5 things to know before the stock market opens on Wednesday

Happy Wednesday. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has donated $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University, which the university calls “the largest individual gift in the history of higher education.” Hedge fund billionaires will be featured on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” at 10 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC Pro or CNBC+.

Stock futures were little changed this morning. All three major stock averages have broken out of negative territory for two consecutive days.

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

How did John Harold Rogers go from being a senior Federal Reserve official to being arrested by the FBI as a suspected spy? As one federal prosecutor says in a new investigation report released this morning by CNBC’s Eamon Gervers, the case is “like a spy novel.”

Here’s what you need to know:

Mr. Rogers, now 65, was arrested in January 2025. Investigators believed Mr. Rogers passed information about the central bank to Chinese government spies. Rogers’ desire for companionship with women appears to have been the driving force behind his actions, and was exploited by agents of the Chinese government, which became an important part of the economist’s professional and personal life. The question to answer, as Javers writes, is whether Mr. Rogers himself was a spy, or merely a cover for Chinese intelligence. Mr. Rogers declined to be interviewed. The story has been reported, and his lawyer claims he did not provide any valuable information to the Chinese. Officials at the Federal Reserve and the Office of Inspector General declined to comment. CNBC discovered previously unreleased text messages, audio recordings, copies of Fed documents and dozens of photos. Read the full story and watch the documentary here.

OpenAI announced a series of new products at its developer conference yesterday, including Dots, a new “always-on” agent. The company also debuted its latest artificial intelligence model, the GPT-6.1 Sol, days after canceling plans to launch the GPT-6.1 Astra for not meeting safety standards.

A possible OpenAI IPO was also on the minds of investors and executives in San Francisco on Tuesday. “We don’t have a specific timeline in mind,” CEO Sam Altman told CNBC’s Kate Rooney, adding, “Right now is a time to put safety and mission first.” Sarah Friar, the company’s head of finance, said later in the day that ChatGPT’s creators would go public “when the time is right for our business.”

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump said he had signed a “morally binding” AI agreement with a number of technology leaders after a luncheon at the White House. The president also said he would rename AI to “superintelligence” through an executive order, an apparent attempt to rebrand the technology in the wake of worsening public sentiment against AI.

Investors wary of troubling inflation will get the latest price developments this morning with the Fed’s preferred gauge, the August PCE price index. Further data on employment, consumer spending and GDP will also be available before the bell.

The data dump comes after the Conference Board reported yesterday that consumer confidence index this month had fallen to its lowest level since 2014. As CNBC’s Jeff Cox writes, respondents pointed to job market conditions and inflation concerns.

of 30 year government bond Yields continued to rise yesterday, hitting their highest level since 2002 and weighing on stock prices. Futures are trading near the flatline this morning as Wall Street awaits new data. Follow live market updates here.

Yesterday, biometric ring maker Oura made headlines on Wall Street when it announced it would postpone its IPO. But as CNBC’s Tobias Burns reports, it’s not alone.

Four companies have postponed or canceled their IPOs entirely in the past week, according to Renaissance Capital. This brings the total for the third quarter to seven, up from four in the previous three months. “You can’t point to all four and say it’s a company-specific problem,” Renaissance’s Matthew Kennedy told CNBC.

Analysts say rising bond yields are a cause for concern among companies that may go public. Although Mr. Oura said there was “strong demand” for stocks, he cited “uncertainty” surrounding market conditions.

Under interim regulations, the Treasury Department will begin automatically enrolling millions of children into Trump accounts as early as this week.

The changes could add more than 60 million children to the total number of Trump account registrants this year, according to the department’s guidance. Going forward, this switch could increase registrations by approximately 2 million accounts per year.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this month that between 7 million and 8 million children are enrolled in tax-deferred investment accounts. But he said he expects that number to rise to 70 million people with automatic enrollment.

ford CEO Jim Farley said yesterday that Europe can no longer fend off competition from Chinese automakers, but the US still has time to decide on its approach.

—CNBC’s Eamonn Javers, Ashley Caputo, Chris Udaly, Kate Rooney, Kevin Breuninger, Samantha Subin, Jeff Cox, Liz Napolitano, Tobias Barnes, Jessica Dicker, Kate Dore and Michael Weiland contributed to this report.

Josephine Rozzelle edited this version.