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ETFs are on pace to break record annual inflows, but this wild card could change it all

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Exchange-traded fund inflows have already topped monthly records in 2024, and managers think inflows could see an impact from the money market fund boom before year-end.
“With that $6 trillion plus parked in money market funds, I do think that is really the biggest wild card for the remainder of the year,” Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “Whether it be flows into REIT ETFs or just the broader ETF market, that’s going to be a real potential catalyst here to watch.”

Total assets in money market funds set a new high of $6.24 trillion this past week, according to the Investment Company Institute. Assets have hit peak levels this year as investors wait for a Federal Reserve rate cut.
“If that yield comes down, the return on money market funds should come down as well,” said State Street Global Advisors’ Matt Bartolini in the same interview. “So as rates fall, we should expect to see some of that capital that has been on the sidelines in cash when cash was sort of cool again, start to go back into the marketplace.”
Bartolini, the firm’s head of SPDR Americas Research, sees that money moving into stocks, other higher-yielding areas of the fixed income marketplace and parts of the ETF market.
“I think one of the areas that I think is probably going to pick up a little bit more is around gold ETFs,” Bartolini added. “They’ve had about 2.2 billion of inflows the last three months, really strong close last year. So I think the future is still bright for the overall industry.”
Meanwhile, Geraci expects large, megacap ETFs to benefit. He also thinks the transition could be promising for ETF inflow levels as they approach 2021 records of $909 billion.

“Assuming stocks don’t experience a massive pullback, I think investors will continue to allocate here, and ETF inflows can break that record,” he said.
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    3 ways Wall Street’s largest banks are leveraging AI to increase profitability

