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:

U.S. stock markets enter the week coming off a strong five-day frame. The Dow on Friday broke a four-week losing streak, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also finished the week higher. Whether that was a brief reprieve or the beginning of a new rebound remains to be seen, but the general mood is glum. While inflation has cooled, the economic picture continues to favor high inflation. That means more hawkishness from the Federal Reserve. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll hear from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, and investors will be eager for the latest clues on how the central bank will approach its next rate-hike decision. This Friday also brings the February jobs report. If it’s anything like January’s number (a surprisingly big 517,000), watch out. Follow live markets updates.

Over the weekend, China announced it would be targeting 5% GDP growth for the year. That’s fairly conservative, considering the country’s GDP target for 2022 was slightly higher than that, even as it still had so-called “zero Covid” measures in place. (China ended up reporting 3% GDP growth for 2022.) The muted official projection from the Chinese government reflects the broader uncertainty in markets and economies across the globe. There’s the Russian war in Ukraine, the U.S.-China trade and tech standoff, India’s continued emergence and persistent worries about inflation. In China, meanwhile, the government faces the aftermath of lifting Covid restrictions and a real estate sector that has a long way to go before it recovers.

Earnings season is tapering off, but there are still plenty of consumer and retail names due to report. Investors are keeping a sharp eye on such companies to get a more detailed idea of how the consumer is faring in this inflation-beset economy. So far, the word on the retail front is “caution,” as companies are expecting a more thrifty consumer this year. Here are the big names reporting earnings this week:

Tesla is flexing its advantage in the electric vehicle space by again lowering prices on some of its models while competitors such as General Motors and Ford scramble to catch up on EVs. The company cut the prices for two of its more expensive models, the S and X, according to Reuters and other outlets. The cuts come soon after Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that demand had picked up following other recent price cuts. “The desire for people to own a Tesla is extremely high. The limiting factor is their ability to pay for a Tesla,” he said last week at the company’s investor day. Stoking demand has become Tesla’s top priority after a brutal 2022 for the company’s stock.

The battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut rages on. Russian forces have had their Ukrainian counterparts on the ropes in the area for a little while now, but it is still unclear how long the fight there will last. A Ukraine commander said Sunday that defenses were still holding up, although he conceded the situation in Bakhmut was “very much like hell, as it is on the entire eastern front.” Elsewhere, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told CNN that the only condition for peace talks would be the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine. Follow live war updates.

– CNBC’s Sarah Min, Evelyn Cheng and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.

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