
5 things to know before the Monday open: EU trade deal, all-time high streak, 'quishing'
Buckle up: It's the busiest week of the earnings season. Around 30% of the S&P 500 is set to share quarterly results. Big Tech is headlining the week, with Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple all on deck. Several other well-known companies, ranging from Boeing to Ford to Starbucks, are also on the docket. While expectations were low coming into this season, results so far show corporate America is faring better than expected. Of the more than 30% of the S&P 500 done reporting, more than 82% beat Wall Street's forecasts, according to FactSet as of Monday morning. CNBC Pro subscribers can gear up for the week with an exclusive Earnings Playbook.
The S&P 500 finished every session at a record high last week. Now, the question is if these good market vibes can continue in a week that, as CNBC's Yeo Boon Ping incisively pounced, is the "Olympics for market watchers." Beyond the earnings deluge and the looming trade deadline, there's also a Federal Reserve policy meeting and closely watched economic data on the labor market and inflation expected. Stock futures rose on Monday as the action-packed week kicked off; you can follow live market updates here. Suffice to say, it's a week where you'll want to have your news notifications and TVs turned on.
Movie theatres have gotten a nice boost over the past few weeks. "Superman" and "F1" both passed the $500 million box office threshold this weekend. On top of that, the latest "Fantastic Four" installment from Marvel and Disney raked in more than $200 million globally in its debut weekend. Yes, two of those three are superhero movies. The odd man out in this group, "F1," has been Apple's best film yet, as pointed out by CNBC's Sarah Whitten.
Remember all those complaints about QR code menus during the pandemic? Turns out, that wouldn't be the worst use case of the scannable link. More than 26 million Americans have been sent to malicious sites via scanning the codes, according to cybersecurity company NordVPN. The rise of QR code-connected scams prompted the Federal Trade Commission and other groups to warn consumers about the trend, which has been named "quishing." Scammers seem to be hoping that users are too busy to ensure QR codes are legit before using them for everyday activities like paying a parking meter or utility bill.
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Analysis-The most precarious job in America's boardrooms: CEO
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Before that in the last three weeks alone Tylenol-maker Kenvue replaced its CEO and health care products distributor Henry Schein said its CEO will leave at year's end. In interviews, more than a dozen executive recruiters, investors, bankers, lawyers and industry advisers attributed the high turnover this year to a range of reasons, some building up from economic and social changes since the Covid-19 pandemic. While high inflation, geopolitical instability and the Trump administration's trade war has complicated the job of CEOs, diversity gains made boards more independent and demanding of the person in the top job, these people said. At the same time, in a stock market setting new records but driven mostly by large tech names, underperformance had given activist investors, who push for corporate changes from selling a division to buying back more stock, greater sway, leading to management changes. 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