Stock futures are pointing to a higher open for major U.S. indexes on Monday as investors prepare for the Federal Reserve’s next move on interest rates, while bitcoin surged to a record high overnight.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were up 0.2% recently, while Nasdaq futures added 0.4%. The S&P 500 is coming off its first losing week in the past month, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is riding a four-week winning streak after crossing 20,000 points for the first time last week.
Shares of Palantir (PLTR), MicroStrategy (MSTR), and Axon Enterprise (AXON) were all gaining ground in premarket trading following news that they are set to join the Nasdaq 100 Index next Monday. MicroStrategy, one of the world’s largest holders of bitcoin, was up more than 3% as the digital currency touched a new high.
Bitcoin was trading at around $103,600 recently after moving as high as $106,500 in the early morning hours. Bitcoin has gained nearly 50% since the presidential election amid investor optimism that the incoming Trump administration and a supportive Congress will adopt policies that benefit the cryptocurrency market.
Among other big stock movers before the bell, shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI), which will be removed from the Nasdaq 100, were down 13%. The decision to drop Supermicro comes as the server maker faces a February deadline to file its delayed annual report, or face delisting by the Nasdaq.
Large-cap technology stocks were mostly higher this morning. Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) all gained ground, while AI investor favorite Nvidia (NVDA) was down slightly.
The big event for market watchers will be the two-day meeting of the Fed’s policy committee, which starts Tuesday. The Fed is widely expected to cut its benchmark interest rate, as it did in September and again last month. In addition to the decision on rates, investors will be paying close attention to what Fed officials say about the health of the economy and the outlook for rates in 2025.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is correlated with expectations about where interest rates are headed, was down slightly this morning at 4.37%.
Gold futures were little changed at around $2,680 an ounce, while crude oil futures were down about 1%.
