As the major league baseball playoffs kicked off, a different kind of high-profile gathering was taking place at the White House: an unprecedented meeting on artificial intelligence. Attendees included tech heavyweights Elon Musk, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet. This meeting comes at a time when shares of several of these companies are navigating market turbulence. SpaceX has seen a 34% dip from its June high since its IPO, Tesla is down 30% from its December peak, Nvidia has shed 4% from its May high despite a recent stock buyback announcement, Alphabet is off 16.5% from its May high, and Meta Platforms, though up 29% in September, is still 5% below its most recent high.
Meta Platforms in the past month
On the financial front, Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's 'Mad Money,' has a positive outlook on Goldman Sachs, suggesting that CEO David Solomon still has significant runway to drive the stock higher. Since Solomon took the helm eight years ago, the stock has surged over 300%, or 400% with total returns including dividends. However, the stock is currently trading 20% below its June 15 high. Other major banks like Bank of America and Citigroup are also down double-digits from their peaks, while JPMorgan has seen an 8.6% decline from its high.
The bond market is showing signs of strain, with Treasury yields reaching multi-year highs. The 2-year yield hit a 28-month peak at 4.879%, the 10-year yield touched a 19-year high (last seen in 2007) at 5.234%, and the 30-year yield surpassed 5.6%, levels not observed since 2002.
US 30-year yield in the past five days
Wednesday's economic calendar is packed with significant data releases. The ADP private payrolls report is expected to show a gain of 68,000 jobs, a rebound from August's 38,000. Additionally, the crucial August personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, a key inflation gauge, is forecasted to rise 0.3% month-over-month and 3.7% year-over-year. Both reports will be released live on 'Squawk Box'.
In the agricultural sector, 'Squawk Box' will also feature earnings from Cal-Maine Foods, the nation's largest egg producer, which has seen its stock decline about 14% in the last three months and 30% over the past year. Conagra Brands is also reporting, with its stock showing a 1% gain over three months but trading 30% below its February high.
Cal-Maine Foods in the past three months
Tech giant Micron is set to release its earnings after the closing bell, with details to be provided live on 'Closing Bell: Overtime.' The stock is currently down 7% over the past three months and 15% from its June 25 high.
The White House hosted a significant AI meeting.
