5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday, September 30

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

Dow futures rose about 100 points, or about 0.3%, on Thursday, the last day of September and in the third quarter. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq saw similar percentage gains as the rise in bond yields paused, a day after interest rates hit tech stocks again. The Nasdaq fell Wednesday for its fourth consecutive session. However, the S&P 500 managed to break a two-day losing streak and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded after Tuesday’s sell-off. All three stock indexes were down for the month.

• For the third quarter, at Wednesday’s close, the S&P 500 was actually up more than 1.4% on pace for its sixth consecutive positive quarter, the best streak in a nine-quarter streak that ended. during the last three months of 2017.
• For the Dow and Nasdaq, Thursday’s trading could determine whether they end the third quarter in positive or negative territory.
• Looking ahead, October saw massive sell-offs, but it’s usually the start of better seasonal performance for stocks through to the end of the year. All three benchmarks recorded solid gains in 2021.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond fell more than 18% in pre-market trading on Thursday as the company said it saw a sharp drop in traffic in August, dealing a blow to its second-quarter tax results. The big box retailer also faces industry-wide supply chain complications, which CEO Mark Tritton says are “pervasive.”

The 10-year Treasury yield fell on Thursday but remained near highs through June at around 1.52%. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell returns to Capitol Hill, this time to testify before the House Financial Services Committee. On Tuesday, he told the Senate Banking Committee that inflationary pressures could last longer than expected. Powell echoed this warning during an ECB event on Wednesday.

The Labor Department releases its weekly review of first jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect first jobless claims to fall to 335,000 for the week ending September 25.

At the same time, the Commerce Department is set to release its third overview of the second quarter gross domestic product. The annual growth rate of the economy in the second quarter is expected to remain at the same level of 6.6% as estimated a month ago.

The Senate has reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday evening. The law would fund the government until early December and provide funds for hurricane relief and resettlement of Afghan refugees. But that will not include a suspension of the debt ceiling. Congress must pass a fundraising bill before midnight to avoid a shutdown.

Lawmakers will now have to separately raise the US debt ceiling by October 18 to avoid a first government default. The House on Wednesday passed a bill that virtually died when it came to the Senate because Republicans don’t want anything to do with raising the debt ceiling.

The $ 1,000 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill faces an uncertain future. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Wednesday that she wanted it passed on Thursday, but left the option of delaying the vote. The package, which was passed by the Senate last month, faces opposition from Progressive Democrats, who want to first act on their party’s massive $ 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill to bolster social safety nets. House Republicans are trying to pressure Democrats, urging GOP members to vote “no” on the infrastructure bill.

Facebook’s head of global security was called in to testify at Thursday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing into the effects of Instagram on young users. Political opponents in Congress are united in their outrage at Facebook for privately compiling information that its Instagram photo-sharing service appears to seriously harm some teens, especially girls, while publicly downplaying the negative effects of the platform. -popular shape.

• Growing public pressure on the disclosures, reported by the Wall Street Journal, prompted Facebook to suspend its work on a children’s version of Instagram.
• Facebook, in a blog post on Wednesday, said it “provided Congress with the two full search sets that were the primary focus of the Wall Street Journal’s mis-characterization of Instagram’s internal research on teens and the well-being “.

– NBC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest pandemic news with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.