Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:
Wall Street to open lower after Nasdaq’s worst week since March 2020
Fed meets this week with tightening moves in focus as inflation surges
Bitcoin, ether sink as world’s two biggest cryptos cut in half since 2021
Kohl’s surges as takeover offers emerge from suitors including Sycamore
Activist investor Blackwells calls on Peloton to fire CEO, explore sale
1. Wall Street to open lower after Nasdaq’s worst week since March 2020
U.S. stock futures dropped Monday, indicating more steep losses to start the new week following the Nasdaq’s and the S&P 500’s worst weeks since March 2020, just after the Covid pandemic was declared. For last week, the Nasdaq lost 7.6% and the S&P 500 shed 5.7%, logging four- and three-week losing streaks, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4.6% last week, its worst weekly performance since October 2020 and its third straight weekly decline. The Nasdaq was firmly in correction territory, down 14% from its November record close. The S&P 500 and the Dow were down 8% and 7% from their record closes earlier this month.
2. Fed meets this week with tightening moves in focus as inflation surges
The 10-year Treasury yield Monday continued to retreat from last week’s spike to January 2020 highs. The 10-year yield was around 1.7% after topping 1.9% on Wednesday as investors focused on the Federal Reserve’s timeline for raising interest rates and broadly tightening monetary policy as inflation persistently increases. The Fed holds its two-day January meeting Tuesday and Wednesday. The first of the four rate hikes the market sees this year is expected in March.
3. Bitcoin, ether sink as world’s two biggest cryptos cut in half since 2021
The cryptocurrency market has seen around $130 billion in value erased over the past 24 hours as major digital coins continued their multiday sell-off. Bitcoin on Monday was down around 5% to just above $33,000, according to Coin Metrics, the lowest levels since July 2021. Bitcoin was about 50% off its record high hit in November. Ether plunged 9% to just under $2,200, its lowest level since late July. Ether was down more than 50% from its November 2021 all-time high.
4. Kohl’s surges as takeover offers emerge from suitors including Sycamore
Kohl’s soared more than 30% to around $62 per share in Monday’s premarket trading, as the department store chain is fielding takeover offers from at least two suitors. Private equity firm Sycamore is willing to pay at least $65 per share for Kohl’s, people familiar with the matter told CNBC on Sunday. The offer from Sycamore came two days after Acacia Research, backed by activist investment firm Starboard Value, offered to pay $64 per share for Kohl’s, according to people familiar with the proposal.
5. Activist investor Blackwells calls on Peloton to fire CEO, explore sale
Activist investor Blackwells Capital is calling on Peloton to fire CEO John Foley and seek a sale of the company. The connected fitness equipment maker’s stock has fallen more than 80% from its all-time high, as it struggles to deal with rapidly changing supply and demand dynamics after getting a massive early pandemic surge in sales. Blackwells Capital, which has a stake of less than 5% in Peloton, said the company is currently weaker than before Covid. Peloton lost about 3.7% in Monday’s premarket.
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