{"id":603725,"date":"2026-04-24T14:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603725\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T14:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:07:08","slug":"5-things-to-know-before-the-market-opens-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603725\/","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. Congratulations to the NFL’s first-round draft picks. CNBC’s Alex Sherman spoke to No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza<\/a> ahead of his big night.<\/p>\n

Stock futures<\/a> are mixed this morning after a negative day<\/a> for all three major indexes.<\/p>\n

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

1. Brightness dimmed<\/p>\n

ServiceNow Inc. signage on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, March 16, 2026. <\/p>\n

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n

2. Peace talks<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing behind him, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 23, 2026. <\/p>\n

Kylie Cooper | Reuters<\/p>\n

Crude oil prices<\/a> are lower this morning amid reports that Iranian negotiators are heading to Pakistan, boosting investor hopes that U.S.-Iran peace talks might resume.<\/p>\n

An extended ceasefire<\/a> between Israel and Lebanon announced yesterday is also adding to traders’ optimism. President Donald Trump said Thursday that the two countries extended their ceasefire for three weeks following a meeting at the White House.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Trump said he ordered the U.S. Navy “to shoot and kill any boat”<\/a> laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. As CNBC’s Spencer Kimball writes, the U.S.-Iran war has evolved into a naval standoff <\/a>over the strait, a key passageway for the world’s oil trade.<\/p>\n

3. Job search<\/p>\n

People walk in front of Microsoft store in Manhattan on March 31, 2026, in New York City. <\/p>\n

Zamek | View Press | Corbis News | Getty Images<\/p>\n

It wasn’t just tech investors: Workers in the sector also had a rough day yesterday.<\/p>\n

Microsoft<\/a> announced on Thursday that it is offering voluntary buyouts<\/a> to about 7% of its U.S. employees \u2014 a first for the company. The plans follow multiple rounds of layoffs last year. Meanwhile, Big Tech peer Meta<\/a> said it will cut about 8,000 employees<\/a>, or 10% of its workforce, and terminate hiring plans for 6,000 open roles.<\/p>\n

Nike<\/a> also said it was axing 1,400 roles<\/a> yesterday \u2014 mostly its tech department \u2014 in its second round of layoffs this year.<\/p>\n

Get Morning Squawk directly in your inbox4. The price is right<\/p>\n

CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Leonard Schleifer speaks during a health care affordability event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2026. <\/p>\n

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Regeneron<\/a> is the latest pharmaceutical company offering discounts <\/a>through deals with the White House.<\/p>\n

The biotech company will cut prices on drugs for some American consumers and provide the first hearing-loss gene therapy for free to eligible U.S. patients, the White House said yesterday. <\/p>\n

As CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino notes, Regeneron is joining a growing group of drugmakers lowering prices in exchange for being exempted from Trump’s steep pharmaceutical tariffs. The Trump administration has so far inked 17 deals, with more expected, CMS deputy administrator Chris Klomp said yesterday.<\/p>\n

5. Stars in their eyes<\/p>\n

A Starbucks coffee shop in Pinole, California, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Starbucks<\/a> made big adjustments to its loyalty program. As CNBC’s Amelia Lucas reports, it’s paying off.<\/a><\/p>\n

Customers are increasingly taking advantage of the coffee chain’s rewards: Starbucks’ first “free Mod Monday,” for example, saw more than double the number of point redemptions than a previous Monday promotion. Hundreds of thousands of members are also using personal cups to get double the number of stars \u2014 a double-digit increase since the changes were put in place.<\/p>\n

Keep your ears open next week: Starbucks’ loyalty-program shakeup will likely come up on the company’s earnings call scheduled for Tuesday after the bell.<\/p>\n

The Daily Dividend<\/p>\n

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

\u2014 CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Lola Murti, Lora Kolodny, Tobias Burns, Katie Tarasov, Jordan Novet, Jonathan Vanian, Laya Neelakandan, Kevin Breuninger, Spencer Kimball, Jason Gerwitz, Annika Kim Constantino and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Davis Giangiulio assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.<\/p>\n

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter.\u00a0Subscribe here\u00a0to receive future editions in your inbox. Happy Friday. Congratulations to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[247540,28,122,12,101,124435,5886,18031,113,801,213758,214219,803,47536,643,112,2195,1536,121,5846,182110,18030,2194,147571,10058,3489,21],"class_list":{"0":"post-603725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-lco26m","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-news","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-ice-brent-crude-oct25","14":"tag-intel-corp","15":"tag-international-business-machines-corp","16":"tag-investment-strategy","17":"tag-iran","18":"tag-ishares-expanded-tech-software-sector-etf","19":"tag-ishares-semiconductor-etf","20":"tag-israel","21":"tag-j-d-vance","22":"tag-marco-rubio","23":"tag-markets","24":"tag-meta-platforms-inc","25":"tag-microsoft-corp","26":"tag-nasdaq-composite","27":"tag-nike-inc","28":"tag-regeneron-pharmaceuticals-inc","29":"tag-servicenow-inc","30":"tag-starbucks-corp","31":"tag-technology-select-sector-spdr-fund","32":"tag-tesla-inc","33":"tag-texas-instruments-inc","34":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}