5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

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

1. Market doldrums

There’s not much going on these days in U.S. equities markets. Wednesday gave us another mixed session, with the Dow up more than 90 points and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 finishing down after a recent rally. Right now, it’s all about taking stock of new economic data to see where we are in the fight against inflation and whether the oft-predicted but elusive recession is coming. Weekly jobless claims numbers are due Thursday morning. And as of right now, the market expects the Federal Reserve to hold its benchmark rate steady next week. Follow live market updates.

2. Bad air lingers

Jokes about the apocalypse and “Blade Runner 2049” aside, the air quality in the midwestern and northeastern United States remains dangerous for millions. Government and corporate officials alike are telling people to avoid breathing the smoky air, which is heavy with particulates from raging wildfires in Canada. New York City’s air pollution was the worst in the world for a time Wednesday. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called it an “emergency crisis.” Baseball games were canceled, outdoor events were moved indoors, and flights were delayed. Google and other employers told East Coast employees to work from home to stay out of the bad air. Authorities expect the problem to linger in the Northeast through Thursday and maybe a bit longer.

3. GameStop flop

Shares of video game retailer GameStop tanked in off-hours trading after the company announced that it had fired CEO Matthew Furlong and named activist investor and meme stock maven Ryan Cohen, already the company’s chairman, executive chairman. (Curious about Cohen? Be sure to watch CNBC’s new documentary about him, “Making of the Meme King.”) GameStop didn’t even name Furlong in a curt news release announcing the change. “Mr. Cohen’s responsibilities include capital allocation and overseeing management,” the company said. The stunning move came just as GameStop reported quarterly results, as well. While it narrowed its losses from a year ago, the company experienced another decline in sales. So Cohen has plenty of work cut out for him.

4. Trouble for Trump

Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner to win the GOP nomination in 2024, is officially a target of special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal probe into how reams of classified documents ended up at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. NBC News reported late Wednesday that Trump’s attorneys in the case were told of his status in the investigation. When prosecutors name someone a target, it means they believe that person committed a crime. Targets are often indicted, as well. Trump, who has called the authorities investigating him “fascists,” has said he’s done nothing wrong. Smith is also probing Trump as part of a separate investigation of his attempt to stay in office after he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. The former president has already been indicted on state charges in New York, and a prosecutor in Georgia is investigating him for election interference.

5. Instagram’s abuse problem

Meta’s popular photo-sharing app, Instagram, has become a thriving marketplace and network for people trafficking in images of child sex abuse. New findings show that the app’s recommendation algorithm connects and promotes accounts that feature images of the abuse of minors, according to investigations by The Wall Street Journal and researchers at UMass and Stanford. Meta said it is working to fix the problem and has set up an internal task force to address the investigations’ findings.