Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Half-day
Stocks are closing out a shortened trading week after the Thanksgiving holiday with a half-day session on Friday. As of Wednesday's close, the major indexes were all up nearly 1% so far on the week. The last full trading day of the period saw broad gains across the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite. A winning result as of market close on Friday — at 1 p.m. ET — would seal four consecutive weeks of gains for each of the major averages. Follow live market updates.
2. TGIBF
This Black Friday, there's more than discounts on display. With shoppers increasingly watching their wallets and holiday deals starting earlier than ever, retailers are going to great lengths to draw in customers and convert sales. Companies are rolling out pop-up events, flash sales and eye-catching merch to try to convince shoppers to spend. The unofficial start to the holiday shopping season comes at a cautionary time for retailers: Everyone from Best Buy and Dick's Sporting Goods to Target and Walmart has warned of year-end softness.
3. Humanitarian pause
A pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas began Friday. It's the first temporary agreement of peace since war broke out in the region in mid-October. The truce, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., is due to last four days and will allow for humanitarian aid deliveries as well as the exchange of hostages: Hamas has agreed to release 13 people abducted on Oct. 7, and Israeli forces will allow a number of detained Palestinian people to return home. Follow live updates from the Israel-Hamas war.
4. Every minute counts
Airlines are working to shave minutes off departures and arrivals in an effort that could ultimately save them millions. Major carriers like American, United and Delta are all implementing new strategies like automatic gate assignments, new boarding procedures and digital messaging to help avoid delays. Even small snags can ripple across the flight schedule, causing costly disruptions. Some of the new tools will be put to test this holiday season, a year on from major travel mishaps that left thousands of passengers stranded.
5. $115 million heist
Roughly $115 million has been stolen from two cryptocurrency platforms after hackers gained access and pilfered out the digital funds. The platforms, HTX exchange and Heco Chain, are both linked to high-profile entrepreneur Justin Sun, who confirmed the breaches. An estimated $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies was stolen from HTX, formerly known as Huobi, and a total of $85.4 million was stolen from Heco Chain, a so-called blockchain bridge. HTX said that it is identifying the source of the attack and "has implemented urgent measures to protect user assets."
– CNBC's Christopher Hayes, Melissa Repko, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Ruxandra Iordache, Leslie Josephs and Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
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