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5 Things to Know Before the Stock Market Opens Friday

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Dow futures rise as stocks head for winning week

Futures contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 150 points on Friday morning, the final trading day of May, as Wall Street looked for a winning week. The Nasdaq Composite has been the best performer this week, rising nearly 2%, while the S&P 500 and Dow have added roughly 1.1% and 0.7%, respectively. For the month, the S&P 500 and Dow are positive while the Nasdaq is down 1.6%.

Dow futures were helped by Salesforce, which rose more than 4% in premarket trading after a stronger-than-expected first-quarter report.

2. Meme stocks surging again

People wear face masks as they walk by a movie theater during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Newport, New Jersey, April 2, 2021.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
People wear face masks as they walk by a movie theater during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Newport, New Jersey, April 2, 2021.

The renewed surge in so-called meme stocks that are popular on Reddit showed no signs of slowing. Shares of movie theater chain AMC jumped more than 20% in premarket trading Friday, while GameStop was up nearly 5%.

AMC's stock price has more than doubled over the past week, while GameStop could open at its highest level since March.

3. Biden to unveil $5 trillion spending proposal

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy during a visit to Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, May 27, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy during a visit to Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, May 27, 2021.

President Joe Biden is set to release a proposal that calls for $5 trillion in additional spending over the next decade, a source familiar with the proposal told CNBC. The proposal also includes raising $3.6 trillion in spending over that time frame, leaving an additional net deficit of $1.4 trillion.

The new spending is for Biden's proposals to boost and extend the economic recovery: the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan.

The plan calls for $300 billion of that spending to be included in the 2022 fiscal year budget, which would push the total spending to $6 trillion for that period, according to the source.

4. Microsoft warns that the SolarWinds hackers are back

Kacper Pempel | REUTERS

The Russian hackers thought to be responsible for the SolarWinds cyberattack have launched another assault, this time using emails from the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to Microsoft. The group, known as Nobelium, sent phishing emails to more than 3,000 accounts using a marketing email address from the platform Constant Contact used by the aid industry, Microsoft said in a blog post. The attack has targeted organizations across at least 24 countries, and at least a quarter of those organizations are involved in international development, humanitarian and human rights work, Microsoft said.

5. Cathie Wood downplays inflation

Cathy Wood
Crystal Mercedes | CNBC
Cathy Wood

Don't count Ark Invest's Cathie Wood among the major investors worried about inflation. The star fund manager said Thursday that deflation was actually a bigger concern, predicting that prices for commodities and key industrial inputs would fall later in the year once the demand crush of the economic reopening normalizes.

A deflationary environment would be good innovation tech stocks and bitcoin, Wood said. She is a long-time bull of both asset classes.

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