• Microsoft's CEO hammers Google on the stand.
• Drugmakers agreed to participate in Medicare price negotiations.
• Rep. Matt Gaetz officially tries to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

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

1. Holding pattern

The bulls didn't quite shake off a dour September as a mixed session Monday got October off to a murky start. Tuesday morning futures don't look so bold, either. Caution is the name of the game, at the moment, at least. Investors are keenly watching the surging yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which hit 4.7%. There are also some big data points coming, including Friday's jobs report for September, as well as corporate earnings season, which begins next week. Follow live market updates.

2. Bing ding

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in federal court Monday, accusing rival Google of monpolizing the online search market. "Everybody talks about the open web, but there is really the Google web," he said as Justice Department lawyers pressed their antitrust case against the Alphabet company. The DOJ is suing Google, claiming that the web giant has illegally taken control of the search market, effectively stifling would-be competitors such as Microsoft's Bing. Still, Nadella said, Microsoft isn't willing to give up on search. "It's a hard game to make any breakthroughs, but no one can accuse us of not being persistent," he said on the stand.

3. Let's talk drug prices

The drugmakers who had medications chosen for the first round of Medicare drug price negotiations have all agreed to participate in the negotiations, the companies confirmed to CNBC. The pharma firms had until Monday to submit cost and sales data on the drugs to the government. The medications include diabetes drugs from Merck and AstraZeneca, a rheumatoid arthritis treatment from Amgen, and seven others. The companies have otherwise pushed back on the price negotiations, saying they will hurt revenue and spending on innovation. Market analysts, however, don't expect pharma to take too big a hit. Read more about what happens next.

4. Logistical nightmare

It might have looked like things got really messy at the end of Dave Clark's tenure as CEO of Flexport, but they weren't so elegant to begin with. Flexport, a supply chain management platform backed by major venture capital players, had hired Clark seemingly in a coup. He made his name and became one of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' most trusted executives by building the e-commerce giant's sprawling logistics network over more than two decades. He only lasted about a year at Flexport as his style clashed with founder Ryan Petersen's. CNBC's Annie Palmer and Rohan Goswami have the inside story of what went wrong.

5. House strife

Rep. Matt Gaetz, the hard right Republican from Florida, finally followed through on his threats to try to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Gaetz, who leads a faction of conservative Republican insurgents, filed a motion to vacate against McCarthy two days after the speaker worked with Democrats to forge a short-term spending deal that will keep the government open for another month and a half. While Gaetz believes he has the votes to get his way, it's not clear whether that'll be the case, especially as Democrats weigh whether to help McCarthy. The speaker didn't say much in response. On social media site X, he merely posted: "Bring it on."

– CNBC's Brian Evans, Lauren Feiner, Annika Kim Constantino, Annie Palmer, Rohan Goswami and NBC News contributed to this report.

— Follow broader market action like a pro on CNBC Pro.