5 things to know before the stock market opens (2024)

• The S&P and Nasdaq closed at fresh record highs.
• Wall Street braces for May's CPI reading and Fed meeting.
• Current and former OpenAI employees are raising concerns about the company's control over their shares.

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

1. Soaring even higher

Just a day after hitting fresh closing highs, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite reached new heights on Tuesday, closing at fresh closing records. The broad market index ended the trading session at 5,375.32 after adding 0.27%, and the Nasdaq Composite finished at 17,343.55 with gains of 0.88%. The indexes also hit new all-time highs during the session, bolstered by Apple surging to an all-time high following the unveiling of new AI features at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, fell 0.31%, closing out the session at 38,747.42. Follow live market updates.

2. Data on deck

It's a double whammy of inflation and the Fed on Wednesday. Before the opening bell, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its consumer price index reading for May, and Wall Street expects it'll show barely any movement from April – just a 0.1% rise, to be exact. This would still come out to an aggregate annual increase of 3.4%. Core PCI – the reading excluding food and energy prices – is projected to show a 0.3% monthly increase and a 3.5% annual rate. For the Fed meeting later in the day, it's expected that interest rates will stay where they are at the current range of between 5.25%-5.50%. What is being watched, however, is whether the central bank will adjust the trajectory of its "dot plot" to signal fewer than the three rate cuts previously indicated for 2024. While most economists expect it to show two cuts, there is some fear that it could only signal one, which would likely mean the Fed wouldn't make any moves until the end of the year.

3. Drawing concern

OpenAI is stirring fear among current and former employees over the company's control of their shares. OpenAI – valued at more than $80 billion – is considered too expensive to be acquired, and there's no IPO on the way, leaving secondary stock sales as the only way for shareholders to realize any value from their millions in shares. According to interviews and documents shared internally, current and former OpenAI employees are growing more concerned about accessing that liquidity. A person with knowledge of the matter said that while OpenAI has told employees that it'll try to hold a tender offer every year, such a bid depends on how the company and the market are doing.

4. No deal

Deal's off, Paramount. National Amusem*nts – a media company owned by Shari Redstone, Paramount Global's controlling shareholder – has ended talks with Skydance on a potential merger with Paramount, sources told CNBC's David Faber. National Amusem*nts, which owns 77% of Paramount class A shares, had previously agreed to merger terms with a consortium that included Skydance as well as RedBird Capital and KKR – two private equity firms. CNBC previously reported that the merger between Paramount and Skydance was waiting for Redstone to sign off on it. This move comes after months of discussions about the deal. Shares of Paramount plunged nearly 8% during Tuesday's session.

5. Guilty

Hunter Biden has become the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted. The son of U.S. President Joe Biden was found guilty on three counts Tuesday in his criminal gun case in Delaware. He was charged with lying in connection with the sale of a firearm and in a firearms transaction as well as possessing a firearm while being a drug user or drug addict. The charges are related to his Colt Cobra handgun purchase from a Delaware gun store in October 2018 – a time when he was a crack cocaine user and addict. In response to the charges, President Biden said that he'll "accept the outcome of this case" and "continue to respect the judicial process" while his son considers appealing the conviction.

— CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han, Alex Harring, Jeff Cox, Hayden Field, Lillian Rizzo, Alex Sherman, Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.

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