5 things to know before the stock market opens on Thursday, September 15

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

With the deadline for a deal fast approaching, President Joe Biden announced a tentative labor agreement early Thursday to prevent a national rail strike. A strike would cause major disruption to the flow of vital goods and services across the US, causing more than 7,000 trains to idle and cost estimated up to 2 billion dollars per day. Negotiations between railways and unions have stalled sick time without pay. The deal announced Thursday will improve railroad workers’ wages and working conditions and give them “peace of mind about the costs of their health care,” Biden said in a statement. The parties have a 12:01 a.m. deadline on Friday to reach an agreement and avoid a strike.

Stock futures contract Thursday morning is relatively flat as investors awaited a fresh round of economic data, including retail sales, import prices and jobless claims. At the beginning of the week, US stocks had their worst day since 2020 after August consumer price index report showed inflation rising 0.1% monthly, despite falling gas prices. Then on Wednesday, producer price index report showed that wholesale prices fell 0.1% in August. Jeff deGraaf, founder and president of Renaissance Macro Research, says that has given him a certain amount of comfort. “Inflation is really a dark cloud in the stock market, but I think it’s really important that people notice that it’s not good and bad in the market, it’s better and worse, and it looks like inflation is getting better,” he said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”

One of the biggest barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles is the lack of a national network of charging stations. On Wednesday, President Biden announced the release of First round of funding for such a network that would fund the construction of stations in 35 states. Biden has been a big proponent of EVs, signing off on legal incentives to incentivize consumers to buy them and companies to build them. “You will all become part of a network of 500,000 charging stations – 500,000 – across the country, installed by IBEW,” Biden said at the Detroit Auto Show., refers to the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers International Labor Union.

Ford revealed a Seventh generation Mustang on Wednesday, a version of the iconic muscle car comes with two gas-powered engines. The Detroit automaker says redesigning the iconic vehicle without using any kind of electrification is part of a “Mustang family” strategy that includes all-electric vehicles. Mustang Mach-E crossover. A slated hybrid version has been scrapped, according to an Automotive News report, which could make the latest Mustang the Detroit automaker’s last gas-powered muscle car. . The Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro – the Mustang’s biggest rivals – are expected to go all-electric in the coming years.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard says he “reimagining capitalism,” and that he and his family are handing over their ownership in the clothing manufacturer he founded some 50 years ago. All profits from the company will be dedicated to projects and organizations that will protect wild lands, biodiversity and combat the climate crisis. The company is worth about $3 billion, according to The New York Times. The privately held company shares will now be owned by a climate-focused trust and a group of nonprofits, called the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective. The company is expected to contribute about $100 million a year, depending on the business situation.

– CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel, Emma Kinery, Leslie Josephs, Michael Wayland and Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

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