    Big banks are jumping headfirst into the AI race. Over the past year, Wall Street’s largest names — including Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , Morgan Stanley , Wells Fargo to JPMorgan Chase — ramped up their generative artificial intelligence efforts with the aim of boosting profits. Some are striking deals and partnerships to get there quickly. All are hiring specialized talent and creating new technologies to transform their once-stodgy businesses. The game is still in its early innings, but the stakes are high. In his annual shareholder letter, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon compared artificial intelligence to the “printing press, the steam engine, electricity, computing, and the internet.” The banks that can get it right should increase productivity and lower operational costs — both of which would improve their bottom lines. In fact, AI adoption has the potential to lift banking profits by as much as $170 billion, or 9%, to more than $1.8 trillion by fiscal year 2028, according to research from Citi analysts . Early-stage generative AI use cases are often for “augmenting your staff to be faster, stronger and better,” said Alexandra Mousavizadeh, co-CEO and co-founder of AI benchmarking and intelligence platform Evident Insights. “Over the course of the next 12 to 18 to 24 months, I think we’re going to see [generative AI] move along the maturity journey, going from internal use cases being put into production [to more] testing external-facing use cases.” Companies are only just starting to grasp the promise of this tech. After all, it was only following the viral launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 that the world outside of Silicon Valley woke up to the promise of generative AI. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, backed by Microsoft and enabled by Nvidia chips, sparked an investor stampede into anything AI. The AI trade also pushed corporate boardrooms in three ways: find use cases for the tech, strike partnerships to enable it, and hire specialized employees to build and support it. MS YTD mountain Morgan Stanley YTD AI use cases for key businesses Morgan Stanley was among the first on Wall Street to publicly embrace the technology, unveiling two AI assistants for financial advisors powered by OpenAI. Launched in September 2023, the AI @ Morgan Stanley Assistant gives advisors and their staff quick answers to questions regarding the market, investment recommendations, and various internal processes. It aims to free up employees from administrative and research tasks to engage more with their clients. Morgan Stanley this summer rolled out another assistant , called Debrief, which uses AI to take notes on financial advisors’ behalf in their client meetings. The tool can summarize key discussion topics and even draft follow-up emails. “Our immediate focus is on using AI to increase the time our employees spend with clients. This means using AI to reduce time-consuming tasks like responding to emails, preparing for client meetings, finding information, and analyzing data,” said Jeff McMillan, head of firmwide AI for Morgan Stanley. He made these comments in a statement emailed to CNBC last week. “By freeing up this time, our employees can focus more on building relationships and innovating.” In the long run, AI could help Morgan Stanley’s wealth business get closer to reaching management’s goal of more than $10 trillion in client assets . In July, the firm reported client assets of $7.2 trillion. To be sure, McMillan said in June it would take at least a year to determine whether the technology is boosting advisor productivity. If it does, that would welcomed news for shareholders after Morgan Stanley’s wealth segment missed analysts’ revenue expectations in the second quarter . WFC YTD mountain Wells Fargo YTD It’s not just Morgan Stanley. Our other bank holding Wells Fargo has its own virtual AI assistant. Dubbed Fargo , it helps retail customers get answers to their banking questions and execute tasks such as turning on and off debit cards, checking credit limits, and offering details for transactions. Fargo, powered by Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence, was launched in March 2023. For a large money center bank like Wells Fargo — one that’s historically catered to Main Street — the Fargo assistant could bolster the bank’s largest reporting segment. The consumer, banking and lending unit in the second quarter accounted for roughly 43% of the $20.69 billion booked in companywide revenue. Striking AI deals, landing partnerships None of this would be possible without partnerships. Big banks have tapped startups and tech behemoths alike for access to their large language models (LLMs) to build their own AI products. In addition to Morgan Stanley’s OpenAI deal and Wells Fargo’s ties with Google, Deutsche Bank also partnered with Club name Nvidia in 2022 to help develop apps for fraud protection . BNP Paribas announced on July 10 a deal with Mistral AI — often seen as the European alternative to OpenAI — to embed the company’s LLMs across its customer services, sales and IT businesses. Shortly after that, TD Bank Group signed an agreement with Canadian AI unicorn Cohere to utilize its suite of LLMs as well. “We watch out for these [deals] because that means they are onboarding a lot of that capability,” Evident’s Mousavizadeh said. Big AI hires for top Wall Street firms Banks have also had to do a lot of hiring to make their AI dreams come true — poaching swaths of data scientists, data engineers, machine learning engineers, software developers, model risk analysts, policy and governance managers. Despite layoffs across the banking industry, AI talent at banks grew by 9% in the last six months, according to July data from Evident , which tracks 50 of the world’s largest banks. That was double the rate of growth seen in total headcount across the sector. Mousavizadeh said that one of the major “characteristics of the leading banks in AI is that they’re not stopping hiring. The leading banks are the [ones] that are hiring the most AI talent.” In July, Wells Fargo named Tracy Kerrins as the new head of consumer technology to oversee the firm’s new generative AI team. And Morgan Stanley’s McMillan was promoted to AI head in March after serving as a tech executive in the wealth division. He’s helped oversee Morgan Stanley’s OpenAI-related projects. JPMorgan last year also appointed Teresa Heitsenrether as its chief data and analytics officer in charge of AI adoption. Bottom line The more we see these firms spend and invest in AI talent, the more serious they appear to be about the future of the nascent tech. We don’t expect these third-party partnerships, new use cases, and slew of hires to create exponential returns overnight. However, As long as these costs don’t outweigh return on investment (ROI), we’re happy with Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley’s moves to innovate. “We’re very much in the foothills of this, and we’re going to see much more ROI generated off the AI use cases in 2025,” Mousavizadeh said. “But, I think you’re going to see a real tipping point in 2026.” (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long NVDA, WFC, GOOGL, MSFT, MS. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

    Pedestrians walk along Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024.
    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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    The $100,000 electric truck market is here. A guide to pickups from Tesla, GM, Rivian and Ford

    Tesla, GM, Rivian and Ford have created a new market in the U.S. automotive industry of pricey, powerful and precarious $100,000 electric pickup trucks.
    The electric trucks currently on the U.S. market are the Tesla Cybertruck, Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T and General Motors’ GMC Hummer EV, GMC Sierra Denali and Chevrolet Silverado.
    This electric “truck” market, including SUV variants, accounted for nearly 58,000 vehicles sold during the first half of this year, according to estimates from Motor Intelligence.

    Fronts of the GMC Sierra Denali,Tesla Cybertruck and Ford F-150 Lightning EVs (left to right).
    Michael Wayland / CNBC

    DETROIT – Tesla, General Motors, Rivian Automotive and Ford Motor have created a new market in the U.S. automotive industry of pricey, powerful and precarious electric pickup trucks that sell for $100,000 or more.
    Just five years ago, the idea of a customer paying six figures for a pickup truck — historically a work vehicle meant for hauling and towing — was cause for national headlines. But it has quickly become normal, as automakers attempt to increase profits on traditional trucks and simply make a profit on electric ones.

    “Customers are willing to spend, so automakers are going to give it to them,” said Stephanie Brinley, principal automotive analyst at S&P Global Mobility. “In general, pickup trucks getting more equipment, better features and better materials really just reflects general consumer attitude of wanting more.”
    But unlike $100,000 traditional pickup trucks with internal combustion engines that offer superior capabilities compared with their lower-priced counterparts, electric trucks have higher price tags in part because of their technologies, including the costly batteries needed to power the vehicles.

