Friday’s big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session

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Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the Dow Industrials rose more than 460 points on Thursday, and what’s on the radar for the next session.

• It was the stock story of the day, and CNBC TV will keep focusing on the move Friday. More CNBC.com users searched for this stock than any other ticker symbol even beating the ever-popular 10-year Treasury yield on Thursday.
• Nvidia hit a new high Thursday morning, almost hitting the $153 mark. The stock ended the day off its high, closing up 0.5%.
• CNBC TV “Squawk Box” anchor Becky Quick set the big theme of the session, noting that it seems hard for Nvidia to rally because expectations are so high. She recalled a similar solid earnings report three months ago, followed by a stock drop. Shares rallied 15% over the next three months. During the premarket, Quick interviewed analyst Ray Wang of Constellation Research, who said, “Nvidia is growing exponentially versus the rest of the S&P 500.”
• With Thursday’s 0.5% gain, Nvidia is now up 196% in 2024. Shares have climbed 53% in six months and added 10% in November. 
• Nvidia is the third top performer in the S&P so far this year. The top five winners in the index for 2024 are at the bottom of this note.
• Nvidia is a core holding in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust. He last bought it on Aug. 31, 2022. It’s up 850% since then. 

• It went below $97,000 on Thursday morning, then jumped back above that level. Throughout the day, bitcoin topped the $98,000 mark, crossed the $99,000 threshold for a new high and then came off that level. As of 7:34 p.m. ET, it was at around $98,400.
• There is surely more to come in the seconds, minutes and hours after this note goes out. 

• On Friday, co-founder Michael Saylor will be on “Squawk Box” in the 7 a.m. hour.
• The stock was beat up from the feet up on Thursday after Citron Research put out a short report. By the way, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Citron founder Andrew Left earlier this year, alleging that he misled investors on previous reports. 
• MicroStrategy dropped 16% on Thursday.
• The stock is up nearly 530% in 2024,
• MicroStrategy used to be a software company, but it turned into a proxy for bitcoin. The company has bought billions of dollars’ worth of the cryptocurrency in the last several years.

• The two are up big since Donald Trump won the presidential election.
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored mortgage companies.
• There is speculation in the investing world that the new administration may try to privatize both entities. This would put them outside of government control.
• Fannie Mae is up 130% since the election.
• Freddie Mac is up 160% since the election.
• Fannie Mae rose nearly 5% Thursday, while Freddie Mac gained 6%.

• Jeff Bezos has moved on from the day to day at the internet shopping giant but he remains executive chair of the board. He and Elon Musk, who seems to be focusing a lot on politics right now, wound up in a short online duel of tech billionaires.
• On X, the social media platform, Musk accused Bezos of telling people to sell their Tesla and SpaceX holdings because he had believed Donald Trump was about to lose the election. There was no attribution.
• A short time later, Jeff Bezos simply posted: “Nope. 100% not true.”
• Musk a few hours later posted, “Well, then, I stand corrected” with one of those emojis where the face is laughing with tears.
• Shares of Tesla are up 35% since the election. Amazon is down 0.5% in that period.

• Uber slipped after investor Brad Gerstner told Scott Wapner of CNBC’s “Halftime Report” that he was selling the stock. The stock ultimately closed marginally higher Thursday, up 0.06%.
• Gerstner made the case that Tesla would be the big winner in autonomous driving, setting up a good battle in the still-emerging autonomous driving industry.
• Uber is now down 6% since the election.
• Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been critical of some of the President-elect Trump’s policies in the past.

• Vistra, the energy company, is at the top of the S&P so far this year, up 332%.
• Palantir ranks second, up 257%.
• Nvidia is third, up 196% year to date.
• Axon Enterprises, manufacturers of the Taser, is up 144% in 2024.
• Targa Resources is fifth, up nearly 140% this year.

• The retailer will issue quarterly results before the bell. It’s the only notable report we’ll see Friday.
• The stock is up 13% over the past three months.
• Buckle hit a high last week but is down 4.25% since then.
• Buckle has about 450 locations in 42 states. This includes one shop at the East Towne Mall and another in the West Towne Mall — both are in Madison, Wisconsin.