Xi said, while Biden stressed that the two countries can compete without it turning into a conflict.
In case you missed it ...
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" might have had a huge opening weekend, but cost cuts are coming to Disney. In a memo obtained by CNBC on Friday, CEO Bob Chapek told his division leaders that Disney, which is coming off a rough earnings report, would seek to trim spending across the company. That means a targeted hiring freeze, limits on travel and eventual staff cuts, Chapek wrote in the memo, which you can read here.
– CNBC's Yun Li, Kevin Breuninger, Jacob Pramuk, Kate Rooney, MacKenzie Sigalos, Paige Tortorelli, Brian Schwartz, Melissa Repko, Evelyn Cheng and Alex Sherman contributed to this report.
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