5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday, Nov. 24

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

Dow futures fell about 150 points Wednesday as investors get ready for a slew of economic numbers, while grappling with earnings misses that crushed shares of Gap and Nordstrom in the premarket and Covid concerns in Europe, with Germany set to decide on tighter mitigation measures, including a possible full lockdown and a vaccine mandate.

• The Nasdaq on Tuesday fell 0.5%, its second straight down day as tech stocks came under pressure again.
• The Dow‘s gain of 194 points, or nearly 0.6%, put the 30-stock average on a two-session winning streak.
• The S&P 500‘s 0.17% advance snapped a two-day slide.
• The Nasdaq and the Dow were less than 2% from their record high closes on Nov. 19 and Nov. 8, respectively. The S&P 500 was 0.3% shy of its Nov. 18 record close.

The economic calendar is overflowing Wednesday, one day before the market closes for Thanksgiving Day. The stock market closes early Friday. At 8:30 a.m. ET, one hour before Wednesday’s opening bell, the government will release data on weekly initial jobless claims, October durable goods orders and revised third-quarter gross domestic product. At 10 a.m. ET, investors will get prints on October personal income and spending as well as the Federal Reserve‘s favorite inflation indicator: the core personal consumption expenditures price index. October new home sales and final November consumer sentiment numbers are also due.

Gap shares sank 20% in Wednesday’s premarket, while Nordstrom shares plunged 25%, the morning after the two retailers reported earnings that missed expectations. Gap cut its full-year outlook as third-quarter results were hurt by Covid-related factory closures that led to significant product delays. At Nordstrom, labor costs ate into quarterly profits and sales and its Nordstrom Rack business struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels. The department store operator reaffirmed its full-year revenue outlook, even as rivals Macy’s and Kohl’s boosted forecasts.

Tesla dropped roughly 1% in Wednesday’s premarket, one day after regulatory filings showed that CEO Elon Musk exercised options to buy 2.15 million shares of the electric vehicle maker and sold 934,091 shares worth just over $1 billion. Since his Twitter poll on Nov. 6, asking whether he should sell stock, Musk has unloaded 9.2…