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

You can invest in stocks through a full-service brokerage, financial technology company, robo-adviser or retirement account, all of which have pros and cons.

Computer-driven hedge funds like Qube and Point72's Cubist have posted losses. Executives and experts have theories on why.

Intel stock falls after the chip maker reports a wider loss in the second quarter, while Centene rises even as it posts a surprise quarterly loss.

While some Wall Street companies are clearly rallying thanks to President Donald Trump’s policies, the same can’t be said for Main Street, according to a chart from BofA Global Research strategists, led by Michael Hartnett.

The sudden return of meme-stock trading may look like risk appetite returning, but it also reflects a kind of market optimism that often appears at unhealthy inflection points. When price action becomes unanchored from fundamentals, volatility usually follows.

A solid earnings season shows Corporate America’s profit engine is humming along, potentially easing worries that the record-setting rally in US stocks is starting to overheat.

Beaten-down stocks such as Kohl’s, Krispy Kreme and Opendoor Technologies have taken off recently, as individual investors pile into heavily shorted equities. The stocks’ cult followings and their outsized gains mirror the performance of GameStop and AMC Entertainment during the original pandemic-era meme-stock frenzy.