5 things to know before stock markets open on Friday, May 12

Here are the most important news for investors to start their trading day:

The Nasdaq is humming along, on track to post its third consecutive winning week. The Dow and S&P 500, however, headed for a second straight week of losses on Friday. Investors are chewing over possible signs of an economic slowdown, while struggling after much of the earnings season. (Disney, which issued a neutral report on Wednesday, was a drag on the Dow on Thursday — more below.) Then there’s renewed concern about regional banks, which slumped after PacWest reported a sharp decline in deposits. Follow live market updates.

Elon Musk announced Thursday that he will step down as CEO of Twitter in six weeks. He did not publicly name his successor, but referred to this person as “her”. CNBC’s Julia Boorstin later confirmed that Twitter was in talks with NBCUniversal head of advertising Linda Yaccarino for the CEO position. While Musk will inevitably have more control over Twitter — he owns it, and he plans to oversee its product development — Yaccarino, a seasoned operator in the ad world, could help Twitter improve its flagging ad business. Tesla investors are eager for Musk to spend more time on his EV company. Thursday appeared to favor the news, sending shares up 2% and another 1.5% in extended trading.

Disney has been riding high on the market since Bob Iger returned as CEO in November. He restructured the entertainment company and unveiled a cost-cutting plan that included 7,000 layoffs, while refocusing the company’s content creators on core brands. The after-hours earnings report that followed on Wednesday, in turn, pushed Disney’s stock down nearly 9% on Thursday. Now the stock is up just 6% year-to-date. While the company’s streaming losses improved, it still had a long way to go before turning a profit in the segment. And by folding Hulu into the Disney+ app, Iger seems to acknowledge that Disney may need a little more than its core, family-friendly content for its streaming venture.

President Joe Biden was set to meet Friday with four major congressional leaders as they try to hammer out a deal that would raise the debt ceiling and keep the U.S. from defaulting on its debt. However, the session was delayed until early next week as White House and congressional staffers worked behind the scenes. The U.S. could run out of money to pay its bills by June 1 if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, the Treasury Department said. House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have pushed to pair spending cuts with debt ceiling increases. Biden has said he would only negotiate spending cuts as part of a separate bill. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to meet with top bank leaders on the issue early next week.

The United States ended its public health emergency on Thursday after three years, more than a million deaths and widespread, still-evolving social and economic changes. With the availability of vaccines and antiviral drugs on the market, deaths and hospitalizations from the disease have decreased dramatically. Some worry that the end of the emergency will leave America vulnerable to future waves of Covid, while others say we’re past the worst of it. Meanwhile, uninsured Americans can still get free Covid shots, at least for now, CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino reports.

– CNBC’s Sarah Min, Jonathan Vanian, Julia Boorstin, Noah Scheidlover, Emma Kinery, Spencer Kimball and Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report.

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