Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. A rocky start
2. The steel’s all melted
A water tower at the United States Steel Corp. Edgar Thomson Works steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024.
Justin Merriman | Bloomberg | Getty Images
3. Tesla deliveries drop
Car transporters are loaded with new Tesla Model Y electric vehicles at the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg site.
Patrick Pleul | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Shares of Tesla fell on Thursday after the automaker reported its first drop in annual delivery numbers. The company’s fourth-quarter vehicle production and deliveries report said deliveries dropped to 1,789,226 in 2024 compared with 1.81 million in 2023. Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales reported by Tesla but are not precisely defined in the company’s shareholder communications. Tesla shares were down more than 6% following the report on Thursday.
4. A year for coins
Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken Nov. 25, 2024.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Cryptocurrencies rose to start the year, rebounding from recent losses as investors anticipate a banner 2025 for the industry. The price of bitcoin rose 3% to $97,234.80 Thursday, bringing its new year gain to nearly 4% when counting trading from the Jan. 1 session. Despite a record postelection rally that sent bitcoin above $100,000, crypto assets slid at the year’s end. But investors are optimistic that President-elect Donald Trump will follow through on his promises to create a more favorable regulatory environment for the industry once he’s in office. They also hope Congress will pass its first-ever crypto-focused legislation to help structure the market.
5. A Meta shakeup
Facebook vice president of global public policy Joel Kaplan and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg leave the Elysee Presidential Palace after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on May 23, 2018 in Paris, France.
Chesnot | Getty Images
Facebook parent Meta is shaking up the composition of its policy team three weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Nick Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister who has been the company’s global head of policy since 2018, is stepping down. He will be replaced by current policy vice president and former Republican staffer Joel Kaplan, who previously worked under former President George W. Bush. In December, he appeared at the New York Stock Exchange with Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. The shakeup is the latest sign of how tech companies are positioning themselves for a new administration in Washington.
— CNBC’s Yeo Boon Ping, Lora Kolodny, Tanaya Macheel and Kif Leswig contributed to this report.