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5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
  • Sam Altman back at OpenAI.
  • Changpeng Zhao out at Binance.
  • Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage deal and a humanitarian pause in Gaza.

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Rally stalled

All three major indexes ended Tuesday lower, breaking a string of five consecutive winning days for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite. The down day came as Federal Reserve officials released minutes Tuesday from their most recent meeting indicating that Fed policy will need to remain "restrictive" amid concerns that inflation could be stubborn or tick higher. Meanwhile, after a slew of retail earnings, shares of clothing retailer American Eagle fell nearly 16% as the company issued an unimpressive holiday forecast and Lowe's slid 3.1% after reducing its full-year sales outlook. E-commerce giant Amazon's stock also fell, dropping 1.5% after CNBC's David Faber reported that former CEO Jeff Bezos may be selling more shares, citing sources. Follow live market updates.

2. Guess who's back?

Sam Altman is back as CEO of OpenAI, less than a week after he was fired. The artificial intelligence startup said on X that there will also be some board changes with his return. Altman was ousted suddenly on Friday afternoon, sparking outrage from employees and investors. Hundreds of employees signed a letter demanding that the board resign and reinstate Altman. They also threatened to move to Microsoft with him if he didn't return to the startup, which is backed by Microsoft.

3. CZ come, CZ go

Binance's Co-founder & CEO Changpeng Zhao speaks during the 2022 Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 1, 2022. 
Ben Mcshane | Sportsfile | Getty Images
Binance's Co-founder & CEO Changpeng Zhao speaks during the 2022 Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 1, 2022. 

Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down from his role Tuesday after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges of violating and causing a financial institution to violate the Bank Secrecy Act. Zhao's cryptocurrency exchange was also hit with several charges and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and forfeiture, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Zhao on Tuesday also named Richard Teng — a former CEO of Abu Dhabi Global Market, the UAE capital's financial services regulator, who was most recently global head of regional markets at Binance — as his successor. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Zhao said he "must take responsibility" and that it was "not easy to let go emotionally."

4. Nvidia earnings

Signage for Nvidia Corp. during the Taipei Computex expo in Taipei, Taiwan, on Tuesday, May 30, 2023.
Hwa Cheng | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Signage for Nvidia Corp. during the Taipei Computex expo in Taipei, Taiwan, on Tuesday, May 30, 2023.

Nvidia beat Wall Street's expectations for its third-quarter earnings. But the chip company also warned export restrictions affecting sales in China and other countries could hurt its next quarter. Nonetheless, Nvidia continues to be hot. Its revenue grew 206% year over year during the quarter ended Oct. 29, according to a statement. The company also issued guidance calling for $20 billion in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter, which would imply a nearly 231% revenue growth. Nvidia saw demand for its graphics processing units exceed supply, thanks to the rise of generative artificial intelligence.

5. Hostage deal

An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, on which are projected pictures of the hostages abducted by Palestinian militants on the October 7 attack and currently held in the Gaza Strip, on November 6, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
Ahmad Gharabli | AFP | Getty Images
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, on which are projected pictures of the hostages abducted by Palestinian militants on the October 7 attack and currently held in the Gaza Strip, on November 6, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a hostage deal and a humanitarian pause in Gaza that will last for at least four days. The pause will allow more humanitarian convoys and relief aid to enter Gaza, including much-needed fuel. Under the terms of the deal, 50 civilian women and children hostages who are currently held in the Palestinian enclave will be released. In exchange, Israel will release a number of Palestinian women and children prisoners. The deal was in the works for weeks and involved outside brokers and intermediaries from the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The Israeli government emphasized that despite this deal, the war will not end until it has achieved all of its goals, including the release of all hostages and eliminating Hamas. Follow live updates.

— CNBC's Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox, MacKenzie Sigalos, Ryan Browne, Ari Levy, Hayden Field, Jonathan Vanian, Rohan Goswami, Jordan Novet, Rebecca Picciotto and Ruxandra Iordache contributed to this report.

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