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This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. Happy Thursday. So much for that "SaaSpocalypse." Salesforce issued a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the fiscal 2030 year at its Dreamforce event yesterday. Stock futures are rallying this morning after a third straight down day on Wall Street. Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day: 1. Warsh'd out The Federal Reserve delivered its first interest rate hike in more than three years yesterday, lifting its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points. The move was widely expected, but Chairman Kevin Warsh's comments on inflation sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 600 points and the 10-year Treasury yield back up to 5%. Here's a recap: - All 12 members of the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee voted to hike rates. The Fed also signaled that one more increase could be coming this year. - In his post-decision press conference, Warsh said that inflation is still too high: "This summer's inflation readings do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved," he said. - The presser and the post-meeting statement were both noticeably short, as has been the case under Warsh's leadership. - President Donald Trump told reporters yesterday that he still has confidence in Warsh but also called for the Fed to cut rates to 1% or less. - As CNBC's Matt Peterson writes, Warsh's vote to raise rates in spite of Trump's continued calls for a cut could bring the fight over the Fed's independence back to the fore. - With signs that they could be in for one more hike this year, investors are readying for an era where interest rates are higher for longer. - Follow live market updates here. 2. Report card OpenAI disclosed six more instances of what it called "unexpected or concerning" behavior by its models yesterday, saying in a blog post that it does not believe that "the AI industry has solved alignment and monitoring to a sufficient degree." The six cases do not include the Hugging Face incident that rattled the AI sector. The disclosure comes days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call for a slowdown in development of AI models. Sarah Heck, Anthropic's head of public policy, said yesterday that she doesn't believe AI companies can alleviate safety concerns with an "honor code": "We can't be checking our own homework, and that's very clear," she said. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told CNBC yesterday that new AI products should undergo some sort of "objective review" before release. On the other hand, Emil Michael, the Pentagon's tech chief, signaled opposition to increasing government oversight of AI firms. 3. Held in contempt The House voted yesterday to hold Leon Black in contempt of Congress over the former Apollo Global Management CEO's refusal to comply with subpoenas tied to an investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. Black's attorneys blasted the move as "outrageous" and claimed the relevant subpoenas are "invalid." As CNBC's Dan Mangan reports, it's not clear whether the Justice Department will end up prosecuting the billionaire. Black has not been charged with any wrongdoing in relation to his ties to Epstein, but he stepped down from Apollo's helm in 2021 after the company disclosed that he paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning advice. 4. Waiting in the wings Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg doesn't want investors to get their hopes up for speedy 737 Max production. Ortberg said yesterday production of the company's best-selling plane is taking "a little bit longer" to stabilize than predicted, citing wing production at its Renton, Washington, facility as a constraint. The executive said the company expects to raise output of the plane — which currently stands at 47 per month — next year. Boeing shares closed 3% lower in Wednesday's session after being down by more than 5% following Ortberg's comments. Yesterday's slide put the stock's year-to-date drop at 7%. 5. Power surge Shares of Generac are nearly 30% higher before the bell after the backup power provider said in a securities filing that Amazon has warrants to purchase up to $340 million worth of its stock. Generac said Amazon can acquire up to 1.69 million shares for $200.93 apiece as part of a deal to supply backup power generators for Amazon's data centers. As CNBC's Annie Palmer notes, it's only the latest in a string of infrastructure deals made by the e-commerce giant. Amazon also has a history of taking stakes in its suppliers, such as Astera Labs and ATSG. The Daily Dividend As diesel prices climb to all-time highs, Norfolk Southern executive Claude Elkins remarked on seeing $8 diesel in California. Here's what he told a conference this week: We’re talking about $6 diesel, but out here, it’s $8 diesel, we noticed on the way in, which is like science fiction.Claude ElkinsChief commercial officer, Norfolk Southern — CNBC's Jeff Cox, Darla Mercado, Kevin Breuninger, Sarah Min, Paulina Likos, Matt Peterson, Ashley Capoot, Isabel O'Brien, Dan Mangan, Justin Papp, Leslie Josephs, Annie Palmer and Jordan Novet contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.
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