• Ford and the United Auto Workers union reach a tentative labor agreement.
• Morgan Stanley names its next CEO after a closely watched succession race.
• The House once again has a speaker.

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

1. Tech tumbles

Tech stocks are weighing on major averages this week, as several key earnings reports disappoint. Google parent Alphabet shed more than 9% on Wednesday after its quarterly report and was down another 2% in premarket trading Thursday. Facebook parent Meta was down nearly 4%. In all, futures tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were trading more than 1% lower Thursday morning. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.5%, and S&P 500 futures were down 0.8%. Follow for live market updates.

2. Ford-ward movement

Ford and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative labor agreement Wednesday, the first of the three major automakers to get a deal after nearly six weeks of worker strikes. The tentative agreement, which comes a day before Ford's third-quarter earnings report, includes 25% wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments and other contract improvements for the company's 57,000 union-represented workers. Ford's workers who are on strike will return to work while the deal moves to UAW leaders for approval and then members for a ratification vote.

3. First Pick

Morgan Stanley has named its next CEO after a closely watched succession race. Ted Pick will succeed James Gorman, effective Jan. 1, and will join the bank's board of directors. Pick is a Morgan Stanley veteran and currently leads its Wall Street operations, including investment banking and trading activities. It's no surprise that Gorman is leaving, or that his successor is already in-house: The outgoing CEO said in May that he would step down within the year and that the bank had three internal candidates to replace him. Gorman will remain with Morgan Stanley as executive chairman of the board.

4. Mega Meta revenue

Facebook parent Meta reported a 23% jump in quarterly revenue on Wednesday, its fastest growth rate since 2021. The company beat on the top and bottom lines, exceeding Wall Street's earnings expectations by more than 70 cents per share. Monthly active users for the company's suite of services were in line with analyst expectations, at 3.05 billion. But Meta's Reality Labs, its metaverse-focused unit, recorded a $3.74 billion operating loss and a 26% drop in revenue. The company said it expects division's operating losses "to increase meaningfully year-over-year."

5. Spoken for

The House once again has a speaker. GOP Rep. Mike Johnson was elected leader of the Republican-led chamber on Wednesday, after two weeks of failed attempts to replace the former speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy. The GOP nominated three other speaker candidates, but party discord sank all of their bids. "It has been an arduous few weeks, and a reminder that the House is as complicated and diverse as the people we represent," Johnson said in a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. The Louisiana representative is a staunch conservative and contributed to Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Oh, one more

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will take the stand to defend himself against fraud and money laundering charges, his attorney said Wednesday. It's likely to be blockbuster testimony in a trial that's already captured the attentions of Wall Street bankers and cryptocurrency enthusiasts. It's not clear when SBF will testify — or, for that matter, when he might be subject to cross-examination by federal prosecutors — but his legal team is expected to begin their defense as early as Thursday. Bankman-Fried is accused of pilfering billions in customer assets to fund political contributions, real estate acquisitions and high-profile sponsorship deals.

– CNBC's Pia Singh, Michael Wayland, Hugh Son, Jonathan Vanian, Spencer Kimball and Rohan Goswami contributed to this report.

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