5 things you need to know before the stock market opens on Monday, February 27

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

Stock futures rose on Monday as the major averages attempted to recover after ending Friday’s session with large weekly losses. The story is still inflation, the Federal Reserve and consumer spending. Monday will bring data on durable goods orders, and later in the week investors will take a look at new consumer confidence and ISM manufacturing surveys, as well as more key retail earnings. “As we enter a seasonally weak period, with increasing bets that the Fed will go with a 50 basis point hike instead of 25 basis points in March, although still a minority opinion, short-term market risk remains on the downside despite three straight weeks of losses,” said Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of growth investor Navellier & Associates. “The bears are dusting themselves off after being fired in January.” Follow live market updates.

The “Oracle of Omaha” wrote in Berkshire Hathaway’s annual letter that share buybacks are beneficial to all shareholders, saying, “If you are told that all buybacks are detrimental to shareholders or to the country, or are particularly beneficial for CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive).” Warren Buffett’s shareholder letter is eagerly awaited each year for insight into his investment strategy and a broader perspective on the company. Berkshire initiated a buyback program in 2011 and has relied on buybacks in recent years as deals dried up and stocks got more expensive. “The math isn’t complicated: When the number of stocks falls, your interest in our many companies increases,” Buffett said. “It must be emphasized that profits from value-enhancing buybacks benefit all owners – in every way.”

NASA’s Crew 6 mission, which was to take four crew members to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket, was delayed early Monday — just two and a half minutes before launch — due to a technical glitch related to the flow of ignition fluid. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule was scheduled to launch at 1:45 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and would carry two American astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a crew member from the United Arab Emirates. a six month journey. SpaceX later on Monday morning said it would aim for another launch attempt “no sooner than Thursday” morning, just after midnight.

Ukraine has received help from an unlikely donor: Saudi Arabia. The Russian oil ally signed a $400 million aid package for Ukraine after a diplomatic visit involving Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Andriy Yermak, head of the President’s Office Ukraine, were involved. The agreement calls for $100 million in joint humanitarian efforts between the countries, according to the Saudi state news agency. “Of course we are working on a higher level of visits and relations. But now we have finally reached an interaction,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “This … brings concrete and sensitive results for Ukrainians, especially with regard to the release of prisoners of war. I thank our Saudi partners for their cooperation and assistance.” Follow CNBC’s live updates on the war in Ukraine.

Ford has extended the production hiatus of its electric F-150 Lightning after a battery problem caused one of the pickups to catch fire earlier this month. The automaker told CNBC on Friday that its battery supplier, SK, has resumed building battery cells at a facility in Georgia, but Ford said it will take time “to get them to build high-performance cells again and supply them to the Lightning.” production line.” The F-150 Lightning is critical to Ford’s electric vehicle transition plans and is seen by many in the industry as the best candidate for mass adoption in the increasingly crowded electric mid-size truck segment.

– CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel, Yun Li, Holly Ellyatt, Michael Wayland and Reuters contributed to this report.

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