5 things to know before markets open on Friday

Happy Friday. As if this week wasn’t newsworthy enough, the February jobs report will be released in just a few minutes.

Stock futures fell this morning following a losing day.

Here are five important things investors need to know to start their trading day.

Investors have been on a roller coaster ride this week as the war between the US and Iran has roiled markets. Now, the question is: Will yesterday’s decline resume today, or will there be another rebound?

Here’s what you need to know:

The February employment report is scheduled to be released this morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.3% while the headline data shows an increase of 50,000 positions last month.

The report comes as economists question the health of the labor market, which has been described as largely “stable” so far this year. But as CNBC’s Jeff Cox points out, the fact that last year’s growth was primarily driven by the health care sector has some wondering whether the employment situation is more problematic than it seems.

Don’t miss “Squawk on the Street” with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett at 9 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC or CNBC+.

In the third quarter, a viral “milkshake” ad drew shoppers to the garden; gap. In the fourth quarter, winter storms had the opposite effect.

The apparel retailer announced yesterday that the historic storm and hundreds of associated store closures negatively impacted its results during the holiday quarter. Gap narrowly missed analysts’ earnings estimates for the period, and its stock price fell more than 8% in premarket trading this morning.

meanwhile, costco Exceeded expectations on both lines. Wholesale Clubs, which sued the government over President Trump’s tariffs, said they would lower prices if they received refunds following the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate many tariffs.

Attorneys general from 20 states are taking President Trump to court again, this time aiming to block the administration’s newly announced global tariffs.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday, prosecutors allege that President Trump is abusing Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, violating the Constitution and statutes that require consistent application of tariffs.

White House Press Secretary Khush Desai said the administration would “vigorously defend” Trump’s collection in court.

President Trump announced yesterday that Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will replace Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Trump’s decision to fire Noem was largely a result of her claims that he personally approved a $220 million DHS ad campaign for immigration enforcement, MS Now reported. Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s chief adviser, is also leaving the company, the network said.

Even if Noem is fired, Democrats in Washington said they have no intention of backing away from the DHS funding impasse. The Senate yesterday rejected a bill to provide funding to government agencies that ran out of money last month.

Here are some headlines you may have missed this week.

—CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Spencer Kimball, Kevin Bruninger, Jeff Cox, Gabriel Fonrouge, Hugh Song, Ashley Caputo, Dan Mangan, Garrett Downs and Justin Papp contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this version.