5 things to know before the market opens Friday

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 just I’ll 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:

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:

The Senate reached a deal early this morning that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, a sign of progress toward ending the department’s shutdown. The bill will now head to the House of Representatives, where it could get a vote as soon as today.

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.

Anthropic got its wish in federal court yesterday: Judge Rita Lin granted the artificial intelligence startup’s request for an injunction in its lawsuit against the White House.

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.

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 squash a request from prosecutors seeking to bring back subpoenas issued as part of the criminal probe of Chair Jerome Powell.

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.