5 things to know before the market opens on Friday October 1st

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

Dow futures rose about 150 points on Friday, reversing a previous sharp drop on the first day of October after the worst month of the year. The pre-market discussions have resulted in some good trial news for Merck’s oral Covid treatment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fared relatively better than the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in last week’s drop, suffered the most severe decline on Thursday, down 1.6%. The S&P 500 fell about 1.2%. The Nasdaq, relieved by the decline in bond yields, fell 0.4%.

• For September, the Dow Jones fell 4.3%; the S&P 500 fell almost 4.8%; and the Nasdaq fell 5.3%.
• For the third quarter, which also ended Thursday, the Dow Jones fell 1.9%; the S&P 500 gained 0.2%; and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%.
• However, all three benchmarks were still solidly higher for the year, with respective gains of around 10.6%, 14.7% and 12.1%.
• Historically, October has seen massive sell-offs, but overall it’s generally the start of better seasonal performance for stocks.

Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics plan to seek emergency clearance for their oral antiviral treatment for Covid after reporting “compelling results” in clinical trials. Dow Merck stock jumped nearly 8% in Friday’s pre-market. The drug, molnupiravir, has reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by about 50% for patients with mild or moderate Covid cases, the companies said on Friday. Molnupiravir is taken by mouth and works by inhibiting the replication of Covid inside the body. Pfizer is working on its own oral antiviral. Gilead Sciences’ antiviral remdesivir, which is administered intravenously, was cleared for emergency use a year ago.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell on Friday, below 1.5%. Earlier this week, the 10-year yield hit three-month highs above 1.567%. The government is about to release a measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve uses to set monetary policy. The price index for basic personal consumption expenditure in August is expected to rise 3.5% from the previous year. This would be just slightly below the 3.6% year-over-year increase in July, which corresponded to a 30-year increase. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that inflationary pressures could last longer than expected, citing supply chain bottlenecks as a key factor.

Congress prevented a government shutdown before Thursday’s midnight deadline. President Joe Biden has signed a bill that funds federal operations until December 3. The adoption of the so-called continuous resolution averted a crisis. However, lawmakers still face one more: an imminent threat of default unless Congress raises or suspends the debt ceiling by October 18. The Democrats, who control both the House and the Senate, have attempted to fund the government and suspend the debt ceiling under the same bill. Senate Republicans blocked the legislation, forcing Democrats to meet funding needs first.

Biden has failed to break a Democratic deadlock that threatens his national agenda. A group of progressive House members and two centrist Democratic senators were still miles apart on key issues Thursday night. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi originally scheduled a vote Thursday on a bipartisan $ 1,000 billion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate, but postponed it because it lacked the necessary votes . Home progressives fear that if they pass the moderately championed infrastructure bill, they will lose their clout to push the moderates to support a transformative budget reconciliation bill with a prize of at least 3,000. billion additional dollars.

– Follow all market actions like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest pandemic news with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.