Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Hamad I Mohammed | Reuters
This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. +$1 trillion
The richest man in the world is about to get a lot richer. Tesla shareholders approved CEO Elon Musk's nearly $1 trillion pay plan yesterday, with 75% voting in support of the proposal despite opposition from top proxy advisors. The pay package will grant Musk 12 tranches of shares if the company reaches certain milestones over the next decade. It also gives the CEO more voting power over Tesla, increasing his ownership from 13% to 25%. One of those milestones is the delivery of 1 million Optimus humanoid robots, which Musk on Thursday said "will eliminate poverty" and be "bigger than cell phones, bigger than anything." The robots are currently not available on the market, and Musk didn't give a timeline for their development.
2. AI angst
Traders works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE
Stocks resumed their sell-off yesterday as traders continued to weigh fears about the elevated valuations of artificial intelligence stocks. Shares of Nvidia , Advanced Micro Devices and Microsoft all closed lower, putting the three major averages on track for a losing week. Here's what to know: After Wednesday's positive session, traders appeared to refocus on their concerns surrounding tech sector valuations and the role of AI stocks in a highly concentrated market.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Dow Jones Industrial Average
A murky employment picture has also pressured stocks this week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release its nonfarm payrolls report today due to the government shutdown, but data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas yesterday showed that layoffs surged in October.
Job cuts totaled 153,074 last month, according to the report, a 183% surge from September and 175% increase from a year ago.
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