5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday

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

The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 are in positive territory for the year, nearly three trading weeks in, after gains on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, led by Apple, rose 1.35% during the session, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.88%. The broad market index is now just 0.33% off its all-time closing record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gained 0.54% Thursday to shake off three straight days of losses, is still negative for 2024, down 0.59%. One stock to watch: Spirit Airlines jumped 20% premarket after the carrier raised its fourth-quarter forecast. Follow live market updates.

Nelson Peltz is making his run at the Disney board — and laying out exactly how he sees it all going down. The activist investor’s Trian Fund Management formally nominated Peltz and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to board seats on Thursday, bolstered by a five-point plan on everything from CEO succession to streaming margins to studio oversight. In the coming weeks, Peltz plans to make his case to the shareholders on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, as well as a newly created website and via a dense white paper, CNBC’s Alex Sherman reports. Trian is revealing its plans ahead of Disney’s earnings report next month and the company’s shareholder meeting this spring.

Department store retailer Macy’s is cutting about 2,350 jobs, or 3.5% of its workforce, and closing five mall locations. It’s all part of an effort to reduce costs and revive slowing sales. The affected stores — in Arlington, Virginia; San Leandro, California; Lihue, Hawaii; Simi Valley, California and Tallahassee, Florida — will be closed sometime early this year. A company spokesman said the retailer was…