An inside man at the Fed, OpenAI debuts Dots, an IPO trend and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Wednesday. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin is donating $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University, what the school called the "largest individual gift in higher education history." Catch the hedge fund billionaire on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" at 10 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC Pro or CNBC+.

Stock futures are little changed this morning. All three major averages are coming off their second straight negative day.

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

How did John Harold Rogers go from a senior Federal Reserve official to an espionage suspect arrested by the FBI? As CNBC's Eamon Javers reports in a new investigation out this morning, it's a case that, as one federal prosecutor put it, reads "like a spy novel."

Here's what to know:

• Rogers, now 65, was arrested in January 2025. Investigators believed that he passed information about the central bank to a Chinese government spy.
• Rogers' desire for female companionship appeared to drive his actions and was exploited by an agent for the Chinese government, who became a key part of the economist's professional and personal life.
• As Javers writes, the question to answer is whether Rogers was a spy himself or just a dupe for Chinese intelligence.
• Rogers declined to be interviewed for the story, and his lawyers say he didn't give the Chinese any valuable information. Officials at the Fed and its Office of Inspector General declined to comment.
• CNBC found text messages, audio recordings, copies of Fed documents and dozens of photographs that were not previously made public.
• Read the full story and watch the documentary here.

OpenAI rolled out a string of new products at its developer conference yesterday including Dots, its new "always-on" agents. The company also debuted its latest artificial intelligence model, GPT-6.1 Sol, just days after it scrapped plans to launch GPT-6.1 Astra because the model didn't meet its safety standards.

OpenAI's potential IPO was also front of mind for investors and company executives in San Francisco on Tuesday. CEO Sam Altman told CNBC's Kate Rooney that he doesn't "have a particular timeline in mind," adding that "this is a time to put safety and mission first." Sarah Friar, the company's finance chief, said later in the day that the ChatGPT creator will go public "when the time is right for our business."

Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump said he and a host of tech leaders signed a "morally binding" AI agreement following a White House luncheon. The president also said he is renaming AI to "super intelligence" via an executive order, an apparent attempt to rebrand the technology as public sentiment sours on AI.

Investors wary of pesky inflation will get the latest look into prices this morning with August's PCE price index — the Fed's favored gauge — due at 8:30 a.m. We'll also get more data on employment, consumer spending and GDP before the bell.

The data dump comes after the Conference Board reported yesterday that its Consumer Confidence Index this month slid to its lowest level since 2014. As CNBC's Jeff Cox writes, respondents pointed to the state of the job market and inflation concerns.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield continued its ascent yesterday, hitting its highest level going back to 2002 and weighing down stocks. Futures are trading near the flatline this morning as Wall Street awaits the new data. Follow live market updates here.

Oura caught some attention on Wall Street yesterday when the biometric ring maker announced it is delaying its IPO. But as CNBC's Tobias Burns reports, it isn't alone.

Four companies have postponed or completely pulled their IPOs in the past week, according to Renaissance Capital. That brings the total to seven for the third quarter, up from four in the prior three-month period. "You can't really point to all four of them and say it's company-specific issues," Renaissance's Matthew Kennedy told CNBC.

Analysts point to rising bond yields as a driver of wariness among companies that could go public. For its part, Oura cited "uncertainty" around market conditions while maintaining there is "strong demand" for stock.

Under temporary regulations, the Treasury Department will begin auto-enrolling millions of children in Trump Accounts as soon as this week.

Such a change could add more than 60 million children to the total Trump Account enrollment figure this year, according to guidance from the department. Going forward, the switch could drive up enrollment by around 2 million accounts per year.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this month that between 7 million and 8 million children had been signed up for the tax-deferred investing accounts. However, he said to expect that number to rise to 70 million with auto enrollment.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said yesterday while Europe can no longer fend off competition from Chinese automakers, the U.S. still has time to decide on its approach.

— CNBC's Eamon Javers, Ashley Capoot, Chris Eudaily, Kate Rooney, Kevin Breuninger, Samantha Subin, Jeff Cox, Liz Napolitano, Tobias Burns, Jessica Dicker, Kate Dore and Michael Wayland contributed to this report.

Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.