    “If you think about who’s actually buying these new EVs, it’s definitely, for the [automakers], a different demographic,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Cox Automotive director of industry insights. “These are very expensive, very niche vehicles.”
    There are currently a handful of electric trucks for purchase in the U.S. market: the Tesla Cybertruck, Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T and General Motors’ GMC Hummer EV, GMC Sierra Denali and Chevrolet Silverado. The GMC Hummer and Rivian also have SUV versions, which feature similar functions as their pickup counterparts but in different forms.
    All those vehicle can get close to or easily top $100,000, including Tesla’s “Cyberbeast” model for about $120,000 and a limited-edition GMC Hummer for more than $150,000. Kelley Blue Book reports both vehicles transacted for over $100,000 last month — and the Tesla Cybertruck became the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. priced at six figures or more.

    That compares to the average price paid for a traditional full-size pickup of $65,713, including average discount incentives of 7%, according to Kelley Blue Book.
    Overall, this electric “truck” market, including the SUVs, accounted for nearly 58,000 vehicles sold during the first half of this year, according to estimates from Motor Intelligence. That’s less than 1% of the roughly 7.9 million light-duty new vehicles sold during that time in the U.S., but a 35% quarterly increase from the first to the second quarter, according to the data.
    The market is expected to keep growing, but for now I’ve driven each of those $100,000 vehicles for varying amounts of time. They all drive and handle well, but in varying ways. Here are some thoughts on each:

    Tesla Cybertruck

    The Tesla Cybertruck is in a league of its own when it comes to pretty much everything — design, function, polarization and features.
    It is far more “cyber” than “truck.” It indeed has some truck capabilities, such as a pickup bed and other utilitarian features, but it is not a truck in any traditional sense of the word.

    A Tesla Cybertruck near General Motors’ Renaissance Center world headquarters in Detroit.
    Michael Wayland / CNBC

    The Cybertruck features tight steering, including a yoke and “steer-by-wire” system; a stiff chassis similar to a sports car; and, while arbitrary, a design that is far more form than function, which is historically one of the top reasons to purchase a pickup truck.
    The Cybertruck, like its GM competitors, also features “four-wheel steer” in which all the vehicle’s wheels assist in its turning. Compared with a traditional vehicle where two wheels turn the vehicle, it makes larger vehicles much easier to maneuver.
    What the Tesla Cybertruck lacks in traditional “truck-ness,” it makes up for in technology, as well as the human-machine interface, or HMI, of the vehicle with the driver.
    The vehicle is arguably an experiment for the company in many ways regarding its technologies.

    Pros: Design, technology, software, weight (lowest in segment), four-wheel steer
    Cons: Design, bed access, interior space and quality

    GMC Hummer EVs

    The GMC Hummer EV — the first electric truck to hit the market — is the most comparable to the Cybertuck in terms of performance, price and overall gaudiness.
    Driving the vehicle, whether it’s on- or off-road, is an experience. GM has called it the world’s first “supertruck.” It is fast, large and the least efficient consumer EV on sale today, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The SUV version is smaller and more manageable to drive than the pickup truck version.
    Both Hummer variants carry the weight of GM’s rapid development of vehicles. They’re heavy — estimated at nearly 9,200 pounds for the pickup — compared with every other consumer vehicle on today’s market, including their all-electric truck counterparts.

    GMC Hummer EV Edition 1
    Michael Wayland / CNBC

    While the Hummer EVs can achieve 0-60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds or less and are extremely capable with their performance parts, the weight of the vehicles can easily be felt when driving them.
    GM’s designers did a nice job of modernizing the Hummer’s exterior design for the new EVs, including the ability to remove roof panels. But the interior can feel, much like the vehicles themselves, very bulky.

    Pros: Design, capability, durability, four-wheel steer, hands-free Super Cruise advanced driver-assistance system
    Cons: Design, efficiency, bulky interior, range

    Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra

    GM’s newest all-electric pickup trucks are the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Debali, both offering high-end models that cost nearly $100,000.
    While the GM design team did an exceptional job of separating the looks of the vehicles to appeal to their respective brands, the parts and functionalities of the vehicles are largely the same.

