5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday

Happy Wednesday. In addition to Disney’s Josh D’Amaro, there was another top dog announced yesterday: Penny the Doberman pinscher won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Stock futures are ticking higher this morning. The market is coming off a negative session.

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

Disney officially has a new chief executive in waiting. The entertainment giant announced that D’Amaro, who runs its fast-growing experiences business, will succeed CEO Bob Iger beginning March 18.

Here’s what to know:

• D’Amaro was tapped for the role after nearly three decades at the Mouse House. He will be the company’s eighth chief executive in its more than century of existence.
• The 54-year-old most recently chaired Disney’s experiences division that includes parks and cruises — a unit the company said earlier this week reached $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time.
• There’s also a happy ending for Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden, who was seen as the other CEO frontrunner in the closely watched succession story. She will become Disney’s president and creative chief, reporting directly to D’Amaro.
• Media reports ahead of the announcement widely suggested D’Amaro would win the role, leaving Wall Street largely unsurprised by the decision.
• Disney’s stock ticked lower in yesterday’s session, adding to losses seen as earlier in the week after the California-based company’s earnings report.
• D’Amaro is taking on somewhat of an underdog in the public market: Shares of Disney have tumbled more than 40% over the last half decade, while the S&P 500 has climbed more than 80%.

Chipotle shares sunk more than 5% after the burrito chain reported sliding traffic for a fourth straight quarter. That overshadowed narrow beats on both lines in the period.

The fast-casual chain also said that same-store sales declined 1.7% in 2025, its first annual drop since 2016. An immediate recovery may not be on the horizon: Chipotle said to expect flat same-store sales in 2026.

Chipotle is coming off a rough patch, with shares down nearly 33% over the last 12 months. As CNBC’s Amelia Lucas notes, the California-based company has tried to entice consumers back to stores by rolling out “protein cups” and aiming to raise prices at a slower clip than inflation.

President Donald Trump yesterday signed into law a bill to reopen the federal government, which has been partially closed since Saturday. The deal, which the House of Representatives narrowly passed earlier in the day, provides funding for several departments through the end of the fiscal year.

But the agreement provides just two weeks of stopgap funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Congress and the White House will have to go back to the negotiating table to decide what comes next for DHS, which has been under scrutiny following the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration officers in Minnesota.

Meanwhile in D.C., CNBC confirmed yesterday that Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran is leaving his position as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Miran has been on leave from the CEA since September, when he was appointed by Trump to fill the unexpired Fed Governor term of Adriana Kugler following her abrupt resignation.

Novo Nordisk said yesterday that it expects sales and profit growth to drop this year. The weak forecast sent U.S.-listed shares tumbling more than 14% in Tuesday’s session, their worst day in around six months.

The drugmaker’s total sales are expected to take a hit from its deal with the Trump administration to cut prices. Loss in exclusivity for its popular Wegovy and Ozempic drugs in a handful of countries is also expected to pose a headwind for Novo. Shares fell further in premarket trading this morning after CEO Mike Doustdar warned on CNBC’s “Early Edition Europe” that the company’s situation would get worse before improving.

On the other hand, Eli Lilly shares jumped more than 8% in premarket trading today after the company exceeded analyst expectations on both lines in the fourth quarter. The pharmaceutical giant’s full-year revenue outlook also came in stronger than anticipated, as demand for Zepbound and Mounjaro soars.

In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer that aired yesterday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang brushed off a report of brewing tensions between the chipmaker and OpenAI. Nvidia in September announced its plan to invest up to $100 billion in the AI company.

CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo, Sarah Whitten, Lee Ying Shan, Chloe Taylor, Sean Conlon, Jacob Pramuk, Amelia Lucas, Garrett Downs, Jeff Cox, Steve Liesman, Darla Mercado, Elsa Ohlen, Annika Kim Constantino and Kif Leswing contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.