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good morning. It wasn’t a quiet weekend in terms of news, so let’s get down to business.
S&P 500 futures are up slightly this morning. The market is coming off a week of decline.
Here are five important things investors need to know to start their trading day.
1. Venezuela
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference following the attack on Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 3, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
President Donald Trump said early Saturday that the United States had launched a major attack on Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife have been arrested and taken to New York on drug-terrorism charges.
Here’s what you need to know:
Many members of President Maduro’s security team have been killed, but his main allies still control the South American country. Trump said Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez could pay a “greater” price than Maduro if she “does not do the right thing.” President Trump’s military operations have faced intense scrutiny from Congressional Democrats and some world leaders. The drug trafficking charges have also reignited criticism of President Trump’s pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of using his position to facilitate the flow of cocaine into the United States. In a speech at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, President Trump said the United States could “manage” Venezuela until the political transition is complete. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later explained that the United States would use the leverage of the oil blockade and regional military presence to achieve its policy goals. Trump said Venezuela is an oil-rich country that could attract billions of dollars in investment from U.S. oil companies after Maduro is ousted. However, Venezuela also has bad debts, resulting in a years-long financial crisis. After the strike, regulators closed airspace in the Eastern Caribbean to U.S. airlines. After the restrictions expired, airlines added flights for tens of thousands of travelers stranded in the region.
2. Oil
Cabimas, Venezuela, oil pump jacks and oil fields in the colors of the Venezuelan flag can be seen.
Jose Bra Urrutia | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
3. On budget
Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic, during the Bloomberg Technology Summit on Thursday, May 9, 2024 in San Francisco, California, USA. Bloomberg Tech is a future-focused gathering designed to foster conversations about cutting-edge technologies and their future business applications.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Do more with less.” This phrase-turned-governing principle is the foundation of Daniela Amodei, president and co-founder of Anthropic.
As CNBC’s Mackenzie Sigalos reports, the buzzy artificial intelligence startup is being disciplined when it comes to spending. This strategy stands in stark contrast to other large AI companies that are racing to strike multibillion-dollar deals to strengthen their leadership in the technology.
Amodei said: “Anthropic has always had a fraction of our competitors in terms of compute and capital, yet we have pretty much consistently delivered the most powerful and best-performing models for the better part of the past few years.” Read the full interview here.
4. Mr. Musk’s speed bump
Elon Musk watches as President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Nov. 19, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski AFP | Getty Images
tesla lost its title as the world’s largest electric car maker for the first time last week.
The company on Friday reported fourth-quarter deliveries of 418,227 deliveries, which was below Wall Street expectations and was down 16% from a year earlier. Tesla’s cumulative sales in the 2025 calendar year were 1.64 million vehicles, ranking second only to China-based BYD, which sold 2.26 million vehicles in the same year.
Users also criticized Musk’s xAI company last week over recent Grok chatbot posts showing AI-generated sexual images shared on X. Meanwhile, Musk’s Starlink business announced it would provide free broadband internet service to Venezuelan users until early February after the US strike.
5. Special recipe
People walk past a Chick-fil-A restaurant on 8th Avenue in New York City on December 30, 2023.
Gary Hershawn | Corbis News | Getty Images
Chick-fil-A is celebrating its 80th anniversary with its biggest marketing campaign in history.
As spotted by CNBC’s Amelia Lucas, the fast food chain is commemorating the occasion with retro packaging, collectible cups, special merchandise and giveaways. The company said the central theme of the campaign is “Newstalgia,” a combination of the words new and nostalgia.
Chick-fil-A’s marketing blockbuster comes as the restaurant industry grapples with declining traffic. System sales growth will be 5.4% in 2024, the first single-digit increase in more than a decade, according to the company’s franchise disclosure document.
daily dividend
Here’s what we’re looking at this week:
Wednesday: ADP employment statistics. Job Openings and Turnover Report Thursday: Third Quarter Productivity Report Friday: Nonfarm Payrolls Report
CNBC Pro subscribers can see the calendar and week’s summary here.
CNBC’s Spencer Kimball, Victor Lo, Dan Mangan, Justin Papp, Haley Cuccinello, Jessica Dickler, Leslie Josephs, Mackenzie Sigalos, Sam Meredith, Laura Kolodny, Samantha Subin, Amelia Lucas and Sarah Min contributed to this report. Melody Warner edited this version.
