• Media company Sinclair is looking to sell nearly 30% of its broadcast stations.
• Novavax signed a multibillion-dollar deal to commercialize its Covid vaccine.
• Apple apologized for an ad that drew criticism online.

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

1. Lucky number seven

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is on a streak. The 30-stock index added 331.37 points, or 0.85%, on Thursday to mark its seventh positive trading day in a row, the longest winning run since December. It was helped by Home Depot and Caterpillar, which both rose more than 2%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 climbed 0.51%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.27% for the day. The lift was helped in part by new jobless claims data released Thursday, which rekindled hope for Federal Reserve rate cuts later this year. Follow live market updates.

2. Sinclair sale?

Sinclair is looking to sell nearly 30% of its owned or operated broadcast stations, CNBC reported Thursday. Sinclair, which is one of the largest owners of broadcast stations in the U.S., has identified more than 60 stations in various regions of the U.S. that it would be willing to sell. It's also considering a sale of the Tennis Channel, a cable TV network. The local stations are a mix of affiliates including Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS and the CW, according to people familiar with the matter, and their average revenue for 2023 and 2024 is an estimated $1.56 billion. The move comes as Sinclair has lost more than 70% of its market value in the past five years as broadcast groups have struggled when customers cut the cable cord.

3. Sour Apple

Apple took the rare step of apologizing for an advertisement that prompted swift backlash on social media and said it has decided not to run the spot on TV. The video, released to tout the company's new iPads, showed a variety of instruments, paint cans and other creative tools getting crushed by a hydraulic press until all the items were compressed into the new tablet. "Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad," Tor Myhren, vice president of marketing communications at Apple, told Ad Age, an advertising trade publication. "We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry."

4. Novavax deal

Novavax on Friday said it has signed a deal with French drugmaker Sanofi to co-commercialize the company's Covid vaccine starting next year. Under the arrangement, the companies will also work on combination shots targeting both the coronavirus and the flu, among other efforts. Sanofi will pay Novavax $500 million upfront and up to $700 million for development, regulatory and launch milestones, as well as royalties and an additional $200 million for further milestones. The licensing agreement will allow Novavax to lift its "going concern" warning that it first issued in February 2023 as the company faced doubts about its ability to continue operating, Novavax CEO John Jacobs told CNBC. Novavax shares were up more than 100% in premarket trading Friday.

5. Rowing along

How the times have changed. When its business was doing well, pandemic darling Peloton once tried to buy connected fitness company Hydrow, which is best known for its pricey connected rowing machines that cost between $1,700 and $4,000. Now, Peloton itself has become an acquisition target as tries to turn around a slowing business. Meanwhile, Hydrow is growing. The company has raised more than $300 million in funding and has acquired a majority stake in strength training company Speede Fitness as gymgoers move away from cardio exercises in favor of weights.

— CNBC's Pia Singh, Lillian Rizzo, Alex Sherman, Kif Leswing, Annika Kim Constantino, Gabrielle Fonrouge and Brandon Gomez contributed to this report.

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Disclosure: NBC and CNBC are divisions of NBCUniversal.