    A Tesla Cybertruck and GMC Sierra Denali EV First Edition next to one another.
    Michael Wayland / CNBC

    Both vehicles have an EPA-rated range of 440 miles and offer up to 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque. Important for many truck customers, they also tow up to 10,000 pounds and can charge for 100 miles in roughly 10 minutes with a DC Fast Charger (as long as you can find a compatible charger).
    The Sierra is more refined and luxurious than its Chevrolet counterpart: It has open pore wood, larger total screens, GMC’s “crab mode” with four-wheel steering — shared with the Hummer — and other features.
    A unique standout feature of the Silverado and Sierra EVs compared with others is the capability of a “midgate,” in which the back seats of the vehicle fold down and the back glass can come out to create a nearly 11-foot-long truck bed and segment-leading cargo area.
    Both the Silverado and Sierra EVs drive well and feel like a “truck” but also remain far heavier than their non-GM competitors.

    Pros: Capability, charging speed, range, Super Cruise, midgate, four-wheel steer
    Cons: Efficiency, interior (mainly Silverado), weight

    Rivian R1T and R1S

    Rivian’s flagship R1T pickup and R1S SUV remain standouts in the electric truck segment when it comes to outdoor adventure and lifestyle vehicles — emulating the likes of Jeep.
    The second generation of the vehicles, which were released earlier this year, improved on the ride and quality of the trucks. The R1S driving experience was noticeably smoother than the first generation of the vehicles.

    2025 Rivian R1T and R1S

    While the exterior designs of the vehicles were largely unchanged for the second generation, Rivian says they deliver 10 times more computing power than before. The company also has changed more than half the hardware components.
    Where the R1T and R1S truly stand out are their interior designs. They’re minimalistic, much like Tesla products, but still have enough other controls to appease mainstream, traditional buyers. The functionality and HMI also are impressive.

    Pros: Design, software, interior
    Cons: Charging speed capability, no four-wheel steer, advanced driver-assistance system

    Ford F-150 Lightning

    The F-150 Lightning is the most approachable all-electric truck on the market. That includes its starting price of about $63,000, driving dynamics and functionality. It largely operates like a traditional F-150 — but it’s electric. That’s because it shares many parts with its internal combustion engine siblings.
    When the F-150 Lightning hit the market, it was the first “mainstream” electric truck. It followed the Hummer “supertruck” and Rivian R1T, but it was the first true test of such an all-electric vehicle for traditional truck owners.

    An electric Ford F-150 next to a Tesla Cybertruck in front of Ford’s world headquarters on Aug. 27, 2024 in Dearborn, Mich.
    Michael Wayland / CNBC

    At launch, the vehicle was a standout, but the competition has largely caught up to it or exceeded it when it comes to range, driving dynamics and overall performance, especially when comparing it to the $100,000 trucks above.
    The F-150 Lightning, which can top $90,000, remains a solid vehicle but for buyers seeking to spend around $100,000 or more, the competition is far more intense than it was when the truck launched in 2022. More

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    in Business

    Automakers are getting back into advertising’s biggest arena: NFL

    Tune in to CNBC all day for coverage of the Official 2024 NFL Team Valuations

    Automakers are rushing back into advertising during the National Football League season after a slowdown in recent years.
    Toyota and Hyundai are among the automakers expected to capitalize on NFL games in the coming months.
    NFL games dominate viewership on traditional TV, with an average of 17.9 million viewers per game during last year’s NFL regular season, according to Nielsen.

    Toyota’s “We Roll Deep Anthem” spot includes fans and NFL stars “setting off on an adrenaline-packed NFL adventure.”
    Screenshot

    Automakers are rushing back into advertising during the National Football League season after a slowdown in recent years.
    Toyota Motor Corporation, Hyundai Motor Company and the Detroit automakers are among those expected to capitalize on the NFL and its games as main advertising platforms in the coming months. Toyota in particular is entering football season as the “Official Automotive Partner of the NFL,” a first for the world’s largest automaker.

    “There [are] so many variables that can impact budgets, but automakers are starting to pick back up,” said Ryan Briganti, head of ad sales at Paramount’s CBS Sports, which airs NFL games each week on CBS and Paramount+. “We have autos advertising across the whole portfolio.”
    The automotive industry significantly pulled back advertising and marketing budgets in recent years because it did not have enough vehicles to sell. The Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain problems caused historically low vehicle inventory levels. But vehicle inventory levels have been growing amid high interest rates and economic fears, and automakers are turning to live sports, especially the NFL, to help promote new products.
    General Motors, for one, expects to increase advertising spend by more than $400 million during the second half of the year compared to the first six months to promote new or redesigned vehicles. GM declined to discuss details of the spending, including how much of that amount is specifically tied to NFL advertising, but reiterated it remains significantly lower than historic levels.
    The NFL is a crucial piece of advertising strategy for automakers. During last year’s NFL season, from September to February, about 44% of the automotive ad spend budgets in national TV were for the NFL, according to media planning and data company Guideline. That compares to 31% of budgets across all sectors, the company reports. 
    “The impact of the NFL on the automotive advertising industry is really very, very substantial,” said Alberto Leyes, head of product strategy at Guideline. 

