GoKawiilThis is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. Happy Thursday. So much for that "SaaSpocalypse." Salesforce issued a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the fiscal 2030 year at its Dreamforce event yesterday. Stock futures are rallying this morning after a third straight down day on Wall Street. Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Warsh'd out
Kevin Warsh, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. Daniel Heuer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
2. Report card
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER - 15: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sits for a conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at Salesforce's Dreamforce conference at the Moscone Center on September 15, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Dreamforce is an annual event that highlights the company's technologies and encourages professional networking. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images) Benjamin Fanjoy | Getty Images News | Getty Images
OpenAI disclosed six more instances of what it called "unexpected or concerning" behavior by its models yesterday, saying in a blog post that it does not believe that "the AI industry has solved alignment and monitoring to a sufficient degree." The six cases do not include the Hugging Face incident that rattled the AI sector. The disclosure comes days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call for a slowdown in development of AI models. Sarah Heck, Anthropic's head of public policy, said yesterday that she doesn't believe AI companies can alleviate safety concerns with an "honor code": "We can't be checking our own homework, and that's very clear," she said. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told CNBC yesterday that new AI products should undergo some sort of "objective review" before release. On the other hand, Emil Michael, the Pentagon's tech chief, signaled opposition to increasing government oversight of AI firms.
3. Held in contempt
Former CEO of Apollo Global Management Leon Black arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House oversight committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 26, 2026. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
The House voted yesterday to hold Leon Black in contempt of Congress over the former Apollo Global Management CEO's refusal to comply with subpoenas tied to an investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. Black's attorneys blasted the move as "outrageous" and claimed the relevant subpoenas are "invalid." As CNBC's Dan Mangan reports, it's not clear whether the Justice Department will end up prosecuting the billionaire. Black has not been charged with any wrongdoing in relation to his ties to Epstein, but he stepped down from Apollo's helm in 2021 after the company disclosed that he paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning advice.
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