5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday, May 18

By Buzzing Today

May 19, 2023

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on May 17, 2023 in New York City.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

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

1. Heating up

Stocks are looking to round out a hot week, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite notched their highest closing levels since August of last year. The S&P closed Thursday up 0.94%, the Nasdaq closed up 1.51% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.34%. A strong quarterly report from Walmart Thursday helped boost the market, offering hope of a resilient consumer. But the big watcher on Wall Street remains debt ceiling negotiations. “I think the debt ceiling is personally a lot of noise, but I think investors and even traders are having a hard time ignoring,” said Jeff Kilburg, CEO of KKM Financial. Follow live market updates.

2. Working for the weekend

U.S Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks to reporters as he stands with Congressional Republicans from both the U.S. House and Senate during an event addressing debt ceiling negotiations with President Joe Biden outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 17, 2023.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

Debt ceiling negotiations between the country’s top political leaders are expected to continue into the weekend, as they face a June 1 deadline at which point the U.S. could default on its bills. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday he was optimistic the two sides could reach an agreement in time to hold a House vote next week. “I see the path that we can come to an agreement,” he said. “And I think we have a structure now and everybody’s working hard, and I mean, we’re working two or three times a day, then going back, getting more numbers.” Both sides have been tight-lipped about what specific changes or concessions have been made, but all leaders agree they’re making progress.

3. To the summit

HIROSHIMA, JAPAN – MAY 18: (L-R) British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz walk to a flower wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph for Atomic Bomb Victims in the Peace Memorial Park on the sidelines of the G7 summit on May 18, 2023.

Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The Group of 7 summit begins Friday in Hiroshima, Japan. It’s an annual meeting of the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States and this year much of the focus is on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The leaders agreed to ramp up pressure on Russia, committing to support Ukraine’s recovery budget and squeeze Russia’s economy. “We will starve Russia of G-7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” the group said in a statement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to join the leaders in Japan during the summit. Follow CNBC’s live blog for Russia-Ukraine war updates.