• Apple approved a $110 billion share buyback, the most ever for a public company.
• Friday's jobs report showed the U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in April.
• AI workers say there's a dark side to the push for new technology.

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

1. Waiting for data

Stock futures soared as investors are hoping a softer-than-expected jobs report might allow the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 509 points, or 1.3%. S&P 500 futures advanced 1.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained about 1.6%. Rates also dropped following the report, and the 10-year yield fell below 4.5%. Follow live market updates.

2. Hiring on the horizon

The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in April. U.S. job growth totaled 175,000 for the month, much lower than the 240,000 estimate from the Dow Jones consensus. The unemployment rate rose slightly to hit 3.9%, while expectations had been that it would hold steady at 3.8%. Meanwhile, average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% from the previous month and by 3.9% from a year ago. Both metrics are below consensus estimates and, importantly, are an encouraging sign for inflation.

3. Apple buys back

Apple announced its largest share buyback on Thursday, the most ever for a public company. The tech giant said its board authorized $110 billion in share repurchases, a 22% increase over last year's $90 billion authorization. The announcement came as Apple reported second-quarter earnings that beat expectations but showed overall revenue down 4%. Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC's Steve Kovach that year-over-year sales suffered from a difficult comparison to the year-ago period. Apple also said iPhone sales dropped 10%, suggesting weaker demand for the latest generation of its phones.

4. Courting Paramount

The saga for Paramount's future continues. Sony Pictures and private equity firm Apollo Global Management sent a letter to the Paramount board expressing formal interest in executing a $26 billion takeover of the company. That offer comes as Skydance Media is waiting to hear back from Paramount's special committee on whether it plans to recommend its acquisition bid to controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. Skydance and Paramount have an exclusivity window for talks that ends Friday, but it could be extended. Some investors have been eager for the board to engage with Apollo and Sony rather than take the Skydance deal because all common shareholders would get a premium for their shares.

5. Dark side

There's a dark underbelly of the generative AI gold rush. Workers at big tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft, say they're facing pressure to work under accelerated timelines as they chase rivals. Several artificial intelligence engineers, who spoke to CNBC's Hayden Field anonymously out of fear of retribution, said they're experiencing burnout as that pressure to keep up has come to define their jobs. Workers also said they worry that companies have little regard for the technology's effect on climate change, surveillance and other potential real-world harms.

— CNBC's Samantha Subin, Jeff Cox, Kif Leswing, Julia Boorstin, Alex Sherman, Lillian Rizzo and Hayden Field contributed to this report.

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