5 things to know before the stock market opens on Friday, May 12th

Here are the top stories investors need to start their trading day:

The Nasdaq is doing well, and is on track for its third consecutive week of gains. With that said, the Dow and S&P 500 head into Friday, heading for a second straight week of losses. Investors are chewing through potential signs of an economic slowdown while also dealing with the fallout for the bulk of the earnings season. (Disney, which published a middling report on Wednesday, was a drag on the Dow on Thursday — more below.) Then renewed concern about regional banks, which sank after Backoist reported a sharp drop in deposits. Follow live market updates.

Elon Musk announced Thursday that he will step down as CEO of Twitter in about six weeks. He did not publicly name his successor, but referred to this person as “she”. CNBC’s Julia Burstyn later confirmed that Twitter is in talks with NBCUniversal’s director of advertising Linda Yaccarino for the CEO role. While Musk will inevitably retain a great deal of control over Twitter — he owns it, and plans to continue to oversee the development of his products — Yaccarino, a veteran of the advertising world, could help Twitter boost its flagging advertising business. Tesla investors, eager to get Musk to spend more time on his EV company. The news seemed to impress, sending shares up 2% on Thursday and another 1.5% in extended trading.

Disney has been leading the market since Bob Iger returned as CEO in November. The entertainment giant has reorganized and rolled out a cost-cutting plan that includes laying off 7,000 employees, with the company’s content creators focusing on core brands. Then came Wednesday’s after-hours earnings report, which in turn sent Disney stock down nearly 9% on Thursday. Now, shares are up just 6% for the year. While the company’s streaming losses have improved, it still shows it has a long way to go before turning a profit in this segment. Also, by integrating Hulu into the Disney+ app, Iger seemed to acknowledge that Disney might need a little more than its core, family-friendly content to make the streaming project work.

On Friday, President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet the four big congressional leaders as they try to reach a deal that raises the debt ceiling and prevents the United States from defaulting on its debt. But the sit-down date has been pushed back until early next week, as White House and congressional staffers work behind the scenes. The Treasury said the US could run out of cash to pay its bills as soon as June 1 unless Congress raises the debt limit. House Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, insisted on a combination of spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling. Biden said he would only negotiate spending cuts as part of a separate bill. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to meet with senior banking leaders on the matter early next week as well.

The United States ended its Covid public health emergency on Thursday after three years, more than a million deaths, and a series of sweeping social and economic changes that continues to develop. Deaths and hospitalizations from the disease have fallen dramatically, with vaccines and antivirals on the market. While some worry that the end of the emergency will leave the US vulnerable to future Covid surges, others say we are past the worst of it. Meanwhile, uninsured Americans can still get their Covid shots for free, at least for now, CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino reports.

— CNBC’s Sarah Main, Jonathan Vanian, Julia Borstein, Noah Schedlauer, Emma Kenery, Spencer Kimball and Anika Kim Constantino contributed to this report.

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