5 things to know before the stock market opens on Friday July 29

Here are the most important information investors need to start their trading day:

Well, Amazon consumers, anyway. Shares of the e-commerce giant fell earlier this week when Walmart slashed its earnings outlook as historic inflation levels weigh on consumers. But Amazon executives said Thursday, when the company released its quarterly results, that inflation was not hitting its customers as hard as other retailers. This is because Amazon and Walmart cater to different customers. “Amazon’s core consumer is better off than Walmart’s consumer, and that seems to allow them to outperform Walmart,” said DA Davidson analyst Tom Forte. Amazon shares rose sharply in premarket trading. CNBC’s Annie Palmer breaks it down here.

Apple shares rose in premarket trading after the gargantuan gadget supplier beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit and revenue. Cupertino kids can thank their pride and joy, the good old reliable iPhone. The strong sales came even as the iPhone 13 is in the second half of its product cycle, which means a new model is coming soon. “We had an all-time high in switchers and saw double-digit growth for customers new to iPhone,” CEO Tim Cook said. Still, although Cook said the company expects revenue growth to be strong in the current quarter, he cited “pockets of softness.” Apple’s slowing growth in services is a potential cause for concern, writes CNBC’s Kif Leswing.

It took months, lots of back and forth, multiple bids and a few delayed shareholder votes, but JetBlue finally did it. The airline convinced low-cost carrier Spirit to drop its merger with fellow budget carrier Frontier and agree to be acquired by JetBlue in a $3.8 billion deal. Now comes the hardest part for JetBlue and Spirit: getting the merger-skeptical Biden administration to approve the acquisition. For example, the Justice Department sued last year to block JetBlue’s Northeast alliance with American Airlines. This case will be tried in September. Still, JetBlue is bullish and expects regulators to approve the Spirit deal either late next year or early 2024, with the merger finalized in the first half of 2024. CNBC’s Leslie Josephs explains here.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke for more than two hours on Thursday, and they began arranging their first face-to-face meeting since Biden’s inauguration. The lengthy conversation between the two superpower leaders came after the House sent Biden a bill aimed at boosting US competitiveness with China, and as the world focuses on Taiwan, the island autonomous that China claims as its own. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, has indicated she may visit Taiwan on a trip to Asia that begins this week, which could inflame U.S.-China relations. Earlier this week, meanwhile, The New York Times reported that U.S. officials have grown increasingly concerned that China will act against Taiwan over the next 18 months. Despite all that, it appears Biden and Xi had a constructive appeal, experts say. Read CNBC reporter Evelyn Cheng’s take on Beijing here.

– CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Annie Palmer, Kif Leswing, Leslie Josephs and Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

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