Here are five things to know before Monday, February 1:
1.- Stock futures soar as Reddit Crowd moves to precious metals
Stock futures were higher on Monday amid concerns over volatile retail, particularly in GameStop stocks (GME) – Request report and AMC Entertainment (AMC) – Request report, ebbed as day traders turned their attention to precious metals.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 236 points, S&P 500 futures were up 37 points and Nasdaq futures were up 129 points.
Silver became the new target of retail investors this weekend, with futures up a whopping 13%.
Shares ended sharply lower on Friday amid continued Wall Street shopping frenzy and concerns over coronavirus vaccine distribution. The S&P 500 recorded its largest weekly decline since October.
The Dow and S&P 500 each lost 3.3% last week and the Nasdaq fell 3.5%.
In terms of stimulus measures, 10 Republican senators proposed a coronavirus plan of about $ 600 billion, an alternative to the $ 1.9 trillion package from the Biden administration.
2. – Silver is a new target for private investors
Silver prices rose on Monday as the Reddit mania surrounding heavily short stocks spread to the metal market.
Spot silver rose 9.76% to $ 29.64 an ounce on Monday. Futures were up a whopping 13% over the weekend, with silver surpassing $ 30 an ounce for the first time since 2013.
Trending on Twitter: “#silversqueeze.”
People on the WallStreetBets Reddit forum have attacked themselves on silver and the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) – Request report, with traders seeing it as a way to hurt big banks that they believe have artificially suppressed prices.
BlackRock’s (BLK) – Request report iShares Silver Trust, the largest exchange-traded product that tracks the metal, registered net inflows of $ 944 million on Friday, Bloomberg said.
The possibility of a short squeeze in silver is less obvious, as money managers have had a net long position in silver since mid-2019, Bloomberg reported, citing futures and options data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“Last week’s events have shown that it is unwise to question the purchasing power of retail investors, and this has once again been sufficiently demonstrated in the silver market,” said Howie Lee, an economist at OCBC Bank. “They may find it a bit more difficult to push the silver market than with GameStop – the former is much bigger and liquid – but the momentum seems to rest with them right now.”
3. – Robinhood reduces the limited trading list to eight stocks
Robinhood, the online trading app, has reduced the number of companies it imposed trading limits from 50 to eight.
Opening of new positions in GameStop, AMC Entertainment, BlackBerry (BB) – Request report, To express (EXPR) – Request report, Genius Brands (GNUS) – Request report, Koss Corp. (KOSS) – Request report, Naked Brand (NAKD) – Request report and Nokia (ENOUGH) – Request report Monday will be limited, Robinhood said on its website.
GameStop fell 7.96% in premarket trading on Monday to $ 299.13. The stock is up 1,643% so far in 2021.
Robinhood said last week that it had to limit trading of 50 stocks due to the enormous costs involved in settling the massive number of trades.
“It wasn’t because we wanted to prevent people from buying these stocks,” Robinhood said.
The trading app came under fire last week after the move to impose trading restrictions, along with limits imposed by online brokers, sparked a protest among social media groups and elected officials claiming a Wall Street attempt to protect itself from new agents. populist investors.
4. – This week’s calendar: Amazon and Alphabet earnings, US Jobs Report
Income reports are expected from Warner Music Group on Monday (WMG) – Request report, Cirrus Logic (CRUS) – Request report, ON Semiconductor (ON) – Request report, Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) – Request report and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) – Request report.
Reports are expected from Amazon later in the week (AMZN) – Request report, Alphabet (GOOGL) – Request report, Alibaba (BABA) – Request report, United Parcel Service (UPS) – Request report, Pfizer (PFE) – Request report, Chipotle (CMG) – Request report, Amgen (AMGN) – Request report, Exxon Mobil (XOM) – Request report, AbbVie (ABBV) – Request report, PayPal (PYPL) – Request report, Electronic art (SHE) – Request report, Spotify (PLACE) – Request report, Merck (MRK) – Request report, Penn National Gaming (PENN) – Request report, Snap (SNAP) – Request report, Ford (F.) – Request report, Pinterest (PINS) – Request report and Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – Request report.
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The US economic calendar on Monday includes the Markit Manufacturing PMI (final) for January at 9:45 a.m. ET and the ISM Manufacturing Index for January at 10 a.m. and construction expenditures for December at 10 a.m.
Economic reports expected later this week include the official US Nonfarm Payrolls Report for January, Durable Goods Orders and Factory Orders.
5. – Exxon and Chevron reportedly discussed a merger last year
The top executives at Exxon Mobil and Chevron (CVX) – Request report discussed a merger of the two oil companies last year after the coronavirus pandemic ravaged demand for oil and gas, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The discussions were described as preliminary and are not ongoing, but may recur in the future, people familiar with the talks told the Journal.
A merger of the energy giants would create a company with a market value of more than $ 350 billion. Together they would form the world’s second largest oil company by market capitalization and production, producing about 7 million barrels of oil and gas per day based on pre-pandemic levels, the Journal noted.
Saudi Aramco is number 1 in both measures.