    Fueling TV viewership

    NFL games dominate viewership on traditional TV. Last year’s NFL regular season games averaged 17.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The Super Bowl, meanwhile, drew 123.7 million average viewers. 
    The NFL’s consistent viewership — despite customers fleeing the pay TV bundle — has led to a surge in the value of its media rights deals, which have in turn been a significant driver of NFL team valuations. Today, an NFL team is worth an average of $6.49 billion, according to CNBC’s Official 2024 NFL Team Valuations.

    The advertising market overall has shown signs of a rebound this year, particularly for streaming and digital players. Across the board, live sports still fetch the most significant ad spends, downturn or not.
    “We’ve seen a much stronger growth in 2024 than we’ve seen in any of the post-Covid years,” Leyes said regarding overall media spend. “We know we are going to have a strong second half of the year as well, with the return of NFL.”
    Last NFL season, automakers were the most-seen brand industry, with more than 10% of TV ad impressions, according to ad data company iSpot. 
    Disney, which airs “Monday Night Football” on its TV networks and streaming, namely ESPN, has seen “positive, continuous double-digit growth over the last five years” when it comes to automakers’ ad spending, said Andrew Messina, senior vice president of sales at Disney Advertising. Messina noted growth especially from Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis.
    Brands have also begun expanding commitments to include sponsorship opportunities alongside ad spots, Messina said. 
    Automakers own “key marketing real estate” on “Sunday Night Football,” which airs on Comcast’s broadcast network NBC and streaming service Peacock, said Mark Marshall, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships. While traditional TV still drives the dominant share of auto ads, there has been an increased presence on Peacock, which has streamed exclusive NFL games in the past year. 
    Guideline reports viewership of NFL broadcasts grew about 7% over the past season, whereas ad spend in NFL programming doubled that pace at 14%. Automotive ad spend increased 17% over the past two seasons and is expected to increase again this year, according to Leyes.
    “For auto brands in particular, we’ve seen 139% year-over-year growth as they look to be more precise with their media spend in a complex U.S. market,” said Jenny Wall, chief marketing officer at TV measurement company VideoAmp.

    New ad campaigns

    Toyota, as the “Official Automotive Partner of the NFL,” launched a new ad campaign for the NFL season this week called “Roll Deep.”
    It debuted an “anthem spot” for the campaign. Toyota also had a prominent role in the NFL’s first game of the season Thursday night.

    The Toyota Halftime Show during a Thursday night matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs as the two clubs kick off the NFL season on NBC and Peacock.
    Screenshot

    For Toyota, it kicks off what will be a “season-long schedule of content across linear broadcast, digital, paid social and in-game formats,” the automaker said. 
    Toyota decided on the new partnership with the NFL after an overall review of its marketing and advertising spend, according to Dedra DeLilli, vice president of Toyota North America marketing communications.
    The automaker had previously advertised and run sponsorships around NFL games, but felt the best value for its media spend was in upping the partnership to become the official automotive sponsor of the league.
    “The most appealing aspect of this partnership is we have access to 218 million highly diverse, highly engaged fans of the NFL. That’s almost 72% of the population. You are not going to find scalability and diversity like that in any other U.S. sport,” DeLilli said.
    “It’s a match made in heaven,” she said.
    DeLilli declined to disclose Toyota’s ad spend for the NFL. It follows a successful partnership with the Olympics and Paralympics this year in Paris.
    Stellantis is expected to soon launch new ads for the NFL season, including around its Jeep brand, but a spokeswoman declined to provide additional details.  
    Hyundai will continue to have a prominent role during NFL broadcasts, including as presenting sponsor of NBC’s Sunday Night Football kickoff show for the seventh consecutive year.
    The company declined to provide details of its spending plans, but Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker said the company’s spend is expected to be level from last year.
    “We want to catch consumers when they’re watching television live,” he told CNBC. “We do think from a strategic perspective that’s really, really important. … Especially sporting events, you can see the number of eyeballs increase year over year over year.”
    Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

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    Boeing Starliner leaves space station empty, months later than planned

    Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station on Friday.
    After leaving, the capsule is expected to take about six hours to return to Earth and reach a landing zone at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
    The spacecraft is leaving without the two astronauts it carried into orbit and months later than originally planned after it faced issues with its propulsion system.

