FRI, OCT 18, 2024

MORNING SQUAWK

1. Markets

Futures held steady Friday. S&P 500 futures climbed 0.12% and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.29%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures sat near the flatline. The Dow is on course to finish 0.9% higher this week, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have added 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. All three indexes are tracking for their sixth straight positive week. Wall Street continues to watch the rollout of earnings reports, with American Express and Procter & Gamble set to report earnings before the bell on Friday. Follow live market updates.

2. Netflix shares jump

Shares of Netflix jumped in U.S. premarket trading after the company reported third-quarter earnings that beat expectations. The streaming giant reported earnings of $5.40 per share, higher than the LSEG consensus estimate of $5.12 per share. Revenue was $9.83 billion, also higher than the $9.77 billion expected by analysts. While not yet its primary driver of growth, Netflix’s ad-tier memberships jumped 35% quarter over quarter, and the company plans to launch the service in Canada during the coming quarter and more broadly in 2025. Analysts at Citi said in a note that they expect Netflix shares to trade higher Friday on the back of the earnings report.

3. CVS swap

CVS has replaced its CEO. Karen Lynch is out and pharmacy executive David Joyner is taking over, effective Thursday — a day before the announcement. The company has been battling declining profits and a sinking share price. It’s also got an activist investor pushing for changes. CVS on Friday also issued estimated third-quarter results and said “investors should no longer rely on the Company’s previous guidance” as issued in August.

4. New search boss

Google announced Thursday it was replacing Prabhakar Raghavan, the company’s search and ads boss, with longtime Google executive Nick Fox. Raghavan is moving into the role of chief technologist after 12 years of leading teams across the search company, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post. Fox will lead Google’s Knowledge and Information division, which includes the company’s search, ads and commerce products, Pichai said. Google continues to restructure its teams to move more quickly in the artificial intelligence arms race, where it faces increased competition and is dealing with several antitrust lawsuits related to its search and ads business.

5. Hamas leader killed

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israel’s military forces. Sinwar was previously the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and assumed the top spot of the Iran-backed organization in August, following the assassination of former political chief Ismail Haniyeh. Sinwar’s death marks the largest blow Israel has dealt Hamas in the yearlong conflict sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, which leaders of the Jewish state have accused Sinwar of orchestrating. It remains unclear who would succeed Sinwar and what impact his death could have on stalled negotiations for a cease-fire.

— CNBC’s Kristian Burt wrote this newsletter. Ryan Browne, Sarah Whitten, Jacob Pramuk, Sara Salinas, Jennifer Elias, Ece Yildirim, Ruxandra Iordache and Natasha Turak contributed.

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