Nvidia’s Groq deal, S&P’s winning week, leather tariffs and more in Morning Squawk – CNBC

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Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Stock futures are little changed after the Christmas holiday break this morning, but the three major averages are still headed for weekly gains.

Here’s what to know:

• The S&P 500 is up 1.4% this week after setting new intraday and closing records on Wednesday.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite are also more than 1% higher week to date.
• It’s the start of a historically strong stretch for stocks: Data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac shows that since 1950, the S&P 500 has average a 1.3% gain in last five trading days of the year and the first two of the new year.
• Gold and silver touched fresh highs as precious metals continued their upward climb.
• U.K., Australia and Hong Kong markets are closed for Boxing Day.
• Follow live market updates here.

Nvidia agreed to buy assets from chip startup Groq for $20 billion in cash, CNBC’s David Faber reported on Wednesday.

In addition to the nonexclusive licensing deal, Groq’s founder and CEO Jonathan Ross, president Sunny Madra and other senior leaders “will join Nvidia to help advance and scale the licensed technology,” the startup said in a blog post.

The deal is Nvidia’s largest purchase ever by a large margin. The chipmaker’s biggest acquisition before this one came in 2019, when it bought Israeli chip designer Mellanox for close to $7 billion.

That embarrassing Gmail address from high school? You might be able to change it soon.

According to an update on Google’s account help page, account holders can now replace their existing @gmail.com address and still retain all data and services.

However, as CNBC’s Dylan Butts reports, the change only appears in the Hindi version of Google’s support page, suggesting the new capability may begin in India or Hindi-speaking markets.

Waymo paused its robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday ahead of expected heavy rain in the area, the Alphabet-owned company said in its self-driving ride-hailing app.

The pause came days after the company said it will update its fleet to better perform during power outages. On Dec. 20, Waymo paused service during a blackout in San Francisco that caused some of its autonomous vehicles to stop in mid-traffic, contributing to or causing gridlock.

Whether it’s boots, jackets or bags, tariffs and supply chain bottlenecks are driving up prices of leather goods for retailers and consumers alike.

Tapestry, which owns handbag giants Coach and Kate Spade, has already seen higher costs. Company executives told investors in August that tariff-related expenses could total $160 million and eat into profits.

The Yale Budget Lab estimates that prices for leather goods will stay nearly 22% higher for at least the next one to two years in part because of heavy tariff exposure, particularly across China, Vietnam, Italy and India.

Here are some stories we recommend making time for this weekend.

• Amazon faces ‘leader’s dilemma’ — fight AI shopping bots or join them
• Free streaming service Tubi is rivaling major players for viewership. Here’s how it’s winning
• Oracle shares on pace for worst quarter since 2001 as new CEOs face concerns about AI buildout
• China’s mineral dominance gives Western magnet makers a moment in the sun
• EV realism is here. How automakers react in 2026 will be telling
• Wall Street wrote off Palantir as too expensive. Retail investors can’t get enough

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Lora Kolodny, David Faber, Dylan Butts and Luke Fountain contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.