The stock market rebound, Nike’s recovery questions, ‘Project Hail Mary’ and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Wednesday. It’s also April Fools’ Day, so be wary of those too-good-to-be-true company announcements today.

Stock futures are rising this morning. The three major indexes staged a big rally yesterday, ending their tough month and quarter on a high note.

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

Stocks recorded their best day since May yesterday after an an unconfirmed report said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is open to ending the U.S.-Iran war with guarantees. Even with Tuesday’s gains, the major averages still logged steep losses in March.

Here’s what to know:

Nike beat Wall Street’s top- and bottom-line expectations for its fiscal third quarter yesterday. But investor concerns about its declining sales forecast for the rest of the year weighed on the stock, with shares dropping more than 10% in overnight trading.

Revenue from the athletic retailer’s North American market grew by 3% in the quarter, just short of analysts’ expectations. Nike’s China market revenue, meanwhile, shrunk by 7%, though that was still higher than the Street feared. The company expects a 20% decline in its China market during the current quarter.

As CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge notes, the report comes amid Nike’s turnaround plan. CEO Elliott Hill acknowledged in a release that “the pace of progress is different across the portfolio.”

Trump signed an executive order placing limits on mail-in voting yesterday, the White House said, a move that was quickly slammed by voting-rights advocates.

Under the order, the Department of Homeland Security would work with the Social Security Administration to compile a list of verified U.S. citizens in each state who are eligible to vote. The U.S. Postal Service, rather than state election authorities, would be in charge of delivering main-in and absentee ballots to individuals on the “State-specific Mail-in and Absentee Participation List.”

Critics say the order would disenfranchise millions of Americans. It will likely be challenged in court, where it could be blocked before this November’s closely watched midterm elections.

OpenAI closed a record-breaking funding round, the startup said yesterday. It brought in $122 billion in committed capital, an increase from the $110 billion figure the company announced in February.

OpenAI said it opened participation to investors through bank channels for the first time, raising $3 billion from individual investors. SoftBank co-led the round, in partnership with investors including Andreessen Horowitz and D. E. Shaw Ventures.

As CNBC’s Ashley Capoot notes, OpenAI is gearing up for a potential IPO. The Sam Altman-led company said yesterday that it’s generating $2 billion in revenue per month but has yet to reach profitability.

“Project Hail Mary” is a box office hit. As CNBC’s Sarah Whitten writes, it’s the success story that Amazon MGM — and Hollywood — needed.

The movie, which stars Ryan Gosling, has grossed more than $300 million globally since its release two weeks ago, marking the best performance ever for an Amazon MGM film. The science fiction picture also hasn’t seen as big of a week-over-week decline as is typically expected for blockbusters.

Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango, said “Project Hail Mary” set a “new gold standard” for Amazon. “The power of the moviegoing experience is on full display right now,” he said.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Spencer Kimball, Jordan Novet, Chloe Taylor, Liz Napolitano, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Garrett Downs, Ashley Capoot, Sarah Whitten, Sarah Min and Yun Li contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.