Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you the first information about tomorrow and the last information about today. Sign up for free to receive it straight to your inbox. Here’s what CNBC television producers were looking at Thursday and what they’re looking at for Friday’s session. It’s never a good idea to miss the featured AI “Squawk Box,” but you definitely don’t want to miss it on Friday morning. Microsoft’s AI CEO Mustafa Suleiman joins Becky Quick, Joe Kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin for a “First on CNBC” interview at 8:45 a.m. ET. Microsoft’s stock price has struggled for much of this year, but has fallen sharply in recent days. It’s up 31% over the past three months, making it the best-performing “Mag 7” stock over that period. It is down 42% from its June 25 low of $349.20. Despite the recent gains, Thursday’s close was up just under 3% since the beginning of the year. MSFT YTD Mountain Microsoft Year-to-date Stock Apple Watch launches Friday iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max launch Friday in the first major releases under new CEO John Ternus. Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store will open its doors at 8 a.m. and CNBC will have cameras there to understand demand and buzz about new devices in real time. You can check it in “Squawk Box”. Mackenzie Sigalos will be covering the issue throughout the day, digging into what Apple’s premium pricing strategy means for the company’s prospects. Tarnas took over as CEO on September 1, and shares rose 6.4% in his early days in the role. The stock is up 24% year-to-date, making it the top performer among the Mag 7 this year. The stock is down 2% from its July 29 high of $344.57. Financial sector in focus Through Thursday’s close, the financial sector was down 2.4%, making it the worst-performing sector on record. The biggest laggards are Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. The significant losses followed the CEO’s comments at an industry conference this week. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Monday that he expects investment banking fees to fall by more than 10% in the third quarter. On Wednesday, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he expected the bank’s fixed income, currencies and commodities business to soften slightly in the third quarter. However, he did note the strong performance of the equity business. Bank of America’s stock price is down 7% for the week, which would be its worst week since the week ended April 4, 2025, when the stock fell 16.6%. Year-to-date, it’s up 5.8%. Goldman Sachs is down 7.6% so far this week, the worst since the week ending April 4, 2025. It will rise by 8.2% in 2026. Some investors see the recent decline as a potential buying opportunity. Following the Federal Reserve’s rate hike on Wednesday, CNBC International’s U.S. Markets anchor Frank Holland told an analyst that “the big money center banks stand to benefit the most in a rising interest rate environment.” Leslie Picker will be covering banks for us and will give you all the latest developments on Friday. BAC YTD Mountain Bank of America’s Year-to-date Performance S&P Quarterly Rebalance takes effect after Friday’s close Some big-name companies will gain new home starting Monday. Joining the S&P 500 are Bloom Energy, Everpure, and Illumina. Bloom Energy is up 11% since announcing its addition to the index on September 4th, and its stock is up 233% since the beginning of the year. Everpure is up 5% since the news was announced and is up 55% year-to-date. Illumina has risen 12.4% since the announcement and is up 87% in 2026.