    In this image from video provided by NASA, the unmanned Boeing Starliner capsule undocks as it pulls away from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.
    NASA | Via AP

    Boeing’s Starliner undocked from the International Space Station on Friday, months later than the spacecraft was originally supposed to depart — and without the two astronauts that it delivered to orbit in early June.
    Instead, NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will stay at the ISS for the rest of the year and will return to Earth in February aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.

    It left the space station at 6:04 p.m. ET Friday. The capsule is expected to take about six hours to return to Earth and reach a landing zone at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. NASA said it could be visible from parts of western Mexico and the Southwestern United States before landing.
    The undocking process will work slightly different than it would have with a crew, in an effort to protect the ISS and because astronauts will not be on board to take manual control if necessary, NASA officials said Wednesday.
    “We have your backs, and you’ve got this,” Williams told mission controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday before the undocking. “Bring her back to Earth. Good luck.”

    Read more CNBC space news

    The return of Boeing’s Starliner capsule “Calypso” ends a test flight that was ultimately much longer than NASA initially predicted — and that did not go as planned. The agency delayed the spacecraft’s return multiple times, citing the desire to gather more data about its problematic propulsion system.
    Starliner, initially expected to be in space for about nine days, spent roughly three months at the ISS while Boeing investigated an issue with the capsule’s thrusters. Boeing officials were adamant in press briefings that Starliner was safe for the astronauts to fly home in the event of an emergency, even though they delayed the return multiple times.

    But NASA officials ultimately decided in late August that the agency would send Starliner back empty, saying it wants to “further understand the root causes” of the spacecraft’s issues.

    In this image from video provided by NASA, the unmanned Boeing Starliner capsule fires its thrusters as it pulls away from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.
    NASA | Via AP

    The Starliner crew flight test was supposed to be a final step for Boeing and a key addition for NASA. The agency was hoping to have two competing companies — Boeing and Elon Musk’s SpaceX — with the ability to fly alternating missions to the ISS.
    Instead, the test flight has set Boeing’s progress in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program back and, with more than $1.5 billion in losses absorbed already, could threaten the company’s future involvement with it.

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    U.S. job market slows, but it’s not yet a ‘three-alarm fire,’ economist says

    Employers added 142,000 jobs in August, less than expected. The unemployment rate declined to 4.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report.
    The U.S. job market has slowed considerably over the past year or so. The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to tame inflation.
    If the labor market continues to cool at this rate, the economy would likely be at risk of recession, economists said.

    A “Now Hiring” sign is seen at a FedEx location on Broadway on June 07, 2024 in New York City.
    Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

    Why there’s ‘slowing momentum’

    Employers added 142,000 jobs in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, a figure that was lower than expected.
    The good news: That figure is an increase from the 89,000 jobs added in July. The unemployment rate also fell slightly, to 4.2% from 4.3% in July.

    However, several metrics point to “slowing momentum” throughout the labor market, said Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab and former chief economist of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under the Biden administration.
    The current level of job growth and unemployment “would be fine for the U.S. economy sustained over many months,” he said. “Problem is, other data don’t give us confidence we are going to stay there.”
    For example, average job growth was 116,000 over the past three months; the three-month average was 211,000 a year ago. The unemployment rate has also steadily risen, from 3.4% as recently as April 2023.

    Employers are also hiring at their slowest pace since 2014, according to separate Labor Department data issued earlier this week.
    Hiring hasn’t been broad-based, either: Private-sector job growth outside of the health-care and social assistance fields has been “unusually slow,” at a roughly 39,000 average over the past three months versus 79,000 over the past year and 137,000 over 2015 to 2019, according to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.
    Workers are also quitting their jobs at the lowest rate since 2018, while job openings are at their lowest since January 2021. Quits are a barometer of workers’ confidence in their ability to find a new job.

    Job-finding among unemployed workers is around 2017 levels and “continues to drift down,” Bunker said.
    “There’s a very consistent picture that the strong labor-market momentum we saw in 2022 and 2023 has slowed considerably,” Tedeschi said.
    Overall, data points “are not necessarily concerning or at recessionary levels yet,” he added. “[But] they are softer. They may be preludes to a recession.”

    Why layoff data is a silver lining

    However, there is some room for optimism, economists said.
    Permanent layoffs — which have historically been “the soothsayer of recessions” — haven’t really budged, Tedeschi said.

