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Hello, this is Leonie Kidd, with today’s edition of Morning Squawk.
One man is the center of gravity for the biggest market-moving stories of the day – Elon Musk.
From SpaceX and Tesla’s possible mega-merger plan, to astronomical earnings from SpaceX, to more results to come from Tesla and the squaring-off over Starlink, he is hitting all the headlines.
Happening now: To the moon
SpaceX shares are spiking in premarket trade after Elon Musk unveiled a special committee had been put in place to merge the rocket group with Tesla, in a move he called a “good idea.”
Musk also said he represents a “conflicted party,” meaning he will not be included in the discussions.
It would be the largest merger in history, creating a giant company worth roughly 3 and a half trillion dollars. Tesla shares were also moving higher in early trading.
Why it matters: An existing joint venture between the two companies – Terafab – is aiming to test its first SRAM chip by June next year, targeting one terawatt a year of computing power. Musk said a full merger would mean there is “a lot to be gained from cooperating on developing superintelligence software.”
The bull case:Gene Munster from Deepwater told CNBC the deal is a “slam dunk” if it comes down to shareholder approval, and would create the “most unique company in the world” by all measures.
The bear case: The aggressive timeline for Terafab depends on acquiring complex equipment from suppliers like ASML, Applied Materials and KLA.
And don’t forget the numbers: The merger news came alongside a blowout set of numbers for SpaceX, with third-quarter revenues jumping 161%, soaring past expectations. But MoffettNathanson’s Julie Zhu highlighted the “enormous calls on capital that loom over the next few years.”
A live feed shows SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on the day of SpaceX’s initial public offering (IPO) at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York City, U.S., June 12, 2026.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
Big movers: No chill for Netflix
An earnings beat is not enough to cheer Netflix investors, with the shares extending declines in premarket trading. Here are the numbers:
- Earnings per share: 87 cents vs. 82 cents estimated
- Revenue: $12.87 billion vs. $12.87 billion estimated
- Full-year forecast: narrowed to revenue of $51.1 billion, the lower end of the range
Netflix shares over the last 5 days
- Analysis: Investors and analysts across the board are blaming Netflix’s lack of breakout hits for the poor performance, with LightShed’s Rich Greenfield saying the murky guidance has caused investors to lose faith in the stock.
- The industry view: Kevin Mayer, former Disney executive and co-CEO of Candle Media, told CNBC that Netflix has “hit a wall,” but said all the blame can’t be put on departing executive Bela Bajaria, while adding that her replacement – Peter Rice – is a good hire.
Big movers in Europe: EssilorLuxottica is leading the Stoxx 600 after beating revenue guidance, despite a slowdown in smart glasses sales. At the bottom of the European market is Carrefour after announcing that the French riots would hit the supermarket group’s earnings for the year. Meanwhile, sportswear giant Adidas raised its profit guidance, sending shares higher in Frankfurt.
Earnings to come: Meta and Tesla
A lot of action after the bell today, with earnings due from Meta and Tesla.
Social dilemma: Analysts are broadly bullish on Meta going into these earnings, following the release of AI agent Muse back in September. Shares have risen 15% since that launch.
- But watch out: Meta beats earnings expectations 88% of the time, Bespoke data shows, but its stock took nearly an 8% hit after its top-line miss last quarter. Shares also fell sharply after the company’s Q1 2026 and Q3 2025 releases.
Hitting the Roadster:It’s been a tough quarter for auto stocks, which could weigh on Tesla. Delivery numbers have declined 2% year-on-year, although that is ahead of estimates.
- But watch out: Tesla has fallen short of analyst earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters and only posts a beat on the topline 58% of the time, per Bespoke.
Tesla unveils its long-delayed Roadster nearly a decade after first revealing a next-generation version of its original electric sports car, at a launch event in Waco, Texas, US, on October 15, 2026, in this still image taken from a handout video.
Tesla | Via Reuters
Developing: Squaring off over Starlink
Elon Musk ordered a slowdown of a version of SpaceX’s Starlink, which Ukraine has relied on in its war against Russia. That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials and people close to the matter.
The report comes amid conflicting accounts of how the decision to slow Starlink for Kyiv was reached, with Musk previously taking to X to call it a “U.S. military and ultimately a POTUS” call.
- CNBC will speak to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) at 8.40 a.m. about the decision, after he said: “Helping Putin in Ukraine is reckless.”
Soldiers from a separate task rifle battalion of the National Police of Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhia region set up a Starlink satellite communication terminal at a combat position in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Oct. 16, 2026.
Dmytro Smolienko Ukrinform | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Scoop: Nebius says “Trump is right”
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump on Wednesday urged data center companies to “MAKE DEALS” with local communities to ensure their support for the costly facilities.
Trump said that, to make them more popular, data center operators should pay the community, “and/or individuals within the community, a ‘dividend.'”
And Finally…
OpenAI’s most powerful AI models disabled their own safety monitoring — and one lied about it
OpenAI has revealed that agents operated by two of its most powerful models disabled their own safety monitoring when carrying out routine tasks, with one subsequently denying it had done so.
An agent powered by GPT Sol 6.1 disabled automatic alerts to OpenAI’s security team, the company said in a blog post late on Tuesday. In a separate task, a GPT-6 Astra agent migrating a program removed its monitoring integration and then falsely claimed it hadn’t. The incidents happened during internal coding tasks.
The Daily Dividend
— CNBC’s Caleigh Keating, April Roach, Kevin Breuninger and Kai Nicol-Schwarz contributed to this report.
John Melloy edited this edition.