President Donald Trump is set to meet with fellow NATO leaders on Wednesday, as the alliance confronts mounting challenges from both external threats and internal divisions.

Trump has repeatedly publicized his discontent with NATO since returning to the White House last year, pushing member states to commit to greater defense spending, and more recently lambasting NATO allies for refusing to join America’s military action in Iran. At the NATO summit on Tuesday, Trump reignited inter-alliance tensions when he resurfaced his desire to take control of Greenland, a territory of NATO member Denmark.

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Turkey, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte touted greater cohesion between member states, higher defense spending and a series of military deals being inked at the event as signs of “NATO 3.0” emerging.

Despite Trump’s fresh push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, Rutte insisted that Washington remained committed to the NATO alliance.  

“There is complete commitment of the United States to NATO … the commitment is there, no doubt,” Rutte told journalists as he arrived at the NATO summit on Wednesday morning. “Also, NATO is there in the U.S. interest to prevent, for example, nuclear submarines of Russia ending up on the shores of the United States. The U.S., to stay safe, needs a secure Atlantic, Europe, and Arctic, so there is complete commitment to NATO.”

Rutte added that the alliance’s commitment to spend 5% of members’ national gross domestic product on defense, agreed last year, was a “big win” for all its members — and a loss for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I expect again today to acknowledge collectively that Russia is the long-term threat to NATO territory,” he said, ahead of meetings between allies.

When asked if he had a message for Putin, Rutte replied: “Don’t fool with us.”

“My message is that this alliance of 1 billion people living in Europe, living in Canada, living in the United States, that this alliance will defend every inch of our territory,” he said. “You cannot win [against] NATO. We are defensive. We will never attack anyone. We will only defend our way of life, our democracies, our territory. So don’t fool with us, don’t play with us.”

NATO has been heavily involved in providing military assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale war in the country in early 2022. Parts of the alliance’s eastern flank — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania — share borders with Ukraine.

Moscow strongly opposes Ukraine joining NATO, and has claimed the military alliance’s expansion in Eastern Europe was a reason for the launch of its so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Anthropic‘s Mythos model offered a much-needed lifeline to cybersecurity firms in the age of artificial intelligence.

Yet, this week’s cybersecurity earnings offered a brutal reminder that even with tailwinds, sometimes good just isn’t good enough as shares of CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks lost 8% and 3%, respectively.

“People probably got a little over their skis,” said Joseph Gallo, a software analyst at Jefferies. “Both gave accelerating guides, but at the end of the day … a lot of these AI benefits take time, and this is a multi-year process.”

Cybersecurity stocks sold off early in the year as concerns that new AI tools, capable of building apps at lightning speed, would upend their business models and, by association, every software firm.

The introduction of Mythos, a model deemed too powerful to release because it could be easily used to exploit software vulnerabilities, renewed enthusiasm for the sector, boosting shares of CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks more than 70% each between April and the end of May.

Both companies were early partners in Anthropic’s exclusive Project Glasswing testing program, which the AI lab expanded to 150 additional partners this week, including Rubrik and Tenable.

This quarter’s earnings marked the first major test for that Mythos-driven rally, and upbeat results and aggressively optimistic AI commentary from both cyber giants weren’t enough for investors demanding immediate signs of an AI windfall.

The concept of good not being enough is no new phenomenon on Wall Street. Even AI darling Nvidia has succumbed to this phenomenon after failing to meet lofty estimates.

Investors headed into earnings with a similar sentiment and the hope that AI tailwinds would help cyber firms blow earnings out of the box.

Wall Street found much to cheer in those prints, but investors may be overlooking the notion that these tailwinds could take months to pay off, Gallo said.

Typical enterprise sales cycles last nine to 12 months, meaning most signs of an uptick from AI likely won’t show up until the 2027 calendar year. The fourth quarter of the calendar year, Gallo added, is typically the strongest buying season for customers as businesses reset their budgets for the new year.

If an enterprise “just launched an AI product in the last quarter or two, I don’t think it’s fair to expect this massive uptick already.”

CEOs at the world’s largest cyber companies made that point clear.

Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora told analysts this week that demand is off the charts in the Mythos era and over 1,200 companies had reached out to the cybersecurity firm to talk AI strategy. So far, the company has held 800 meetings over the last…

Politicians on both sides of the aisle want to block Chinese vehicles from the United States.

But over 100 Chinese automakers, auto tech companies, and parts suppliers already have a presence in the U.S., according to a survey done by Dunne Insights, a consultancy that focuses on electric vehicles and autonomous markets. Despite the United States implementing a 100% tariff on EVs from the country and considering a rule banning Chinese connected cars from U.S. roads, a few Chinese companies are finding ways to invest in the country.

Chinese behemoth BYD builds buses in California, and Chinese battery maker CATL has struck a licensing deal with Ford Motor to offer tech and services for a battery manufacturing operation in Michigan.

One especially well-positioned company is Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Geely, as it is commonly known, has large investments in three automakers already doing business in the U.S. — Volvo Cars, Polestar and Lotus — and smaller stakes in luxury makers Mercedes-Benz and Aston Martin. 

Lotus, Polestar and Volvo all give Geely Holding dealer networks in the U.S. — a key asset, said Tu Le, founder of automotive consultancy firm Sino Auto Insights. 

“Let’s not discount how important a dealer network is and the service infrastructure that needs to be able to support that, because that’s not an insignificant task that needs to be sorted out by the automakers that do not have a presence in the United States,” Le said.

Geely also potentially has U.S. factory capacity through its Volvo stake.

The Volvo factory near Charleston, South Carolina, makes both Volvo and Polestar cars. The plant is big enough to make about 150,000 vehicles, but in 2025, it only produced about 18,500, said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Telemetry Insights, citing data from Marklines. Volvo has said it is adding U.S. production of its XC60 hybrid SUV, which would add about 45,000 units per year. 

Volvo does want to expand its U.S. footprint. The company’s Americas president, Luis Rezende, told CNBC in December that Volvo was importing about 95% of the cars it sold in the U.S.. The company plans to boost U.S. sales to about 200,000 units, from about 122,000 in 2025. Volvo wants 50% to 60% of that growth volume to be U.S.-made, Rezende said. 

Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson reportedly said late last month that he would be open to using it for a Chinese vehicle, according to Business Insider.

“Putting production there would actually reduce costs or it would amortize the fixed costs over more units,” Le said.

The name Geely can refer to the holding company that has stakes in Volvo, Polestar and the rest, or the publicly traded Chinese subsidiary automaker Geely Auto, which consists of the Chinese brands Zeekr, Lynk & Co, and the brand Geely. 

Of its Chinese brands, Zeekr is a likely candidate to spearhead a U.S. expansion, analysts said. Already, Waymo is using a Zeekr vehicle as a platform for its…

Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

U.S. President Donald Trump gave his highly anticipated national address Wednesday night from the White House., providing some updates on the war, but keeping his comments relatively brief at under half an hour.

As expected, the president claimed massive successes in the U.S. campaign, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, mentioning “victories like few people have ever seen before.”

Though he repeated recent claims that the war won’t last much longer, he put the timeframe at another two to three weeks and warned Iran would be hit “extremely hard“ in the meantime.

Oil has jumped, while Asian stock markets reacted negatively to the speech. Global investors will be watching to see what Wall Street — which has been in a recent recovery — thinks of the comments. 

After Trump’s address, most Asia-Pacific markets reversed Thursday gains with major indices from Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, Japan’s Nikkei 225, South Korea’s Kospi, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 all in the red.

Meanwhile, oil jumped in volatile trading, with International benchmark Brent crude futures with June delivery rising nearly 6%.

In his speech, Trump attributed the increase in oil prices to the “Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.” He also repeated requests for allies to help open the Strait of Hormuz, saying the U.S. had already done “the hard part.” And he again talked of bringing Iran “back to the stone ages.”

The market reactions suggest that Trump’s speech has dampened some recent optimism that Washington and Tehran might be nearing a ceasefire. Major American indices had risen on Wall Street on Wednesday for a second consecutive day of recovery. 

