Paramount-WBD merger, Musk's return to trillionaire, AI researchers' warning and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Tuesday. If you have a sweet tooth, you may need to prepare for sticker shock as cocoa prices begin climbing again.

Stock futures are higher this morning following a winning session on Wall Street.

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

After multiple rejected takeover bids, a dramatic bidding war and a settled antitrust lawsuit, Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to close today. Once the deal is finalized, the combined media giant will be known as Skydance and trade under the ticker symbol "SKYD."

Here's what to know:

• The closure of the deal — through which Paramount will acquire all of WBD, including its cable TV networks, streaming service and film studio — comes just over a year after the David Ellison-run company set its sights on the Hollywood institution.
• Ellison last week announced that Mattel's Ynon Kreiz will become co-CEO of the soon-to-be-combined entertainment company. As CNBC's Sarah Whitten writes, Kreiz has roots in entertainment and a reputation as a turnaround man.
• The pair then announced the Skydance leadership team, which notably keeps Bari Weiss and Mark Thompson in their top roles at CBS News and CNN, respectively.
• Sources told CNBC's Alex Sherman that Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports, will depart the combined firm.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield kicked off the week with a fresh 24-year high, but investors weren't spooked. Stocks closed the session higher, with artificial intelligence names boosting the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite to intraday and closing records. SpaceX shares jumped almost 8%, lifting the stock to its highest level since June and returning CEO Elon Musk to trillionaire status.

Stock futures are higher again this morning as Treasury yields and oil prices both drop. In an effort to bring down sky-high diesel costs ahead of the midterms, President Donald Trump last night signed an executive order allowing broader use of cheaper red-dyed diesel.

Follow live market updates here.

Senior leaders from some of Silicon Valley's largest AI companies testified in a New York City Council hearing yesterday about AI and their safety plans. Alice Friend, Google's director of AI and emerging tech policy, said she backed a "comprehensive" federal framework to address the concerns around AI safety.

The executives weren't the only ones to testify: Former AI researchers who've warned of the technology's risks also addressed the council. Alex Turner, a former Google DeepMind researcher, cautioned that "misaligned" AI could be more dangerous than competition from China, saying that "we are racing to build and grow our own adversary here at home." Anthropic whistleblower Jacob Coxon called the tech industry's approach to development "extremely reckless."

Rep. Don Davis is trying to ban candidates for federal office from trading on prediction market contracts tied to their own races. The North Carolina Democrat's "No Betting on Your Own Race Act," which was introduced yesterday, would slap violators with a fine of either $10,000 or three times the net financial gain of the trade.

Prediction market platforms have already tried to stop candidates from betting on their own races due to insider trading concerns. Notably, Davis' Republican opponent this November, Laurie Buckhout, settled with prediction market platform Kalshi in August after it found she traded on contracts related to her candidacy.

Elsewhere in politics, crypto's biggest political spending network made its first major push into House midterm races on Monday. Fairshake and its affiliated super PACs announced they will support 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats in November, looking to maintain a pro-crypto coalition in Congress.

Women's sports are taking off. One bar in Portland, Oregon, is ready to capitalize.

The Sports Bra, which exclusively airs women's sports, has brought in more than $1 million annually since it opened in 2022. Owner Jenny Nguyen launched a crowdfunding effort earlier this year to move to a larger space and create a franchise model. Her campaign has raised more than $1 million in about two months.

As CNBC's Tom Huddleston Jr. writes, Nguyen is hoping to open as many as 40 franchise locations by 2030. She said The Sports Bra already has franchisees lined up in five cities: Boston, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Portland, Maine.

General Motors went all-in on fully electric vehicles. Now, as hybrids become more and more popular, GM's Mike Anderson made it clear the automaker plans to listen to customer demand.

— CNBC's Catriona Marangi, Alex Sherman, Lillian Rizzo, Laya Neelakandan, Maggie Roth, Liz Napolitano, Lora Kolodny, Anniek Bao, Ashley Capoot, Samantha Subin, Davis Giangiulio, Luke Fountain, Tom Huddleston Jr. and Michael Wayland contributed to this report.

Caleigh Keating assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.