{"id":458047,"date":"2025-12-19T15:55:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/458047\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T15:55:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:55:17","slug":"quad-witching-nike-slides-weed-rules-and-more-in-morning-squawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/458047\/","title":{"rendered":"Quad witching, Nike slides, weed rules and more in Morning Squawk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is CNBC&#8217;s Morning Squawk newsletter.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/lander?id=morningsquawk-newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe here<\/a>\u00a0to receive future editions in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"headline0\"\/>1. Witching hour<\/p>\n<p>A trader works at his desk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after the opening bell in New York on December 3, 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Wall Street could be in for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/friday-could-be-a-wild-day-of-trading-on-wall-street-heres-why.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wild trading day<\/a> when options on four types of securities expire: index options, single stock options, index futures and index futures options. &#8220;Quadruple witching&#8221; day happens just four times a year and this one&#8217;s set to be a monster.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what to know:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stock futures were little changed in premarket trading, a day after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/.SPX\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S&amp;P 500<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/.DJI\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> snapped a four-day losing streak after a softer-than-expected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/cpi-inflation-report-november-2025.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inflation report<\/a>, though with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/trust-these-numbers-economists-see-a-lot-of-flaws-in-delayed-cpi-report-showing-downward-inflation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">caveats<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Goldman Sachs says today will be a record with more than $7.1 trillion in notional options exposure set to expire, including $5 trillion tied to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/.SPX\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S&amp;P 500<\/a>\u00a0index and $880 billion linked to single stocks. <\/li>\n<li>December options expirations are usually the year&#8217;s biggest, but this one eclipses all records, Goldman said.<\/li>\n<li>This week, the S&amp;P 500 and 30-stock Dow are down about 0.8% and 1%, respectively. The Nasdaq is down 0.8% week to date.<\/li>\n<li>Meanwhile, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/tik-tok-us-sale-china.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told employees<\/a> that the company&#8217;s U.S. operations will be housed in a new joint venture.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/08\/stock-market-today-live-updates.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Follow live market updates here.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a id=\"headline1\"\/>2. Nike&#8217;s obstacle course<\/p>\n<p>The Nike Inc. logo is displayed at the entrance to the company&#8217;s store in the East Nanjing Road shopping area of Shanghai, China.<\/p>\n<p>Tomohiro Ohsumi | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/NKE\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nike<\/a> shares were down sharply in premarket trading after the sportswear giant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/nike-nke-q2-2026-earnings.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warned sales<\/a> would fall in the current quarter and executives pointed to continued challenges in China.<\/p>\n<p>Nike said it expects fiscal third-quarter revenue to drop by a low single-digit percentage, with modest growth in North America, and forecast gross margins will shrink 1.75 to 2.25 percentage points, including a 3.15 percentage point hit from tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>Investors were hoping for more but it wasn&#8217;t all bad news out of Nike. Strong North America sales helped offset the plunge in China and results came in ahead of Wall Street&#8217;s expectations. CEO Elliott Hill called it the company&#8217;s &#8220;middle inning of our comeback.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"headline2\"\/>3. Trump shifts on marijuana<\/p>\n<p>U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office to sign executive orders, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Dec. 18, 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters<\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> signed an executive order yesterday that directs federal agencies to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/16\/trump-medicare-pot-seniors-marijuana-reclassification.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reclassify marijuana<\/a>, loosening long-standing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/12\/cannabis-stocks-trump-regulations.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">restrictions on the drug<\/a>\u00a0and marking the most consequential shift in U.S. cannabis policy in more than half a century.<\/p>\n<p>Once finalized by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the order moves cannabis out of Schedule I classification \u2014 the most restrictive category under the Controlled Substances Act, alongside heroin and LSD \u2014 to a Schedule III classification: substances with accepted medical use and a lower potential for abuse, such as ketamine and Tylenol with codeine.<\/p>\n<p>Shares of cannabis companies fell following the announcement, likely from worries of new competition.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/19\/us-green-card-lottery-suspended-after-brown-shooting-officials-say.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suspending the diversity visa program<\/a>, saying the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/19\/brown-mit-shooter-dead-valente.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">man suspected<\/a> of killing two students at Brown University had been granted one.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"headline3\"\/>4. Let&#8217;s maybe make a deal?<\/p>\n<p>A Norfolk Southern Corp. engine car moves through the Lamberts Point coal transloading facility in Norfolk, Virginia, on Wednesday, March 17, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"headline4\"\/>5. The most valuable college sports program is&#8230;?<\/p>\n<p>Tight End Michael Trigg #1 of the Baylor Bears runs with the ball after a reception for a touchdown during the college football game between Baylor Bears and Arizona State Sun Devils on Sept. 20, 2025, at McLane Stadium in Waco, TX.<\/p>\n<p>David Buono | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a new leader in college sports \u2014 the University of Texas at Austin. The school&#8217;s athletic program topped CNBC&#8217;s valuation rankings and is now worth $1.48 billion, 16% more than last year.<\/p>\n<p>In fiscal 2024, the program generated aggregate revenue of $332 million, more than any other school and 23% more than in the previous year, according to figures from the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database at Syracuse University, up 53% from 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Last year&#8217;s most valuable athletic program, Ohio State University, fell to No. 2 with a value of $1.35 billion, 2% more than a year ago. Read the full 75-school ranking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/19\/cnbc-official-college-sports-valuations-2025-top-75-athletic-programs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"headline5\"\/>The Daily Dividend<\/p>\n<p>Here are some stories we&#8217;d recommend making time for this weekend:<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CNBC&#8217;s Laya Neelakandan, Chloe Taylor, Lillian Rizzo, Pia Singh, Luke Fountain, Yun Li, Brandon Gomez, Michael Ozanian, Elsa Ohlen, Jonathan Vanian and Julia Boorstin contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is CNBC&#8217;s Morning Squawk newsletter.\u00a0Subscribe here\u00a0to receive future editions in your inbox. Here are five key things&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":458048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[68226,14827,64,81,209526,126158,14828,77,69,144,79,166815,3346,82,135,206348,8113,15117,49926,25608,145,48190,49927,67,132,68,16276],"class_list":{"0":"post-458047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-alphabet-class-a","9":"tag-boeing-co","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-news","12":"tag-dan-bongino","13":"tag-darden-restaurants-inc","14":"tag-delta-air-lines-inc","15":"tag-donald-j-trump","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-dow-jones-industrial-average","18":"tag-economy","19":"tag-electronic-arts-inc","20":"tag-investment-strategy","21":"tag-joe-biden","22":"tag-markets","23":"tag-moore-threads-technology","24":"tag-netflix-inc","25":"tag-nike-inc","26":"tag-norfolk-southern-corp","27":"tag-oracle-corp","28":"tag-sp-500-index","29":"tag-trump-media-and-technology-group-equty-warrants-exp-25th-mar-2029","30":"tag-union-pacific-corp","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-us","34":"tag-warner-bros-discovery-inc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}