5 things to know before the stock market opens Monday

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

Stock futures rose Monday as the major averages attempt a rebound after ending Friday’s session with big weekly losses. The story is still inflation, the Federal Reserve and consumer spending. Monday brings data on durable goods orders, and later in the week investors will get a look at new consumer confidence and ISM manufacturing surveys, as well as more key retail earnings. “As we head into a seasonally weak period, with bets rising that the Fed may go with a 50bps increase instead of a 25bps in March, though still a minority opinion, the short-term market risk remains to the downside despite three straight weeks of losses,” said Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of growth investing firm Navellier & Associates. “The bears are dusting themselves off after getting sacked in January.” Follow live market updates.

The “Oracle of Omaha” wrote in Berkshire Hathaway‘s annual letter that stock buybacks are beneficial to all shareholders, saying, “When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive).” Warren Buffett’s shareholder letter is hotly anticipated each year for insight into his investing strategy and broader perspective on the business. Berkshire initiated a buyback program in 2011 and has relied on repurchases in recent years while deals dried up and stocks grew more expensive. “The math isn’t complicated: When the share count goes down, your interest in our many businesses goes up,” Buffett said. “Gains from value-accretive repurchases, it should be emphasized, benefit all owners — in every respect.”

NASA’s Crew 6 mission, which would take four crewmembers to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket, was delayed early Monday — just two and a half minutes before launch — due to a technical glitch concerning the flow of ignition fluid. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule had been scheduled for liftoff at 1:45 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and were set to carry two U.S. astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a United Arab Emirates crewmate on a six-month trip. SpaceX said later Monday morning it would target “no earlier than Thursday” morning, just after midnight, for another launch attempt.

Ukraine has received aid from an unlikely donor: Saudi Arabia. The Russia oil ally signed a $400 million aid package for Ukraine after a diplomatic visit involving Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine. The agreement calls for $100 million in joint humanitarian efforts between the countries, according to Saudi’s state press agency. “Of course, we are working on a higher level of visits and relations. But now we have finally reached an interaction,” Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “This … brings concrete and sensitive results for Ukrainians, in particular with regard to the release of prisoners of war. I thank our Saudi partners for their cooperation and assistance.” Follow CNBC’s live udates on the war in Ukraine.

Ford has extended a production pause on its electric F-150 Lightning after a battery issue resulted in one of the pickups catching fire earlier this month. The automaker told CNBC on Friday that its battery supplier, SK, has resumed building battery cells at a Georgia plant, but Ford said it will take time “to ensure they are back to building high-quality cells and to deliver them to the Lightning production line.” The F-150 Lightning is critical to Ford’s electric vehicle transition plans and is viewed by many in the industry as the best candidate for mass adoption out of the increasingly crowded electric mid-size truck segment.

— CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel, Yun Li, Holly Ellyatt, Michael Wayland and Reuters contributed to this report.

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