Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Stallmart
Investors hope to end a lackluster week on a high note. Stocks dropped on Thursday, as the S&P 500 dipped 0.4%, the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1%. Walmart‘s stock fell more than 6% after it gave a disappointing profit outlook for the current fiscal year. More broadly, fears about stubborn inflation have reemerged, and President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods and on all steel and aluminum imports loom. The S&P 500 has climbed 0.1% this week, while the Nasdaq and Dow have lost 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively. Follow live market updates.
2. OpenAI growth
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, at Station F, is seen through glass, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, France, Feb. 11, 2025.
Aurelien Morissard | Via Reuters
OpenAI keeps growing. The company had more than 400 million weekly active users as of this month, a 33% increase from December, Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap told CNBC. “People hear about it through word of mouth. They see the utility of it. They see their friends using it,” he said of OpenAI’s ChatGPT service. The growth comes amid the emergence of Chinese startup DeepSeek, which caused tech stocks to plunge in January with its claims that it made AI models comparable to those of U.S. companies at a small fraction of the cost.
3. Air Force None
Airline customers appear to be getting more optimistic about Boeing‘s turnaround. The client in the White House is another story. Trump has made it clear he is “not happy” with Boeing’s long delays in delivering new Air Force One planes, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Thursday. But Ortberg said Elon Musk – the Trump advisor whom the president tasked with speeding up the process – “is actually helping us a lot in working through the requirements.” Trump said this week that he is considering alternatives to the Boeing planes.
4. Everyday high earners
Shopping carts are lined up inside a Walmart store in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, January 28, 2025.
Carlos Osorio | Reuters
While Walmart’s earnings guidance underwhelmed Wall Street, its sales keep growing steadily. The discount retailer has upper-income shoppers to thank. Most of Walmart’s market share gains in its fiscal fourth quarter reported Thursday came from households with an annual income above $100,000, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said. The retailer has credited better pickup and delivery options through its membership program Walmart+, a wider selection of groceries and store refreshes. Watch this video to learn more about Walmart’s gains with higher-income shoppers.
5. James Bond shakeup
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre
Source: Spectre
The James Bond film franchise is getting shaken up. Amazon will take creative control over the iconic and lucrative spy series under an agreement with longtime producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Wilson and Broccoli will co-own the franchise with Amazon’s MGM Studios in a new joint venture. Amazon previously gained distribution rights for the films with its $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM.
– CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Brian Evans, Kate Rooney, Leslie Josephs, Melissa Repko and Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
