5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

Fears that the Federal Reserve will deliver another interest rate hike this year pushed Treasury yields to multiyear highs yesterday, in turn causing the three major averages to close the session lower. The S&P 500 saw its worst day in more than a month, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 1%.

Here’s what to know:

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews last night, where he was greeted on the tarmac by President Donald Trump ahead of today’s high-stakes summit. As CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger writes, the two leaders are expected to discuss trade, artificial intelligence and the Iran war before a state dinner this evening.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News yesterday that the U.S. and China agreed to extend their trade truce to Jan. 10. Chinese state media did not immediately note Bessent’s comments, but a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry told reporters this morning that the two sides had discussed plans for lowering tariffs.

Trump and Xi’s meeting comes as AI concerns take hold globally, though neither party appears interested in slowing down the pace of innovation. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post this morning that “Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China’s position also.”

A federal judge ordered the White House to temporarily restore access to journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, writing in an overnight ruling that Trump’s ban of the three outlets was likely unconstitutional.

In his temporary restraining order, which will stay in effect for 14 days, District Judge Tim Kelly said the Justice Department “lacks factual support” for its argument that banning the outlets from the White House access “will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the Court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds.”

All three outlets are reporting that some of their journalists were not immediately able to gain access to the White House this morning.

McDonald’s announced plans for its own media network to display third-party ads that it hopes can one day be a $1 billion business. The fast-food chain, which joins Amazon and Walmart in the media network game, has already begun to display ads on digital drive-thru order boards at company-owned U.S. restaurants.

But in store, the picture may not be as rosy: McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC yesterday that he isn’t expecting traffic to rebound or inflationary pressures to ease up. “We need to stop talking about that being a difficult environment, and just say that is the environment,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

Kempczinski’s comments came as McDonald’s shared its expectations for restaurant upgrades and an employee training program during its investor presentation Wednesday. Investors didn’t appear to be impressed, with shares of the fast-food giant closing nearly 5% lower — marking its biggest one-day loss in more than a year.

Social Security’s full retirement age currently sits at 67 for those born in or after 1960. However, a bill introduced yesterday could move the age earlier for workers in labor-intensive jobs.

Under Rep. Haley Stevens’ Blue Collar Social Security Fairness Act, eligible individuals could claim full benefits beginning at age 60. The Michigan Democrat’s bill would apply to people in professions including construction, nursing and manufacturing, though the Social Security Administration would need to update the list of qualifying roles every three years.

Social Security is a top concern among clients of CFP professionals, according to a survey from the CFP Board published yesterday. More than three out of every four CFP professionals surveyed said their clients were worried about the program’s viability over the long term.

In remarks to the United Nations Security Council, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei both called for international partnerships to address risks posed by AI. Here’s what Altman said:

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Fred Imbert, Sean Conlon, Jenni Reid, Chloe Taylor, Sawdah Bhaimiya, Luke Fountain, Kai Nicol-Schwarz, Michael Wayland, Evelyn Cheng, Amelia Lucas, Sam Meredith, Dan Mangan, Lorie Konish and Ashley Capoot contributed to this report.

Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.