BUSINESS

5 things to know before the stock market opens Monday, June 17


News Update – Pre-Markets

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

1. All mixed up

The major averages ended last week mixed as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both notched their seventh positive week in the last eight, increasing 1.6% and 3.2%, respectively. The S&P and Nasdaq were buoyed by a rise in tech stocks. Meanwhile, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down for its third losing week in the past four. Also on Friday, the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers showed that consumer sentiment declined unexpectedly in June. This will be a shortened trading week as the markets close for the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday. Follow live market updates.

2. Feeling good

In Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust meet new emotions.

Disney | Pixar

Disney and Pixar must be feeling some joy. The duo’s animated film “Inside Out 2” debuted with an estimated $155 million domestically at the box office this weekend. That’s good for the second-highest theatrical opening of an animated film, just behind 2018′s “The Incredibles 2.” It’s also the first movie to top $100 million during its debut since last summer’s smash hit “Barbie.” Furthermore, “Inside Out 2” is expected to haul in $295 million globally for the weekend. “This is clearly a big win for theaters,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “It’s an even bigger win for Pixar.”

3. Not so sweet

A farmers holds cocoa beans while he is drying them at a village in Sinfra, Ivory Coast, on April 29, 2023.

Luc Gnago | Reuters

On a bittersweet note, the price of cocoa has been soaring this year and hitting record highs. That’s causing headaches for some candy makers that rely on chocolate. Some of the biggest players — including Hershey, M&M’s maker Mars, Kinder owner Ferrero and Cadbury parent Mondelez — are likely safe for now despite concerns about a weaker-than-expected crop because they sign long-term contracts. But companies are still looking for ways to grow their profits, including by experimenting with different flavors, cutting back on the amount of chocolate in a product and diversifying their portfolios. “It won’t stop us from using chocolate, but it will cause us to think about and say, ‘Now, if we do this innovation with that new pricing, is it sellable?’ And then when we sell it, ‘Is it at a low enough cost that customer could sell it and still make a good margin?'” J&J Snack Foods CEO Daniel Fachner told CNBC in May.

4. Unstable

Do Kwon, co-founder and chief executive officer of Terraform Labs, in the company’s office in Seoul, South Korea, April 14, 2022.

Woohae Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

U.S. criminal, civil and bankruptcy courts have spent years cleaning up the mess left from the collapse of Terraform Labs, which was behind one of the most popular U.S.-pegged stablecoins on the market. When the algorithm failed in May 2022, it cost investors $40 billion in market value overnight and led to the collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and crypto lenders Voyager Digital, BlockFi and Genesis. It also caused a crisis of confidence in the sector and accelerated the slide in cryptocurrencies. Last week, a judge signed off on a $4.5 billion settlement between co-founder and CEO Do Kwon and his bankrupt Terraform Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It’s unclear how they’ll be able to pay the fine, but it’s the latest example of bad actors in the crypto space.

5. Kushner’s deal-making

Jared Kushner, former senior White House adviser, during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute Priority Summit in Miami, Florida, US, on Friday, March 31, 2023.

Marco Bello | Bloomberg | Getty Images

After Jared Kushner left the White House, he embarked on a new career in private equity. One of his early investments was in an Amazon aggregator called Unybrands. But the $75 million his firm Affinity Partners invested in early 2022 — which had not previously been publicly disclosed — came at the peak of a frothy market. At the time, such aggregators planned to roll up independent sellers on Amazon’s marketplace, but the tech bubble was bursting following a record wave of venture investment in 2021. Growth slowed at Unybrands, layoffs ensued, and filings show the company is now controlled by Affinity Partners.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Tanaya Macheel, Sarah Whitten, Amelia Lucas, MacKenzie Sigalos and Annie Palmer contributed to this report.

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