• The S&P 500 is in its longest stretch without a 2% sell-off since the financial crisis.
• Federal regulators found weaknesses in the resolution plans of four of the eight largest banks.
• Target has tapped Shopify to add sellers to its third-party marketplace.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. Smooth sailing

The S&P 500 dipped 0.16% on Friday but still registered a 0.6% gain for the week. The broad market index's recent advances have come with relatively little volatility. The S&P 500 has gone 377 days without a 2.05% sell-off, which is the longest stretch for the benchmark since the great financial crisis, according to FactSet data compiled by CNBC. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, finished the week flat, while the Dow rose 1.45% for its best weekly performance since May. Looking ahead this week, investors will be watching for data from the Fed's preferred inflation gauge to be released Friday. Follow live market updates.

2. Banks' living wills

Banking regulators said Friday that they found weaknesses in the resolution plans, or "living wills," of four of the eight largest American lenders. Living wills are plans that huge financial institutions lay out detailing how they would credibly unwind themselves in the event of distress or failure. The mandated regulatory exercises emerged after the 2008 global financial crisis. Plans filed by Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America in 2023 were inadequate, said the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. They specifically found fault with how the companies planned to unwind their massive derivatives portfolios. Derivatives are Wall Street contracts tied to stocks, bonds, currencies or interest rates. Of the four, the FDIC said Citigroup had a more serious "deficiency," meaning its plan wouldn't allow for an orderly resolution under the U.S. bankruptcy code, though the Fed didn't concur.

3. Target plus Shopify

Target is shopping for new brands. The big-box retailer said Monday that brands working with e-commerce company Shopify can apply to join Target Plus, its third-party marketplace. Target said the partnership will help it find hot items — including from smaller or up-and-coming names — and make them available quickly for online shoppers. The team-up comes as Target has struggled with growth in recent quarters, including with its e-commerce business, although it said its marketplace has gained momentum. Target has a smaller third-party operation than competitors such as Walmart and Amazon, but such marketplaces tend to be lucrative businesses as retailers get a cut of sellers' profits and can sell ads.

4. Nvidia who?

It's a name investors have been hearing constantly. But outside the stock market? Not so much. Nvidia has a valuation of more than $3 trillion and briefly surpassed Microsoft last week to become the largest company in the world by market cap. But despite its historic rise in valuation, the company doesn't have much name recognition. In fact, it doesn't even crack the top 100 most iconic names on Interbrand's most recent list of best-known brands. Meanwhile, tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google were the four leading global brands at the end of 2023. Notably, Nvidia's quick ascent in the markets has been driven by demand for artificial intelligence chips, mostly coming from a handful of very big corporate buyers.

5. Sip on this

The classic vodka soda has become the drink of choice and a cultural symbol for some gay men. Now, others are catching on. Its status in the modern LGBTQ+ zeitgeist has drawn the entrepreneurial attention of local bar owners and canned cocktail makers, among others. "It's something that you see everywhere," said Lucas Hilderbrand, a film and media studies professor at the University of California, Irvine. Big names such as Boston Beer's Truly brand and Kylie Jenner's Sprinter line are jumping on the canned vodka soda trend, as is World of Wonder, the production company behind the reality competition show "RuPaul's Drag Race," which launched a "vodka soda citrus" canned cocktail earlier this year. Smaller startups such as Gay Water, which was founded in July, also hope to stake their claim in the aisles and represent LGBTQ+ customers in stores.

— CNBC's Samantha Subin, Brian Evans, Hugh Son, Melissa Repko, Kif Leswing and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

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