Here are five things you must know for Monday, Jan. 11:
1. — Stock Futures Point to a Weaker Wall Street Open
Stock futures declined Monday following Wall Street’s record highs on Friday that were fueled by hopes that President-elect Joe Biden will support an economy racked by the coronavirus pandemic with more fiscal stimulus.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 206 points, S&P 500 futures declined 21 points and Nasdaq futures were down 53 points.
Stocks finished at record highs Friday as investors assessed expectations for more economic stimulus following a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report. The U.S. lost 140,000 jobs in December, putting an end to seven months of employment growth.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.6% – the blue-chip index’s fourth-straight weekly gain – the S&P 500 added 1.8% and the Nasdaq gained 2.4%.
Biden said he would lay out his proposals for further fiscal support on Thursday.
Stock market gains also have been driven by optimism over the rollout of coronavirus vaccines even as infections continue to surge and scientists discover new variants of the virus.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump begins his final full week in office as calls grow for him to step down following the storming of the Capitol Building last week by his supporters, and as Democratic lawmakers move closer to starting a second impeachment of the president.
2. — This Week’s Economic Calendar
The U.S. economic calendar on Monday is bare but reports such as the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, Jobless Claims, Retail Sales and Consumer Sentiment will be released later in the week.
Companies issuing earnings reports this week include JPMorgan Chase (JPM) – Get Report, Citigroup (C) – Get Report, Wells Fargo (WFC) – Get Report, BlackRock (BLK) – Get Report, PNC Financial (PNC) – Get Report, Albertsons (ACI) – Get Report, KB Home (KBH) – Get Report, IHS Markit (INFO) – Get Report, Aphria (APHA) – Get Report, Delta Air Lines (DAL) – Get Report, Charles Schwab (SCHW) – Get Report and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) – Get Report.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are holdings in Jim Cramer’s Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells the stocks? Learn more now.
3. — Apple and Amazon Cut Off Parler
Just days after Twitter (TWTR) – Get Report permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account, Apple (AAPL) – Get Report, Amazon.com (AMZN) – Get Report, Alphabet’s (GOOGL) – Get Report Google and others have cracked down on what they feel is dangerous talk that encourages violence.
Apple over the weekend pulled Parler, a blogging and social networking service, from its app store, while Amazon stopped web hosting for the service. Parler bills itself as a privacy- and free speech-focused service, but also has become a favorite of right-wing commentators, and was allowing talk that encourages “illegal activity,” according to the tech companies.
“We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity. Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues,” said Apple in a statement obtained by TheStreet.
Apple said it was pulling the app from its app store until Parler makes changes that address “direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action.”
Amazon knocked Parler off Amazon Web Services, saying it “cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.”
Apple, Amazon and Alphabet are holdings in Jim Cramer’s Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells the stocks? Learn more now.
4. — Bitcoin Suffers Worst Two-Day Drop Since March
Bitcoin suffered its worst two-day drop since March, sliding as much as 21% over Sunday and Monday to as low as $32,389.
According to Bloomberg, that’s the biggest two-day slide since the coronavirus pandemic hit global markets last year.
Bitcoin hit a record high of nearly $42,000 on Friday amid continued interest in the digital currency as a hedge against inflation and an alternative to the falling dollar. The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency has more than quadrupled in the past year.
Early Monday, bitcoin traded at $34,623, down 13.53%, according to composite prices compiled by Bloomberg.
“Time to take some money off the table,” said Scott Minerd, chief investment officer with Guggenheim Investments, in a tweet. “Bitcoin’s parabolic rise is unsustainable in the near term.”
On the same day in December that bitcoin hit $20,000, Minerd told Bloomberg that the Federal Reserve’s “rampant money printing” ultimately should push bitcoin to $400,000.
5. — NIO Unveils New Electric ET7 Sedan
NIO (NIO) – Get Report, the Chinese electric vehicle maker, unveiled its first sedan, the all-electric ET7, which will go up against Tesla’s (TSLA) – Get Report best-selling Model 3.
NIO’s ET7 will start at 448,000 yuan ($69,100), compared with 265,740 yuan for the entry-level, China-built Tesla Model 3. Tesla sold 120,000 of the cars in China last year,
The ET7 sedan will be available in early 2022.
The ET7, NIO said, has a claimed driving range of 621 miles. Tesla has said the range for the standard Model 3 is 263 miles; the long-range version has a claimed range of 353 miles.
NIO also launched a bigger, 150 kilowatt-hour battery pack, and an upgraded autopilot system.