5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday

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

U.S. stock futures fell Wednesday after back-to-back gains on Wall Street. Adding pressure, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield moved above 3%, again. Higher interest rates caused home loan demand to drop to its lowest level in 22 years, according to weekly data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Target shares fell nearly 2% in the premarket. They recovered the bulk of Tuesday’s earlier steep losses by the close as investors made their peace with the retailer’s profit warning and inventory reduction plan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on Tuesday all rose nearly 1% after they opened solidly lower and recovered as the day progressed.

As the Federal Reserve gets ready to take in Friday’s key consumer inflation report ahead of next week’s meeting, the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker shows the U.S. economy could be headed for a second consecutive quarter of negative growth, meeting the technical definition of a recession. Talk of recession has accelerated this year amid surging inflation that has put a damper on corporate profit outlooks. Many on Wall Street are still expecting the combination of resilience in consumer spending and job growth to the keep the U.S. out of recession.

Inflation has been most evident in energy costs, with U.S. oil prices back above $120 per barrel Wednesday morning and the national average for a gallon of gas, according to AAA, just 4 cents away from $5. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told senators Tuesday that she expected inflation to remain high. Yellen, a former Fed chair, repeatedly rejected Republican assertions that inflation was being fueled by the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion Covid spending legislation last year. Yellen is set to address a House panel Wednesday.

Moderna said Wednesday that its redesigned Covid booster shot appears to provide stronger protection against the omicron variant than the current one. Early trial results found the reformulated shot led to an eightfold increase in neutralizing antibody levels. The company said the new vaccine being tested also increased antibody levels against all other known Covid variants of concern. Moderna said in a press release that the new shot is its “lead candidate for a Fall 2022 booster.” Shares of Moderna fell more than 1.5% in Wednesday’s premarket. The stock has dropped more than 40% year to date.

• Novavax soared 10% in premarket trading, the morning after it won an endorsement of its Covid vaccine from a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel. The full FDA will now consider whether or not to approve the vaccine, which would be the fourth cleared for use in the U.S.

Spirit Airlines has decided to postpone its Friday shareholders meeting until June 30, so the ultra low-cost carrier can continue talks with its investors about two competing buyout offers from direct rival Frontier Airlines and the bigger JetBlue Airways. Spirit’s announcement came two days after JetBlue sweetened its offer for the discount airline, which has had a merger agreement in place with fellow budget carrier Frontier since February.

— CNBC’s Yun Li, Jesse Pound, Tanaya Macheel, Jeff Cox and Leslie Josephs as well as NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

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