This image made from video by NASA shows astronauts greeting each other after a SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. Top row from left: Nick Hague, Alexander Gorbunov, Suni Williams, Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Bottom row from left: Butch Wilmore, Takuya Onishi, Anne McClain, Kirill Peskov, Nichole Ayers and Don Pettit.
- Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy and is expected to close all its stores.
- The two NASA astronauts who have been at the ISS for months, after an issue with the Boeing ship they were testing, are heading home to Earth.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
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WATCH HERE1. Comeback kid?
Stocks rose Monday, building on their comeback after four weeks of losses. The S&P 500 added 0.64% for the day, while the Nasdaq Composite, which remains in correction territory, was up 0.31%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 353.44 points, or 0.85%, thanks to gains in gains in Walmart and International Business Machines. All three of the major indexes posted back-to-back gains. Follow live market updates.
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SIGN UP 2. Not so forever
Forever 21 is going out of style — and out of business. The fast-fashion retailer filed for bankruptcy for the second time in six years and is expected to close all of its stores. The company has already started liquidation sales at more than 350 locations, but court filings show that it's still taking bids for a potential buyer to keep running its stores. Forever 21 blamed Chinese-founded e-tailers Shein and Temu for its demise.
3. Retail tale
Retail sales increased 0.2% on the month, according to the Commerce Department, lower than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.6% rise. But that was still better than the downwardly revised decline of 1.2% from the prior month. Excluding autos, the increase was in line with expectations at 0.3%. Overall, some of the readings indicated that sales saw a solid rise despite worries about an economic slowdown and rising inflation. "Not a great report, but one still in positive territory despite how pessimistic consumers are about the future," said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
4. What's popping?
PepsiCo is buying prebiotic soda brand Poppi for $1.95 billion. That includes $300 million of anticipated cash tax benefits, bringing the net purchase price to $1.65 billion. Soda consumption has fallen over the past 20 years, but consumers have increasingly turned to prebiotic sodas, fueled by industry newcomers Poppi and Olipop. The deal follows rival Coca-Cola launching its own prebiotic soda brand: Simply Pop.
5. Homeward bound
Butch and Suni are coming back to Earth. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two test pilot astronauts whose journey has fascinated many people down on the ground, were supposed to be in space for only about nine days, but their trip ended up being roughly nine months after the Boeing Starliner ship they traveled on experienced issues. NASA ultimately decided to return the Boeing capsule empty and have the pair return on a SpaceX Dragon capsule months later. That capsule detached from the ISS early Tuesday and is set to splash down later in the day.
Money Report
— CNBC's Sean Conlon, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Jeff Cox and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.
