5 things to know before the stock market opens Monday

The Dow is taking a three-session losing streak into the new trading week as coronavirus cases surge in the U.S. and around the world. The S&P 500 on Friday lost 18 points for its second negative session in the past three. The Nasdaq, however, eked out a 3-point advance Friday, extending its winning streak to six. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 were up 1% and nearly 1.9%, respectively. The Nasdaq was the big winner, jumping 3.7% last week.

New York City on Monday enters phase two of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan, which allows some in-store shopping, haircuts at salons and barber shops, and some workers to return to their offices.

Daily new infections in the U.S. totaled more than 30,000 on Friday and Saturday, the highest since May 1. The surge is not only happening in the U.S. The World Health Organization said more than 183,000 new cases were reported globally Sunday, the largest single-day worldwide increase.

China suspended imports of chicken from the Tyson Foods plant in Springdale, Arkansas, citing coronavirus infections among workers there. Tyson said it’s looking into the matter, but added it’s confident the company’s products are safe. Chinese officials began testing meat, seafood and fresh produce for coronavirus last week after Beijing saw a case cluster traced by to the sprawling Xinfadi fresh food market, just outside China’s capital city. Testing Beijing’s 20 million residents continued on Sunday, with city officials saying they can screen almost 1 million people per day.

President Donald Trump tweeted early Monday that U.S. coronavirus testing is “so much greater” and “so much move advanced, that is makes us look like we have more cases, especially proportionally, than other countries.”

At his Tulsa, Oklahoma rally on Saturday, Trump drew criticism for saying he asked his administration to slow down coronavirus screenings because robust testing turns up too many infections.

White House officials later insisted that the president had been “clearly speaking in jest.” The rally drew far fewer attendees than expected, with teens on TikTok taking credit for securing reservations for the event that they that never intended to use.

A standoff over the independence of one of the nations’s most important federal prosecutor’s offices ended with Geoffrey Berman agreeing to step down Saturday as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Berman’s office had been investigating Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani. Attorney General William Barr said that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton has been chosen to replace Berman but agreed to name the prosecutor’s own chief deputy, Audrey Strauss, as interim chief.

In another imbroglio, former national security adviser John Bolton told ABC News that Trump’s decision-making is a “danger for the republic.” The interview ran on Sunday evening, one day after a federal judge denied a request from Justice Department to halt the sale and distribution Bolton’s book, which is set for release Tuesday. However, Saturday’s ruling was far from a total victory for Bolton, with the judge suggesting Bolton violated his employment contract.

Reprinted from CNBC. The copyrights are reserved by the original author.