Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Going green
The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 are in positive territory for the year, nearly three trading weeks in, after gains on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, led by Apple, rose 1.35% during the session, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.88%. The broad market index is now just 0.33% off its all-time closing record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gained 0.54% Thursday to shake off three straight days of losses, is still negative for 2024, down 0.59%. One stock to watch: Spirit Airlines jumped 20% premarket after the carrier raised its fourth-quarter forecast. Follow live market updates.
2. Nelson pelts Disney
Nelson Peltz is making his run at the Disney board — and laying out exactly how he sees it all going down. The activist investor's Trian Fund Management formally nominated Peltz and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to board seats on Thursday, bolstered by a five-point plan on everything from CEO succession to streaming margins to studio oversight. In the coming weeks, Peltz plans to make his case to the shareholders on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, as well as a newly created website and via a dense white paper, CNBC's Alex Sherman reports. Trian is revealing its plans ahead of Disney's earnings report next month and the company's shareholder meeting this spring.
3. Making cuts
Department store retailer Macy's is cutting about 2,350 jobs, or 3.5% of its workforce, and closing five mall locations. It's all part of an effort to reduce costs and revive slowing sales. The affected stores — in Arlington, Virginia; San Leandro, California; Lihue, Hawaii; Simi Valley, California and Tallahassee, Florida — will be closed sometime early this year. A company spokesman said the retailer was preparing to "deploy a new strategy to meet the needs of an everchanging consumer and marketplace" and aiming to become "a more streamlined company." And, it's not just Macy's: Wayfair announced Friday morning it would lay off 13% of workforce, impacting 1,650 employees.
4. Stack your chips
Meta is stocking up on Nvidia's powerful, generative AI-enabling computer chips in what's likely to be a multibillion-dollar effort. The chips, called H100 graphics cards, have become in high demand as generative AI has captivated corporate America in recent months. They cost an estimated $25,000 to $30,000, according to analysts at Raymond James. Meta wants them to power the company's "future roadmap" for AI as it pursues research into large language models.
5. From DC to Davos
U.S. business executives at Davos this year seem to agree: Donald Trump could very well return to the White House in 2024. American attendees of the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland didn't seem concerned about the prospect, while their foreign counterparts expressed much more worry. One U.S. business executive told CNBC, "I'm not sure Europeans understand how weak executive orders are," adding, "It's right to be cautious, but it won't be the end of the world." The thing about Davos, though, is that it's emerged in past years as something of a counter-indicator. The summit chorus has in recent history incorrectly played up the risk of recession and played down the threat of Covid, for example. So even if Davos is calling 2024 for Trump, that prediction may not make it out of Switzerland.
– CNBC's Hakyung Kim, Sarah Min, Alex Sherman, Laya Neelakandan, Melissa Repko, Jonathan Vanian and MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
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