5 things to know before the stock market opens Monday. Jan. 3

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

Dow futures rose more than 150 points, or roughly 0.5%, on Monday, the first trading day of the new year. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pointed to even stronger moves higher at the open even as Covid cases surged above year-ago pandemic highs. Shares of Tesla jumped 7.5% in the premarket after 2021 vehicle deliveries beat estimates. Tesla rose nearly 50% last year. That’s nearly double the S&P 500’s almost 27% increase in 2021, the index’s third straight positive year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq also logged three-year winning streaks, jumping 18.7% and around 21.4% for the year, respectively.

With Monday’s opening bell on Wall Street, the clock starts ticking on a quarter that could see the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike since 2018. The Fed on Wednesday will release minutes from its December meeting, at which central bankers announced they would accelerate their tapering of Covid-era bond purchases. ADP’s December report on hiring at U.S. companies is also out Wednesday, ahead of Thursday’s weekly initial jobless claims data and Friday’s government employment report for last month.

Tesla said Sunday it delivered 308,600 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter and 936,172 for all of 2021, both handily beating estimates. Full-year deliveries increased 87% compared with 2020 when the EV maker reported its first annual profit on deliveries of 499,647. Analysts had expected Tesla’s deliveries in Q4 of 2021 to be 267,000, with 897,000 for the full year. In the year ahead, the company is expected to start production of the Model Y crossover at its new factory in Austin, Texas. It also aims in 2022 to open another factory in Brandenburg, Germany.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking at including a negative test as part of its five-day isolation guidance for Americans infected with Covid but who show no symptoms. “I think we’re going to be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the CDC,” the top White House medical advisor said Sunday. The CDC has been getting significant pushback on last week’s updated recommendations, which cut the isolation time from 10 days to five. The Food and Drug Administration last week said preliminary research indicates at-home rapid tests detect the omicron variant, but may have reduced sensitivity.

Airlines scrapped more than 1,700 flights Monday, adding to the mass cancellations over the holidays. From Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day, airlines canceled more than 13,000 flights, or 5.6% of their schedules, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Airlines blamed the disruptions on a combination of bad weather and omicron infections that sidelined staff. The travel chaos came during what airlines expected to be among the busiest days since the pandemic began. Last year, the Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 580 million people, up 79% from 2020. However, that’s still off about 30% from 2019, before Covid.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest on the pandemic with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.