5 things to know before the stock market opens on Monday, July 8

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

THE S&P 500 hit its 34th record closing high of the year on Friday. Its rally for 2024 reached 16.7%. Nasdaq Composite Index also closed at a new high, led by You’re here And Nvidiaand its gain since the beginning of the year reached 22.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Averageadded 0.17%, or 67.87 points. Friday’s gain came as the latest jobs report revived hopes of a rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Investors will be eagerly awaiting fresh inflation data this week: the June consumer price index is due out on Thursday, while producer price index data will be released on Friday. Follow live market updates.

Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge related to two 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people, the Justice Department said Sunday. U.S. prosecutors had said the company violated a 2021 agreement that shielded it from prosecution. Under the new plea deal, Boeing agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine and install an independent monitor to oversee the company’s compliance for three years. The deal, which requires a judge’s approval, would also require the company to invest at least $455 million in compliance and safety programs, and Boeing agreed to have its board meet with the victims’ families. The agreement spares Boeing from trial.

And here we are again. David Ellison’s Skydance Media and Paramount Global announced Sunday night that they have agreed to merge after months of negotiations. Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, will sell her family’s stake in the company in a complicated transaction that will result in a merger. The news comes just weeks after a previous deal fell through, in part because of what a person familiar with the matter said were Redstone’s concerns that the deal had been tweaked too much. The new negotiations sweetened the deal for Redstone, increasing the family’s payout to $1.75 billion and strengthening legal protections against potential shareholder lawsuits, Reuters reported. A word of warning: The deal also gives Paramount 45 days to come up with a better offer, so there could be more drama to come.

President Joe Biden is entering a busy week as the House and Senate return from recess and pressure mounts for him to drop out of the race. Several House Democrats have called on Biden to step down after a disastrous debate performance against his opponent, former President Donald Trump. Biden gave a highly anticipated interview to ABC News Friday night — his first since the debate — in which he defended his mental health and vowed to stay in the race. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, a close ally of the president, said on CNN Sunday that “time is of the essence” and noted that the interview “didn’t answer all the questions that people in my state have.” NBC reported that Biden’s future as party leader was sharply questioned during a call convened by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., with lawmakers Sunday afternoon.

You’re here Tesla shares soared Friday, officially erasing their losses for 2024. They had a dismal start to the year, falling as low as $138.80 in April. But they rose 27% last week, closing Friday at $251.55 a share. The rally was sparked by a better-than-expected second-quarter deliveries report released Tuesday. Deliveries fell 4.8% from a year earlier, but they beat Wall Street estimates and were a smaller decline than the company’s first-quarter decline. Tesla has been offering steep discounts and incentives to lure customers to its aging lineup of electric vehicles since last year.

— CNBC’s Pia Singh, Leslie Josephs, Lillian Rizzo, Alex Sherman, Rebecca Picciotto and Lora Kolodny; NBC’s Julie Tsirkin, Scott Wong, Rebecca Kaplan and Syedah Asghar; and Reuters contributed to this report.

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