5 things to know before the stock market opens Tuesday

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

1. Those stubborn bond yields

For much of Monday, stocks looked like they were primed for a good day. Apple, fresh off a buy rating from Goldman Sachs, lifted stocks, including some of its fellow mega cap tech companies. But the three major indices finished the day only slightly higher. Toward the end of the session, bond yields crept up again, taking the steam out of the equities rally. “It really just felt like back to kind of those 2020 days where a handful of the FANG names were doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and to us, that suggests this rally is feeling a bit on its last legs,” BTIG’s Jonathan Krinsky told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Monday. Follow live markets updates.

2. Powell visits the Hill

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies before a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on the “Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress”, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 22, 2022. 

Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

Investors will be glued to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony this week. On Tuesday, he will appear before the Senate Banking Committee, and on Wednesday he will face the House Financial Services Committee. It couldn’t be a more important time for Powell to give testimony. The Fed has been steadily jacking up rates to fight inflation, but inflation has remained stubbornly high despite some recent progress. As CNBC’s Jeff Cox points out, he’ll need to convince politicians and investors alike that the Fed can indeed tame overheated price growth while bringing the economy in for a soft landing. Be sure to tune in at 10 a.m. ET for the Senate hearing.

3. Newsom vs. Walgreens

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) talks with reporters after a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the U.S. Capitol, on Friday, July 15, 2022.

Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking on pharmacy and health care giant Walgreens over the company’s decision not to sell abortion pills in about 20 states following pressure from several Republican attorneys general. “California won’t be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Newsom, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter. “We’re done.” A spokesperson for the governor told CNBC that Newsom’s government is evaluating all the business Walgreens does with California. For its part, Walgreens said it plans to sell the commonly used abortion pill mifepristone “in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so,” according to a statement.

4. Google’s ‘ghost town’ defense

Sundar Pichai speaks onstage during the first day of Vox Media’s 2022 Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California.

Jerod Harris | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Google CEO Sundar Pichai tried to tamp down concerns about a new desk-sharing policy for the cloud unit’s employees, according to audio of a companywide meeting that was obtained by CNBC’s Jennifer Elias. “There are people, by the way, who routinely complain that they come in and there are big swaths of empty desks and it feels like it’s a ghost town — it’s just not a nice experience,” Pichai told employees, according to the recording. The CEO’s remarks came after several employees griped about how executives rolled out the desk-sharing messaging. He read a comment that said “bad things happen, no need to make every bad thing sound like a miracle.” In response, Pichai said: “I agree with the sentiment here. The feedback is valid.”

5. China defends Russia ties

Qin Gang, now China’s foreign minister, is pictured here speaking in Washington, D.C., in Dec. 2022 while he was China’s ambassador to the United States.

China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images

Days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized China for backing Russia’s year-long war in Ukraine, China’s new foreign minister pushed back to say his nation’s relations with the Russian government don’t pose a threat. “The more unstable the world becomes the more imperative it is for China and Russia to steadily advance relations,” Qin Gang said at his first press conference since ascending to the role. Elsewhere, Ukraine says Russia has boosted the number of missile-carrying vessels in the Black Sea. Follow live war updates.

– CNBC’s Sarah Min, Jeff Cox, Spencer Kimball, Jennifer Elias and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.

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