{"id":325074,"date":"2026-03-06T14:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/325074\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:05:08","slug":"5-things-to-know-before-the-market-opens-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/325074\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things to know before the market opens Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter.\u00a0Subscribe here<\/a>\u00a0to receive future editions in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Happy Friday. As if this week wasn’t newsy enough, we’re minutes away from February’s jobs report.<\/p>\n

Stock futures<\/a> are down this morning after a losing day.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:<\/p>\n

1. Ups and downs<\/p>\n

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell on March 5, 2026 in New York City. <\/p>\n

Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Investors have been on a roller coaster ride this week, as the U.S.-Iran war rattles markets. Now, the question is if yesterday’s sell-off<\/a> will resume today, or if there is another bounce in the cards.<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know:<\/p>\n

2. (Un)stable?<\/p>\n

A “Now Hiring” sign is seen at a Dollar Tree store on Feb. 11, 2026 in Hollywood, Florida. <\/p>\n

Joe Raedle | Getty Images<\/p>\n

February’s jobs report <\/a>is due out this morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the headline number to show growth of 50,000 position last month, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.3%.<\/p>\n

The report comes as economists question the health of the labor market, which so far this year has largely been described as “stable.” But as CNBC’s Jeff Cox notes, the fact that growth was mainly driven by the health care sector last year leaves some wondering whether the jobs picture is more problematic than it appears.<\/p>\n

Don’t miss National\u00a0Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on “Squawk on the Street” at 9 a.m. ET. Watch live<\/a>\u00a0on CNBC or CNBC+.<\/p>\n

3. Gap down<\/p>\n

A shopper carries her early Black Friday purchases on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2024, at the Citadel Outlets shopping center in Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the third quarter, a viral “Milkshake” ad brought shoppers to the yard for Gap<\/a>. In the fourth quarter, winter storms had the opposite effect.<\/a><\/p>\n

The apparel retailer said yesterday that historic storms and hundreds of related store closures hurt its performance during the holiday quarter. Gap narrowly missed analysts’ earnings expectations for the period, leading its shares to drop more than 8% in premarket trading this morning.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Costco<\/a> beat expectations<\/a> on both lines. The wholesale club, which sued the government over Trump’s tariffs, said it would lower prices if it receives refunds following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down many of the duties.<\/p>\n

4. Laws and levies<\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Attorneys general from two dozen states are once again taking<\/a> Trump to court, this time in hopes of blocking the administration’s newly announced global tariffs.<\/p>\n

In a lawsuit filed yesterday, the prosecutors say that Trump is misusing Section\u202f122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and violating the Constitution and statutory rules mandating the consistent application of tariffs.<\/p>\n

White House spokesman Kush Desai said the administration will “vigorously defend” Trump’s levies in court.<\/p>\n

Get Morning Squawk directly in your inbox5. No-em<\/p>\n

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attends a House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security” to testify, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 4, 2026. <\/p>\n

Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters<\/p>\n

Trump announced yesterday he will replace<\/a> Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Trump’s decision to fire Noem was largely a result of her claim that he personally approved a $220 million DHS ad campaign for immigration enforcement, MS Now reported. Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s chief advisor, will also leave the agency, according to the network.<\/p>\n

Even with Noem’s removal, Democrats in Washington said they would not back down<\/a> on the DHS funding impasse. The Senate rejected a bill yesterday that would have funded the agency, which ran out of money last month.<\/p>\n

The Daily Dividend<\/p>\n

Here are some headlines you might have missed this week:<\/p>\n

\u2014 CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Spencer Kimball, Kevin Breuninger, Jeff Cox, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Hugh Son, Ashley Capoot, Dan Mangan, Garrett Downs and Justin Papp contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter.\u00a0Subscribe here\u00a0to receive future editions in your inbox. Happy Friday. As if this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[157457,152261,114,357,35951,30935,937,64564,54,1012,184,31011,15466,85,150425,152037,145063,942,87,17899,46,124995,4273,64251,190,1677,39310,151323,92140,20866,87590,1032,151247,150424],"class_list":["post-325074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-lco26q","tag-bjs-wholesale-club-holdings-inc","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-chevron-corp","tag-conocophillips","tag-costco-wholesale-corp","tag-cuba","tag-donald-trump","tag-dow-jones-industrial-average","tag-economy","tag-exxon-mobil-corp","tag-gap-inc","tag-il","tag-invesco-db-oil-fund","tag-invesco-dynamic-leisure-and-entertainment-etf","tag-invesco-qqq-trust","tag-investment-strategy","tag-iran","tag-ishares-u-s-home-construction-etf","tag-israel","tag-jeff-cox","tag-kevin-hassett","tag-lp","tag-markets","tag-nvidia-corp","tag-occidental-petroleum-equity-warrants-exp-3rd-august-2027","tag-proshares-ultra-bloomberg-crude-oil","tag-ross-stores-inc","tag-target-corp","tag-tjx-companies-inc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-brent-oil-fund","tag-united-states-oil-fund"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}