Powell’s press conference, Big Tech earnings, U.S. dollar volatility and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Thursday. It seemed like Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s go-to answer yesterday was “I have nothing for you on that,” which he told reporters at least five times during his press conference.

Stock futures are little changed this morning. The three major indexes finished yesterday’s session with modest gains.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

With the Federal Reserve unsurprisingly deciding to keep its key interest rate unchanged yesterday, attention turned to Powell’s post-announcement press conference — his first since he shared he was under criminal investigation.

Here’s what to know:

• Powell described the economy as being on “firm footing” and said that the Fed doesn’t see current monetary policy as “significantly restrictive.”
• As has become the norm in recent months, not all Fed committee members were on the same page. This time two governors, Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller, broke ranks and lobbied for another quarter percentage point cut.
• Pressed for comment on the several political issues rocking the Fed — including the criminal probe tied to his congressional testimony about renovations to the central bank’s headquarters — Powell recited variations of “I have nothing for you on that.”
• A person familiar with the matter told CNBC yesterday that the Fed has not yet complied with the grand jury subpoenas issued as part of the investigation, which is ongoing.
• But there was one political topic Powell did comment on: Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s Supreme Court case. Powell, who attended attended oral arguments in the case last week, called it “perhaps the most important legal case in the Fed’s 113-year history.”
• The S&P 500 eclipsed the 7,000 mark for the first time yesterday ahead of the Fed’s decision, after which the index pulled back.
• Follow live markets updates here.

Meta shares jumped more than 8% in extended trading after the Facebook parent beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations on both lines and issued strong sales guidance. As CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian reports, Wall Street appears to be giving Meta’s artificial intelligence spending plans its stamp of approval.

But it wasn’t a slam-dunk report: Meta’s Reality Labs unit reported an operating loss of $6.02 billion, wider than the $5.67 billion loss forecasted by the Street. The megacap tech company also reported a 21% increase in year-over-year losses for its metaverse-focused business in the quarter.

On the other hand, shares of Microsoft tumbled 7% overnight. Despite also surpassing Wall Street’s predictions on both lines, the Washington-based company reported cooling cloud growth and light operating margin guidance.

Tesla posted stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter yesterday, sending its shares up around 2%. But the electric vehicle maker also reported its first full-year sales decline on record.

CEO Elon Musk said on Tesla’s earnings call that the Texas-based company is sunsetting production of its Model S and X vehicles. As CNBC’s Lora Kolodny and Ari Levy note, the two models are Tesla’s oldest and have seen their prices slashed in recent years. Musk said Tesla will instead use its Fremont, California, factory to build Optimus humanoid robots.

In its earnings report, Tesla also announced a deal to invest around $2 billion in xAI. The startup, which is also run by Musk, launched in 2023 as a potential competitor to OpenAI. xAI is best known for its Grok chatbot, which has recently landed the startup in hot water amid growing global regulatory scrutiny.

The U.S. dollar index regained some ground yesterday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shut down reports that the U.S. could intervene in the currency market.

In an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen, Bessent said the U.S. would “absolutely not” step in, following a report that the New York Fed was reviewing dollar-to-yen rates with dealers. The dollar index fell to multiyear lows on Tuesday after President Donald Trump signaled that he was comfortable with the greenback’s current value.

The index, which weighs the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, has fallen more than 10% over the last 12 months. As CNBC’s Chloe Taylor reports, some market participants now see the dollar in a bear market.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo all said they would match the U.S. government’s one-time contribution to the accounts for eligible employees. Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner also announced a commitment to seed accounts for kids in Indiana, his home state.

Rapper Nicki Minaj said she would give between $150,000 and $300,000 to fund accounts for fans. “If I had access to something like this, my whole life would have been different,” she said at a summit promoting the accounts yesterday. It’s unclear who exactly will be eligible for this pool of money.

Zohran Mamdani, who took over as New York City mayor just weeks ago, joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box” yesterday to discuss his plan for a tax hike on the city’s wealthiest residents. Watch the full interview:

CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Dan Mangan, Eamon Javers, Darla Mercado, Sean Conlon, Jonathan Vanian, Jordan Novet, Lora Kolodny, Ari Levy, Sarah Min, Chloe Taylor, Hugh Son, Jessica Dickler, Kate Dore and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.