5 things to know before the stock market opens on Thursday

good morning. As we remember Dolly Parton’s legacy, I especially enjoyed learning more about her Imagination Library in Cincinnati.

Nasdaq 100 futures are up this morning. The market is coming out of a quiet day.

Here are five important things investors need to know to start their trading day.

Nvidia yesterday silenced skeptics with strong quarterly results and better-than-expected revenue forecasts. The company beat analyst expectations in both areas, reporting a more than 100% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue and sending its stock up more than 6% before the bell.

Here’s what you need to know:

CFO Colette Kress told analysts that the tech giant expects fiscal 2028 revenue growth of 70%, above analysts’ expectations of 44%, even amid supply constraints. Nvidia also stated: Amazon Web Services plans to buy 2 million of its graphics processors, an encouraging sign for investors worried that hyperscaler spending could shrink. Speaking to CNBC’s Jim Cramer last night, CEO Jensen Huang pushed back against criticism of the company’s role in raising money for other artificial intelligence companies, saying, “I think they’re missing a very big point,” and that startups’ large capital needs are “just the nature of AI.” The stock’s recent track record of post-earnings declines is coming to an end. Nvidia wasn’t the only tech stock to rise before the bell. sales force rose 11% after its own better-than-expected earnings report. Octa Agent-based AI has led to a surge in demand for identity security products, rising nearly 20%. These moves are driving Nasdaq 100 futures higher this morning. Follow live market updates here.

Meta On Wednesday, the social media giant settled a major lawsuit with a group of state attorneys general that alleged it misrepresented child-related mental health harms associated with its platform. Facebook’s parent company agreed to pay $16.7 billion under the deal, which was approved by the court late yesterday afternoon.

Beyond the financial concessions, Meta will also have to make other changes to the app, including adding daily usage limits and night blocks for young people, and introducing new tools for parents and guardians.

But as CNBC’s Jonathan Bunyan writes, this settlement is not the end of Meta’s legal troubles. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday that it is “not preemptive in any sense” and that the settlement is “conceptually a floor, not a ceiling.” Bonta, who is co-leading the lawsuit, will appear on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” today at 10 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC or CNBC+.

OpenAI is sharing more details about how its AI models breached Hugging Face, which it called an “unprecedented cyber incident” last month.

In a 37-page report, the company documented how its model navigated a series of assessments before and during the incident. OpenAI also said it is focused on improving security and containment, monitoring, model behavior, and incident response in hopes of preventing similar situations in the future.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA has reportedly agreed to acquire Hugging Face, an open source platform hacked by OpenAI agents, for $12.9 billion. Such a deal would expand the chipmaker’s reach to include open-source models and software. Neither company confirmed this report.

A federal judge has lifted the last injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s mail-in voting order, allowing the White House to impose new requirements before November’s midterm elections.

The U.S. Postal Service had previously said it would not apply the rule to this year’s elections unless both injunctions were lifted, and Wednesday’s ruling means that is now the case. USPS did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who issued the preliminary injunction earlier this month, said the Supreme Court’s ruling in a related case necessitated a reconsideration. But Democratic-led states filed a new lawsuit against the rule Wednesday, and voting rights groups amended their ongoing complaint.

Squishy toys are popular in the U.S. Through June, sales reached about $297 million, a fourfold increase from the same period a year ago, according to Circana’s Entertainment Knowledge Group.

The flexible toy, which can be shaped into dumplings or ice cubes, is gaining attention on social media. As CNBC’s Jenny Lee writes, the relatively low price means online buzz could lead to sales.

Euromonitor International’s Lu Wee Teck said the product category is contributing to a broader trend of anti-digital strategies. But it remains to be seen whether the excitement surrounding squishy toys will wane over time given the current craze.

The July Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index, released yesterday ahead of a Federal Reserve Board symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, showed that inflation remains high. The heading numbers are:

Seasonally adjusted month-on-month increase: 0.2% Annual inflation rate: 3.7%

—CNBC’s Kif Leswing, Tobias Burns, Jordan Nove, Samantha Subin, Jonathan Bunyan, Ashley Caputo, Luke Fountain, Jenny Lee and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

Luke Fountain helped produce this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this version.