An attendee checks a smartphone whilst walking past Al Wasl dome in the Blue Zone ahead of the COP28 climate conference at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. More than 70,000 politicians, diplomats, campaigners, financiers and business leaders will fly to Dubai to talk about arresting the world’s slide toward environmental catastrophe.
Hollie Adams | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
November gains
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Wednesday near the flat line, but the major averages were on track for their biggest monthly gain in 2023. The 30-stock Dow rose 13.44 points, or 0.04%, to close at 35,430.42. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.09% to end at 4,550.58, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped by 0.16% to 14,258.49.
Of growth and rate cuts
The U.S. economy grew at an even stronger pace then previously indicated in the third quarter, helped by better-than-expected business investment and stronger government spending, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Gross domestic product accelerated at a 5.2% annualized pace, the department’s second estimate showed. The acceleration topped the initial 4.9% reading and beat the 5% forecast from economists polled by Dow Jones. These are probably not conditions that would prompt monetary policy easing. After all, interest rate cuts don’t happen during good times, something important for markets to remember as they anticipate easing next year from the Federal Reserve.
The force is rising
Salesforce shares rose 7% in extended trading on Wednesday after the cloud software vendor’s third-quarter earnings topped analysts’ estimates. Revenue increased 11% from $7.84 billion a year earlier. Salesforce revenue, which has historically rise by well over 20% a year, has seen growth rates slip in recent quarters as businesses have cut spending due to economic uncertainty and high interest rates.
Autos unionization
The United Auto Workers union is launching an unprecedented campaign to organize 13 non-unionized automakers in the U.S. after securing record contracts with the Detroit automakers. The union said Wednesday the drive will cover nearly 150,000 autoworkers across BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. Meanwhile, shares of General Motors popped 9% Wednesday after the company said it was working to regain Wall Street’s confidence heading into 2024 with several investor-focused initiatives following a tumultuous year of labor strikes and setbacks in its plans for electric and autonomous vehicles.
Jensen says
U.S. chipmakers are at least a decade away from “supply chain independence” from China, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. Nvidia warned in its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 21 that it expected a negative impact from U.S. export controls during the fourth quarter. Huang also added that artificial intelligence will be able to complete tests in a “fairly competitive” way compared with human intelligence within the next five years.
[PRO] Beware crowded trades
The S&P 500 is up more than 8% in November, putting it on track for its biggest monthly gain since July 2022. However, Morgan Stanley warned hedge funds were crowding into some names, raising the possibility of volatile moves in the near term. The bank has screened for stocks hedge funds are most partial toward within the Russell 1000 index, based on regulatory filings.
The bottom line
The heat is clearly on.
On the eve of the United Nations’ biggest and most important annual climate conference, the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday hit back at what it described as “fake news” designed to undermine its work as the host of the COP28 climate conference.
The UAE organizers slammed a number of fake press releases in the name of COP28 and other entities. Among them, a bogus letter claiming COP28 president-designate Sultan Al-Jaber was poised to step down from his position as chief executive of state oil giant ADNOC (the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.) “with immediate effect” from Thursday.
Al-Jaber’s appointment as COP28 president-designate had provoked a furious backlash from climate activists and civil society groups when it was first announced.
Al-Jaber on Wednesday pushed back over reports earlier in the week that said the UAE planned to use its role as the host of the climate summit as a platform to lobby foreign government officials for oil and gas deals.
Even so, the COP28 summit, which starts on Thursday and is scheduled to run through to Dec. 12, will provide a critical forum for government officials, business leaders and campaign groups to accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis.
Meanwhile, also on Thursday, the influential Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will convene to decide next production policy steps in a postponed virtual meeting overshadowed by conflict in the Middle East, internal disgruntlement and the imminent expiry of a key Saudi supply cut.
UAE, one of the world’s major oil producers and a key OPEC+ component, is keen to burnish its reputation as a champion of the transition to green energy.
Tangible climate action though is the best way to push back all skepticism and cynicism. UAE and Al-Jaber could do no better than to start now.
— CNBC’s Sam Meredith and Ruxandra Iordache contributed to this report.
