Stocks poised for positive opening
U.S. stock futures had stocks opening mildly higher ahead of the bell on Friday as traders remained optimistic about Biden’s proposed coronavirus stimulus package.
As of 6:00 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were indicated 73 points, or 0.23% to 31,504. Those for the S&P 500 futures rose 13.62 points, or 0.35% to 3,932.12 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures 60.88 points, or 0.45% to 13,693.88.
All three major U.S. stock indexes finished lower on Thursday after a report by the U.S. Labor Department showed 861,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, higher than the market had anticipated.
Biden administration to keep Trump’s China tariffs in place for now
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the Biden administration will keep the tariffs that former President Donald Trump imposed on Chinese products in place for now.
Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, she said the U.S. government will evaluate how to proceed after a thorough review.
“For the moment, we have kept the tariffs in place that were put in by the Trump administration,” Yellen said. She added that the U.S. expects China to adhere to the commitments that were made and we’ll evaluate going forward what we think is appropriate.
Bitcoin hits a fresh all-time high as Elon Musk’s latest tweet
Bitcoin has hit yet another record high and neared a market capitalization of $1 trillion after Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk defended his company’s $1.5 billion investment in the cryptocurrency.
“Having some Bitcoin, which is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash, is adventurous enough for an S&P500 company,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
“To be clear, I am *not* an investor, I am an engineer. I don’t even own any publicly traded stock besides Tesla. However, when fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere. Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money. The key word is ‘almost’,” he added.
Bitcoin is now worth $51,830 as of Friday morning.