U.S. Stock futures were down following Trump’s proclamation of several more weeks of war in the Middle East. 

Additionally, while Trump had claimed that Iran’s President had requested a ceasefire on Wednesday, he said the U.S. will “consider” the offer only once the Strait of Hormuz is “open, free, and clear.” 

“Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!” he wrote on Truth Social earlier on Wednesday. Tehran denied that it requested a ceasefire, Al Jazeera reported later Wednesday morning, citing an unnamed Iranian official.

In addition to his serious threats towards Iran on Wednesday, Trump also turned some ire to some U.S. allies in Europe in comments to the The Telegraph. 

According to the report, the president is considering pulling the U.S. out of NATO, calling it a “paper tiger.” The comments represent the president’s latest threat to European allies after their reluctance…

When Walmart and Target report holiday earnings this quarter, investors may quickly brush off those results.

Instead, they will likely focus more on the two big-box retailers’ futures under new CEOs and the outlook for U.S. consumers in 2026.

Both companies had leadership changes this month: Walmart CEO John Furner and Target CEO Michael Fiddelke, both longtime company insiders, took on their roles on Feb. 1.

The rival retailers have contended with the same economic challenges. U.S. consumers are still spending, but buying selectively, as inflation and tariffs fuel higher prices for groceries and other essentials and cause some shoppers to think twice about discretionary purchases.

Yet while both Walmart and Target have new CEOs, their paths forward look distinctly different.

Walmart’s stock has shot up by about 163% over the past five years and has risen about 24% over the last year, as of Tuesday’s market close. It hit a 52-week high Tuesday. Shares of Target, on the other hand, have tumbled by about 40% over the past five years and dropped 10% over the past year.

The retailers’ stock market performances reflect their sharp divergence in sales results. Walmart is attracting shoppers across incomes and gaining momentum with online sales and higher-margin businesses like advertising. Target is struggling with slower sales and weaker store traffic. Walmart expects its full-year net sales to rise by 4.8% to 5.1%. Target, on the other hand, is on track for a full-year sales decline.

Walmart CEO John Furner inherited a business that’s “fundamentally sound” and “on a great trajectory,” said Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData.

“In many ways, his job is to keep the ship steady and see what he can do to add to the speed,” he said.

On the other hand, Target CEO Michael Fiddelke has to “sell the Target of the future” after four years of roughly flat annual sales, Saunders said.

“What I think he’ll want to do is to inject some excitement, to say, ‘Look, I’m really excited about this role. I’m really excited about where Target could go. We are going to change things. We’re going to become a different business. We’re going to get back to what we were before,'” he said.

Here’s a closer look at what we know so far about the CEOs’ plans and what investors will listen for during earnings:

Walmart will report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings before the bell on Thursday.

The retail giant has had a busy few months: Along with getting a new CEO, Walmart’s market cap surpassed $1 trillion in early February. The company also switched its stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the tech-heavy Nasdaq in December and was added to the Nasdaq 100 in…

The U.S. inflation numbers in November looked supremely encouraging, with the annual headline rate coming in 0.4 percentage points less than expected. But don’t get too happy about them yet.

It’s the first consumer price report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since the U.S. government shutdown ended: October’s figures vanished into the void because the agency was “unable to retroactively collect these data.”

The BLS added that November’s CPI “did not include 1-month percent changes for November 2025 where the October 2025 data are missing.” It also said that certain survey data were “carried forward to October 2025 from September 2025.”

Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha said it appears the BLS “put in zero inflation in multiple categories” when calculating housing inflation in some cities.

In other words, it’s a noisy report. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell once described setting interest rates as “navigating by the stars under cloudy skies.” With November’s CPI report, the stars aren’t just obscured by clouds — they could be mirages, unidentified flying objects, a seagull that picked up an LED light from the beach.

Nonetheless, investors celebrated the numbers. The CPI report, along with a 10.2% surge in Micron shares on the back of an expectation-busting earnings report, lifted major indexes.

Perhaps it’s the holidays suffusing the air with unbridled cheer. Or maybe it’s all rather like having a feast during Christmas — the calories only count in the new year.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon contributed to this report.