5 things to know before the stock market opens Tuesday

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Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison isn’t taking his loss to Netflix in the bidding war for Warner Bros. on the chin. Paramount announced yesterday that it’s going directly to WBD shareholders with a $30 per share, all-cash hostile bid, with Ellison telling CNBC that he wants “to finish what we started.”

Here’s what to know:

• Paramount’s offer is the same one that Warner Bros. Discovery executives passed over in favor of Netflix’s last week. But this time, the decision will rest in the hands of WBD stakeholders.
• President Donald Trump over the weekend said the Netflix-WBD deal “could be a problem,” citing the streamer’s potential market share should the deal go through. Trump also said he’d “be involved” in the approval process.
• Paramount’s hostile bid is backed by Jared Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law — according to a regulatory filling.
• Meanwhile, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said he believed his company’s proposal was “light” on cash compared to the other two bids.
• Paramount shares surged 9% in yesterday’s session while shares of Warner Bros. Discovery jumped more than 4%. Netflix shares pulled back by more than 3%.
• Follow live market updates here.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.

Trump announced yesterday that Nvidia will be allowed to ship its H200 artificial intelligence chips to “approved customers” in China and other countries. The caveat: Only if the U.S. gets a 25% cut.

The Department of Commerce is finalizing the details, Trump said in a social media post, adding that “the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel” and other U.S. firms. Shares of Nvidia, AMD and Intel all rose in overnight trading. Trump also said that Chinese President Xi Jinping “responded positively” to the plan.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are creating a commission on AI, hoping to position themselves as leaders on the issue. As CNBC’s Emily Wilkins notes, the move comes as the tech industry ramps up its presence in D.C. and its campaign spending.

Meta has poured billions of dollars into overhauling its AI strategy. But as CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian reports, the shift has led to internal confusion and a haphazard strategy.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg began the year by touting Meta’s Llama family of AI models, which he said would become the “most advanced in the industry.” But CNBC has learned that Meta is now focused on a new AI model codenamed Avocado that could be proprietary instead of open source.

Elsewhere in Big Tech, Apple has seen significant churn among its top brass in recent days, including the departures of its head of AI and its top lawyer. The iPhone maker’s chip leader, Johny Srouji, reassured staff in a memo yesterday that he isn’t planning to leave “anytime soon,” following a report that he was considering departing.

Trump announced a $12 billion aid package for farmers impacted by tariffs yesterday, saying the funds would come from revenues generated by the tariffs.

A White House official told CNBC that up to $11 billion of that sum will go to the Agriculture Department’s new Farmer Bridge Assistance program to distribute one-time payments to row crop farmers. The other $1 billion will be held as the department evaluates the market, the official said.

Trump, meanwhile, suffered a blow in court yesterday. A federal judge overturned his ban on new wind power projects, saying it was “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.”

McDonald’s is putting its franchisees under a more intense microscope in 2026. The fast-food titan said it will look at how their prices align with value goals as McDonald’s aims to woo more price-conscious consumers, according to a memo viewed by CNBC.

McDonald’s will update its standards for franchisees — who run about 95% of McDonald’s restaurants — and “holistically assess” their pricing, the memo shows. If franchise owners do not comply with the new standards, they could face penalties such as being barred from opening additional stores or having their agreements with the company terminated.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna joined CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” yesterday to discuss the company’s acquisition of data streaming platform Confluent in an $11 billion deal. Confluent shares soared 29% following the announcement.

— CNBC’s Alex Sherman, David Faber, Lillian Rizzo, Sean Conlon, Emily Wilkins, Dan Mangan, Kevin Breuninger, Jonathan Vanian, Kif Leswing, Chris Eudaily, Steve Kovach, Spencer Kimball and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.