5 things to know before the stock market opens on Friday, August 26

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

It’s been a whole week to this point. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is due to speak at 10:00 AM ET from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the entire investment world will be listening. Investors want to hear how hawkish he will sound when discussing the Fed’s next steps in the fight against runaway inflation. The central bank’s main policy committee is expected to raise rates by another three-quarters of a point next month, but markets are waiting for clarity on what Powell and his team will do next. But, as CNBC’s Patti Domm writes, it’s unlikely the market will hear what it wants from the Fed boss.

Markets looked set for a grim opening on Friday as they look forward to Powell’s speech later in the morning. Stocks had a winning Thursday but are poised for a second consecutive losing week as the summer rally dwindles. Profit and loss reports have also all but dried up and no big company will matter on Friday. Gap, however, is doing well in after-hours trading after it reported its quarterly results and withdrew its full-year guidance after Thursday’s close. “Overall, this remains a really attractive moment to invest in equities. The company’s underlyings are high for the highest quality companies, and multiples are declining due to macro concerns,” Upholdings portfolio manager Robert Cantwell told CNBC.

Investors are still interested Bed Bath & Beyond, after meme maven Ryan Cohen gave up his stake last week, will get an update next week on how the company plans to shore up its finances and try to win back customers. The Wall Street Journal reported that the home improvement chain is close to receiving a $400 million lifeline from Sixth Street Partners, which has provided loans to other distressed retailers such as JC Penney. It will be difficult for Bed Bath to restructure, even if it strengthens its balance sheet, as inflation-ridden shoppers buy more groceries and fewer essentials.

The labor movement won a big victory Thursday in Michigan, where workers The Chipotle restaurant voted to merge with the Teamsters. This is the first Mexican chain to do so. “Teamsters have the backs of these workers. They will have a union they can be proud of that knows how to get things done,” the president of Teamsters Local 243 said. Meanwhile, the company told CNBC it was “disappointed” in development. Chipotle has five days to file objections. weeks after the chain permanently closed a Maine restaurant following a decision by employees to apply for a union vote.

We need to better understand why the FBI obtained a search warrant to seize several boxes of documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida earlier this month. A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to release an edited version of the affidavit used to substantiate the search. Authorities warned that opening the document would reveal too much information about the investigation and potentially endanger witnesses. The document is expected to be printed by Friday afternoon. Read more here.

— CNBC’s Patti Domm, Tana Machil, Melissa Repko, and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.

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