10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Good morning! Here's what you need to know.

AstraZeneca Rejects New Pfizer Bid. The British firm rejected a ratcheted-up $106 billion offer from the NYC giant before 6 a.m. Eastern Friday, deeming it inadequate.

Jobs Day. Non-farm monthly payrolls for April come in at 8:30. Consensus is for 218,000 from 192,000 prior. "The continuing recovery in employment growth after the winter damage ought to be clearly visible in today's April payroll report," Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macro writes in a note this morning. "We look for a 200K increase in both private and headline payrolls, the best since November, and we would not be surprised by a stronger performance."

Factory Orders. Consensus is for an increase of 1.4%, down slightly from 1.6% prior.

Berkshirefest. Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting kicks off today in Omaha. They'll also report earnings.

Spain Debt. Yields on Spanish notes fell below 3% for the first time since 2005.

Stocks Heavy. Stocks accounted for 67% of employees' new contributions into retirement portfolios in March, according to new Aon Hewitt data. That's the highest percentage since March 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Jerry Verseput, a financial planner in Folsom, Calif., said he has let the stock allocations in clients' 401(k)s ride well above normal levels as the market continues to rise. Though he said that big gains like those of the S&P last year would normally drive him to rebalance portfolios by selling stocks, he doesn't see places where he would rather put the money. 'What am I going to do, buy bonds?' he said. 'Equities are doing fine. But if interest rates rise, bonds could be hurt badly.'"

London Bubble. The penthouse at One Hyde Park sold for $236 million. "Grosvenor Group, the Duke of Westminster's London-based property company, this week warned that the capital's housing market might be facing a "bubble", adding that it believed the likelihood of a market correction was increasing," the FT's Kate Allen reported. "Grosvenor has scaled back its London residential development plans by £240m as a result."

Germany's Russia Business. The Wall Street Journal reports large German firms like Siemens and BASF are resisting further screw-turning against Russia for its actions in Ukraine. "As the Ukraine crisis has worsened, German officials have faced a barrage of telephone calls from senior corporate executives, urging them not to take steps that would damage business interests in Russia, people familiar with the matter say."

Earnings. In addition to the aforementioned Berkshire, Chevron, and CVs all report. Expedia and LinkedIn reported earnings last night that missed expectations., and shares are down more than 2% pre-market.

Markets. U.S. futures are higher. Stocks in Europe and Asia were mixed. The dollar gained 0.22% against the yen.