CNBC Daily Open: Trump’s Speech, Market Moves, and SpaceX Trouble

Hello! This is Hui Jie writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

Here’s what’s happening in the world and markets, explained simply — like you’re five years old.

What You Need to Know Today

Trump Gives a Prime-Time Speech on Election Security

• U.S. President Donald Trump is giving a primetime speech (a talk shown on TV when lots of people are watching) on Thursday.
• The speech is about election security — ways to make sure votes in elections are safe and fair.
• This time, he has a new teleprompter operator. A teleprompter is a screen that shows speech words so the speaker can read them.
• Why new? The earlier operator got suspended (told to stop working) and is being looked at by federal regulators (government watchdogs).

The Teleprompter Operator Investigation

• The old operator is being investigated because they allegedly made bets on a prediction market platform called Kalshi.
  • A prediction market is like a place where people bet on what will happen in the future (e.g., what a president might say).
• The person allegedly made over $90,000 from these bets.
• Most of that money was frozen by Kalshi after the bets looked suspicious (like cheating or insider info).

Important Point: The teleprompter operator was suspended and investigated for betting on Trump’s statements using Kalshi, making $90,000+ that was mostly frozen.

Iran’s Warning to the U.S.

• Iran says it might "tear up" Trump’s plans in the Middle East.
• A spokesperson for Iran’s top military said: if Trump attacks Iranian infrastructure (buildings, roads, power), Tehran (Iran’s capital) will "crush" important targets in the Middle East.
• Iran also said: "Under no circumstances will we allow America to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz."
  • The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway where a lot of the world’s oil travels.

Netflix Shares Drop

• Netflix stock fell more than 8% after regular trading hours on Thursday.
• Why? Its earnings forecast (guess of future money made) disappointed investors (people who own parts of the company).
• Netflix also said it will give fewer updates on "What We Watched" reports (these show how much people watch).
  • They will now share this report once a year instead of twice a year.
  • Reason: to keep focus on money stuff like revenue (total sales) and operating profit (money left after costs).

Alphabet Shares Fall

• Alphabet (the company that owns Google) saw shares fall 4%.
• Reports say its new AI model, Gemini 3.5 Pro, is months behind schedule (late).
• The delay is because its coding skills (ability to write computer code) were lower than the company hoped.

U.S. and Asia Markets

• U.S. markets ended the day down — all three big indexes lost value.
• But most companies are doing okay: of 40 S&P 500 companies that reported earnings, over 87% did better than expected.
• Asia markets were also lower on Friday, with tech companies in Japan selling off (dropping in price).

Important Point: Even though most companies beat expectations, U.S. and Asian markets still fell, with tech stocks leading the drop.

And Finally… SpaceX and Short Sellers

What Is Happening to SpaceX?

• Short sellers are people who bet that a stock’s price will go down.
• They are rapidly betting against SpaceX (a space company that recently sold public shares).
• Bearish positioning (betting the price falls) is now nearly one-third of SpaceX’s public float (shares regular people can trade).

The Numbers

1. About 185 million SpaceX shares are sold short.
2. That is roughly 29% of the public float.
3. It equals about $25 billion in bearish bets.
4. Three weeks ago, this was only about 40 million shares (5%–7% of float).

SpaceX Stock Performance

• SpaceX had a strong start after its IPO (first time selling shares to the public).
• In July, the stock fell about 20%.
• On Wednesday, it slipped below its $135 IPO price for the first time.
• On Thursday, it traded around $131 per share.

Important Point: Short sellers increased bets against SpaceX massively in 3 weeks as its stock dropped below its IPO price of $135.

Summary

Today we learned:

• Trump gave a primetime speech on election security with a new teleprompter operator after the old one was investigated for Kalshi bets.
• Iran threatened retaliation if the U.S. targets its infrastructure and warned against interfering in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Netflix and Alphabet shares dropped after earnings and AI delay news.
• U.S. and Asia markets fell despite mostly good company reports.
• SpaceX faces heavy short selling as its stock falls below IPO price.

FAQ

Q1: What is a teleprompter operator?
A: A person who controls the screen that shows speech text to a speaker so they can read it while talking on camera.

Q2: What does "short selling" mean in simple terms?
A: It’s when someone borrows a stock, sells it, and hopes to buy it back later at a lower price to make money from the drop.

Q3: Why did Netflix stock go down?
A: Because its forecast for future earnings disappointed investors and it said it would report viewing data less often.

Q4: What is the Strait of Hormuz?
A: A narrow sea passage in the Middle East that is very important for global oil shipping.

Q5: What is an IPO price?
A: The first price a company’s stock is sold at to the public when it becomes a publicly traded company.