5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday

The S&P 500 eked out an all-time closing high for a sixth straight day, ending yesterday’s session above 7,600 for the first time ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also finished at record highs and clinched a fifth consecutive winning day for the first time this year.

Here were the major moves:

In an interview on the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast released this morning, President Donald Trump said Iran has “already agreed” to not have nuclear weapons but “they can change their mind.” The president also said he believes it’s “unlikely” that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports will still be in place by Labor Day.

His comments come after Iranian media reported that the country’s negotiators stopped exchanging messages with U.S. counterparts several days ago. But Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said otherwise: The president called the reports “Fake News” and said “conversations between us have been going on continuously,” while Rubio said in a congressional hearing that “now we are in talks.”

Don’t miss CNBC’s Sara Eisen’s exclusive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 10 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC or CNBC+.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte will become acting director of national intelligence, succeeding Tulsi Gabbard, Trump announced yesterday.

Pulte, who has no clear experience in intelligence, will oversee the CIA and National Security Agency. Democrats and at least one member of Trump’s party slammed the decision to pick who some see as an attack dog for Trump. In his role as FHFA chief, Pulte has made allegations of mortgage-related crimes against several of Trump’s political adversaries.

As CNBC’s Garrett Downs notes, Pulte will have access to some of the nation’s most tightly-held secrets in his new role. Analysts worry that Pulte could politicize the office and hamper the country’s intelligence gathering efforts.

Macy’s shares are nearly 3% higher before the bell after the retailer reported its strongest first-quarter comparable sales performance in four years. CEO Tony Spring told CNBC that better-than-expected sales and profitability led Macy’s to raise its forecast for the full year.

As CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge reports, the results are a positive sign for the department store’s turnaround effort, which has involved closing lagging stores and doubling down on the ones it kept open.

Meanwhile, beauty retailer Ulta beat forecasts on both lines for the first quarter and its hiked full-year earnings guidance. The stock climbed as much as 7% in extended trading before giving back those gains. The company said its strongest category was fragrances, which now makes up 12% of all revenue.

Trump signed an executive order yesterday calling for artificial intelligence companies to give the federal government access to their models ahead of their full release to allow the government to assess their capabilities before it is publicly available.

As CNBC’s Ashley Capoot reports, Trump signed the order in private more than a week after delaying a public ceremony due to concerns with the order. The order — which requests AI developers’ participation on a voluntary basis — comes as AI companies race to roll out new models and, in some cases, enter the public market.

Elsewhere on the AI front, Anthropic said it is expanding access to its Mythos model to 150 partners in more than 15 countries. New partners will have to meet security requirement before being approved to use the model.