This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. Happy Thursday. It seemed like Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's go-to answer yesterday was "I have nothing for you on that," which he told reporters at least five times during his press conference. Stock futures are little changed this morning. The three major indexes finished yesterday's session with modest gains. Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Front and center
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on interest rate policy, in Washington, D.C., U.S., Jan. 28, 2026. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
2. A tale of two tech firms
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Meta is seen at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 11, 2025. Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Meta shares jumped more than 8% in extended trading after the Facebook parent beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations on both lines and issued strong sales guidance. As CNBC's Jonathan Vanian reports, Wall Street appears to be giving Meta's artificial intelligence spending plans its stamp of approval. But it wasn't a slam-dunk report: Meta's Reality Labs unit reported an operating loss of $6.02 billion, wider than the $5.67 billion loss forecasted by the Street. The megacap tech company also reported a 21% increase in year-over-year losses for its metaverse-focused business in the quarter. On the other hand, shares of Microsoft tumbled 7% overnight. Despite also surpassing Wall Street's predictions on both lines, the Washington-based company reported cooling cloud growth and light operating margin guidance.
3. End of the road
A Tesla Model X at a showroom in Colma, California, US, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tesla posted stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter yesterday, sending its shares up around 2%. But the electric vehicle maker also reported its first full-year sales decline on record. CEO Elon Musk said on Tesla's earnings call that the Texas-based company is sunsetting production of its Model S and X vehicles. As CNBC's Lora Kolodny and Ari Levy note, the two models are Tesla's oldest and have seen their prices slashed in recent years. Musk said Tesla will instead use its Fremont, California, factory to build Optimus humanoid robots. In its earnings report, Tesla also announced a deal to invest around $2 billion in xAI. The startup, which is also run by Musk, launched in 2023 as a potential competitor to OpenAI. xAI is best known for its Grok chatbot, which has recently landed the startup in hot water amid growing global regulatory scrutiny.
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