CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Higher, Nvidia Dives Into Gaming Chips, Facebook Scraps Factchecking Program 1/7/25

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

From Wall Street to Main Street, the latest on the markets and what it means for your money. Updated regularly on weekdays, featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business newsmakers. Anchored by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC, Wall Street. In the green, out of the gate this morning, the Dow up 167 points, four-tenths of a percent, being led higher by shares of Disney, which are up almost 2%. The S&P 500 index up 16 points. The Nasdaq is up 39 points this morning. NVIDIA getting into the gaming business, releasing gaming chips for PCs, tapping AI features used in its data center components, and its CEO is eyeing supplying chips to the auto industry. We're working with just about every major car company around the world. Waymo and Zoox and Tesla, of course, in their data center, BYD, the largest EV company in the world. A hundred million cars built each year, a billion cars, vehicles on the road all over the world. That's all going to be either highly autonomous or, you know, fully autonomous coming up. And so this is going to be a very, very large industry.

I predict that this will likely be the first multi-trillion dollar robotics industry. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong giving the Consumer Electronics Show keynote address last night in Las Vegas. Facebook making some major changes. No more fact-checking by outside teams. Meta Zuckerberg in a video he posted just a few hours ago. The company is scrapping its third-party fact-checking program. Restoring free expression on our platforms. More specifically, here's what we're going to do. First, we're going to get rid of fact-checkers. The decision comes as Zuckerberg does look to

build a relationship with the incoming Trump administration. CNBC's Carl Quintanilla, Facebook parent Meta, also adding a friend of President-elect Trump to the Meta board of directors. Dana White. Zuckerberg posted that White has built UFC, the ultimate fighting championship, into one of the most popular sports franchises in the world. Apple shares were lower today after an analyst firm downgraded the company to a sell. The banking industry celebrating a gentler future for regulation as Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision, Michael Barr, now says he plans to step down from his role by next month. That would avoid a protracted legal battle with the

Trump administration. McDonald's, the latest company to roll back diversity programs, joining Walmart, John Deere, Harley-Davidson, and others. In a blog post, the company said it will no longer set, in its words, aspirational representation goals. It will instead continue to embed inclusion practices into its day-to-day business. It will retire a DEI pledge in its supply chain. Anti-DEI crusader Robbie Starbuck said he had contacted McDonald's Friday to ask about its diversity programs, but didn't get a response. And after McDonald's announcement yesterday, Starbuck claimed victory in a post on X.

CNBC's Joe Kernan. Airlines working to fix their schedules today. The winter storm that brought blizzard conditions and closed airports in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic yesterday has moved offshore. Businesses ground to a halt in parts of the U.S. yesterday. Carnival-owned Princess Cruises has set a 60th anniversary sailing for this December with the original love boat actress Jill Whalen on board, the royal princess will sail for two weeks to celebrate the brand's longevity departing from Los Angeles.

Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Jim Cramer is the benefit you get that you can't get anywhere else. He has a unique ability to know the market, explain it to people. It's a great value. Get invested. Join the club today. Go to cnbc.com slash join Jim.