    Federal data for unemployment insurance claims and the rate of layoffs suggest employers are holding on to their workers, for example.
    The recent gradual rise in unemployment is largely not attributable to layoffs, economists said. It has been for a “good” reason: a large increase in labor supply. In other words, many more Americans entered the job market and looked for work; they’re counted as unemployed until they find a job.

    “Once we start seeing layoffs, the game is over and we are in a recession,” Tedeschi said. “And that has not happened at all.”
    That said, the job hunt has become more challenging for job seekers than in the recent past, according to Bunker.

    Relief from the Fed won’t come quickly

    Federal Reserve officials are expected to start cutting interest rates at their upcoming meeting this month, which would take pressure off the economy.
    Lower borrowing costs may spur consumers to buy homes and cars, for example, and for businesses to make more investments and hire more workers accordingly.

    That relief likely wouldn’t be instantaneous but would probably take many months to wind through the economy, economists said.
    Overall, though, the current picture is “still consistent with an economy experiencing a soft landing rather than plummeting into recession,” Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note Friday. More

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    Starboard moves to collapse News Corp’s dual class stock in challenge to Rupert Murdoch

    Starboard Value has filed an advisory shareholder resolution to dissolve News Corp’s dual-class share structure, according to people familiar with the matter.
    It is the latest challenge by the activist fund run by Jeff Smith, after a push last year for News Corp to spin out its real estate businesses.
    The Murdoch family is currently embroiled in a legal battle over the fate of the family’s 14% News Corp stake, according to media reports.

    Rupert Murdoch at his annual party at Spencer House, St James’ Place in London. Picture date: Thursday June 22, 2023.
    Victoria Jones | Pa Images | Getty Images

    Activist investor Starboard Value has moved to dissolve News Corp’s dual-class share structure, a challenge to the Murdoch family’s control over the Wall Street Journal parent, according to people familiar with the matter.
    The push was made via a non-binding shareholder resolution, said the people. News Corp’s structure as of September gave Rupert Murdoch control over around 40% of the company’s voting stock.

    Starboard owns roughly 2% of the company’s Class A shares, according to FactSet data. Managing member Jeff Smith told CNBC last year the firm was pushing for News Corp to spin out its real estate assets, including an interest in REA Group of Australia.
    Smith became vocal last year regarding the dual class structure: “There have been votes to declassify, it’s something to consider as well. But there are easier paths to create a lot of value.”
    Murdoch is also in the midst of a legal battle to give his son Lachlan Murdoch control over the family trust which holds the News Corp stake, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have reported.
    Last November, Rupert Murdoch, 93, stepped down as chair of the board at both News Corp and Fox Corp. He is now chair emeritus of each company. His son, Lachlan Murdoch, is the sole chair of News Corp., and continued his role as Fox Corp.’s executive chair and CEO.
    News Corp shares were down about 1% for the day, gaining slightly when Reuters first reported the news of Starboard’s push. Starboard has mounted campaigns at companies including Autodesk, Match Group and Salesforce.

    News Corp, in addition to its ownership of the Journal, also owns The Sun and publisher HarperCollins.
    Representatives for News Corp and Starboard did not immediately return requests for comment. More

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    Top 10 people most likely to reach trillionaire status

    At least a half-dozen companies have hit the $1 trillion mark.
    Next up could be the first individual person to become a trillionaire.
    More than 100 years after the first billionaire, the first trillionaire could well be crowned in the next decade.

    Combination showing Elon Musk (L), Gautam Adani (C), and Jensen Huang (R)

    A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
    On Sept. 29, 1916, newspapers across the country announced a wealth milestone once thought to be unreachable: the world’s first billionaire.

    “Standard (Oil) at $2,014 makes its head a billionaire,” blared The New York Times headline, adding that Standard Oil’s soaring share price “makes John D. Rockefeller, founder and largest shareholder, almost certainly a billionaire.”
    More than a century after the first U.S. billionaire (in measurable dollar terms), the question of who will be first to reach the trillionaire mark continues to fascinate. At least a half-dozen companies have done it, most recently Berkshire Hathaway, which topped $1 trillion just before Warren Buffett’s 94th birthday. Nvidia is now at $2.6 trillion, having hit the 13-figure club last year.
    And what about individuals? According to a new report from Informa Connect Academy, which predicts trillionaire status based on average annual growth rate in wealth, Tesla CEO Elon Musk will likely be the first trillionaire.
    Musk is currently the world’s richest person, with $251 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Connect Academy forecasts Musk will become a trillionaire sometime in 2027, assuming that his wealth continues to grow at an annual average rate of 110%.
    The second to reach trillionaire status, according to the report, will be India’s Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group conglomerate. If Adani maintains his recent annual growth rate of 123%, the report says he will be a trillionaire in 2028.

    Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, who has seen his wealth skyrocket from $3 billion to more than $90 billion in five years, would become a trillionaire by 2028, according to the report. His wealth would have to continue growing at an average annual rate of 112%. Nvidia’s stock is already up about 115% this year, after more than tripling last year.

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    Fourth on the list is Indonesia’s Prajogo Pangestu, founder of the Indonesian energy and mining conglomerate Barito Pacific. The report predicts Pangestu could reach trillionaire status by 2028.
    Rounding out the top five would be LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, who is currently the world’s third-richest person, with just under $200 billion. The report has the luxury king becoming a trillionaire sometime in 2030, along with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
    Some top billionaires who seem like strong candidates to quickly reach the four-comma club don’t make the top 10. Jeff Bezos, currently the world’s second-richest person, with $200 billion, according to Bloomberg, is listed at No. 12, and wouldn’t become a trillionaire until 2036. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the Google founders, are also slated to wait 12 years to become trillionaires — although artificial intelligence may accelerate their rise.
    Granted, wealth-watchers have been predicting the first trillionaire for years. And the stocks of Tesla, Nvidia and LVMH may not go up as fast in the next five years as they did in the past five.
    Yet more than 100 years after the first billionaire, the first trillionaire could well be crowned in the next decade.

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    NFL’s games in Brazil, Europe are key to more revenue growth, Goodell says

    Tune in to CNBC all day for coverage of the Official 2024 NFL Team Valuations

    The NFL is having its first-ever game in South America on Friday as the Green Bay Packers take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
    The league will play five games abroad this season, with eight expected by 2025, as it looks to increase its revenue sources.
    NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has prioritized international growth for the league.

    The National Football League kicks off its first-ever game in South America on Friday night, as the league pushes to grow its footprint overseas.
    As the NFL enters the Southern Hemisphere, professional football has never been stronger financially. Last season, the league pulled in $13 billion in revenue, and the average team is worth about $6.5 billion, according to CNBC’s Official NFL Team Valuations.

    But as the league tries to sustain its growth, international markets are a priority.
    Ahead of the league’s inaugural game in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the league aims to become an international sports property. This season, the NFL will play five games abroad in Europe and South America. By next season, the league will play eight games overseas.
    “The reality is, when we bring our brand of our regular season games here, it creates a whole new environment,” Goodell said. “It creates a spark and everything seems to really take off after that point in time,” he added.
    Goodell said it has been a learning process playing games abroad, as the league sees how players handle long flights and different time zones.
    “When [the players] get back to their home cities tomorrow, they’ll be on a similar time zone, and eight days before their next game,” Goodell said. Brazil is one hour ahead of the Eastern time zone but an 11-hour trip. “This is all part of learning how many games we can play,” Goodell said.

    As the NFL plays in places such as London, Germany and Brazil, it not only creates new fans, but it also helps grow sponsorship opportunities and deepen the league’s relationships with international media partners.
    The league had two sponsorship deals in Germany before it played games there starting in 2022. Today, the NFL has 15 agreements.
    The league has also allowed teams to build brand awareness and fans abroad through its Global Markets Program.
    This program, currently in its third year, gives teams marketing rights in other countries. This season, 25 franchises are participating in the program across 19 international markets.
    Among the deals, the Miami Dolphins have marketing rights in Argentina and Colombia; the Los Angeles Rams have rights in South Korea and Japan; and the Seattle Seahawks have rights in Canada and are expanding to Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
    Goodell also spoke to CNBC about the NFL’s current media rights landscape, and said the addition of streaming options has benefited the league and its fans.
    The NFL has broadcast deals with Fox, Disney’s ESPN and ABC, NBCUniversal and CBS, in addition to streamers YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Peacock, all worth an estimated $11.4 billion in 2024. Some games are streaming exclusive, including Friday’s matchup in Brazil, which will air on NBC’s Peacock platform.
    “The bottom line is you have to go where your fans are and our fans are moving onto steaming platforms,” he said.
    Yet, Goodell said 85% of NFL games are still available on broadcast television.
    “We really think that our policy are really beneficial to our growth, to supporting more people watching NFL football and the fans’ enjoyment of it,” he added.
    Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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