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Happy Friday. If you’re as fascinated by the retail sector as I am, you’ll want to read this exclusive from CNBC’s Melissa Repko. I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just say that Target isn’t over its boycott woes.
Stock futures are lower this morning. The three major indexes fell sharply yesterday.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. +10 days
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks next to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 26, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he is extending the pause on attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, pushing back the deadline to April 6. The 10-day extension came at the request of Iran’s government, Trump said.
Here’s what to know:
2. DHS deal
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, speaks to members of the media outside his office at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 26, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The package does not include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, exactly what Democrats have been calling for, though it also doesn’t include the changes to ICE’s enforcement practices that Democrats wanted.
The agreement comes as the partial government shutdown forces Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay, causing long security lines at airports. Trump said yesterday that he would bypass Congress and issue an executive order to “immediately” pay TSA workers.
3. Claude’s court conquest
The Anthropic logo appears on a smartphone screen in this photo illustration, as the AI firm files lawsuits against the United States Department of Defense after the Pentagon moves to blacklist the company following disagreements over safeguards limiting the use of its AI systems for surveillance and autonomous weapons.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Lin said the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic was “classic illegal First Amendment retaliation.” Anthropic said in a statement that it was “grateful to the court for moving swiftly” and that it would still like to work with the government if possible.
In other AI policy news, venture capitalist David Sacks said yesterday that his role as Trump’s crypto and AI czar was ending. Sacks said he was joining the President’s Council of Advisers on Science & Technology, a federal advisory committee.
4. Fighting words
Former U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh speaks during a monetary policy conference at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution in Palo Alto, California, U.S. May 9, 2025.
Ann Saphir | Reuters
Sen. Elizabeth Warren didn’t mince words in a Thursday letter to Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve. “You have learned nothing from your failures,” Warren told Warsh in the scathing eight-page letter.
The Massachusetts Democrat said Warsh’s prior tenure at the Fed between 2006 and 2011 “should disqualify you from a promotion.” Warren also warned that Warsh would offer a “rubber stamp for President Trump’s Wall Street First Agenda.” Warsh did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, the Fed’s Board of Governors is urging a judge to quash a request from prosecutors seeking to bring back subpoenas issued as part of the criminal probe of Chair Jerome Powell.
5. Batter up
Overall view of Truist Park in the fifth inning during game two of a double header between the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins on August 9, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Matthew Grimes Jr. | Atlanta Braves | Getty Images
Yesterday was Opening Day for the MLB’s 2026 season. As CNBC’s Alex Sherman reports, it may be the league’s last before major changes kick in.
The MLB’s collective bargaining agreement with its players expires at the end of the season. Bruce Meyer, the interim executive director of the MLB Players Association, said last month that a lockout is likely amid negotiations.
Additionally, one-third of the league’s teams did not have local TV deals set for the season until just this week. Some teams announced Wednesday that their new MLB-operated team channels would be carried by DirecTV.
The Daily Dividend
Here are some stories we’d recommend making time for this weekend:
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan, Sean Conlon, Yee Ling Shan, Itzel Franco, Kevin Breuninger, Ashley Capoot, Jennifer Elias, Justin Papp, Leslie Josephs and Alex Sherman contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.
