Stocks poised to start the week with slight gains
Wall Street futures were marginally higher on Monday morning as market participants awaited this week’s Federal Reserve meeting for clues on the future path of monetary policy.
The Tuesday-Wednesday meeting is not expected to result in a change to the Fed’s benchmark interest rate of 0-0.25%, nor its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases.
However, the central bank could provide updated forecasts, including its “dot plot” chart with market players looking to see if there are any signs of cracks in policymakers’ position that the current surge in inflation will be transitory.
By 5:00 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were indicated 18 points, or 0.05% to 34,375. S&P 500 futures rose 4.12 points, or 0.10% to 4,240.62 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 34.25 points, or 0.24% to 14,020.
Bitcoin rises above $39K following Elon Musk tweet
Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin was surging early Monday after Elon Musk underlined his considerable power to move markets by tweeting about the cryptocurrency.
The Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) chief executive suggested Sunday that the company would begin accepting bitcoin again once when miners verify that transactions use more renewable energy.
“When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
Musk was responding to a tweet posted by Cointelegraph regarding Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka, who recently criticized Musk’s “activity on social media” and his “influence on crypto markets.”
Tesla started accepting bitcoin for vehicle purchases in March after it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency in February. But last month, Musk announced that the electric car maker world no longer accept the cryptocurrency over concerns of the cryptocurrency environmental impact.
As of this writing, the price of bitcoin was up 9% to 39,221 a coin.
England reopening reportedly set to delayed
In other news, the planned lifting of restrictions in England on June 21 is expected to be delayed by four week, the BBC reported on Monday morning.
The news outlet said that senior ministers had approved a four-week delay due to rising coronavirus infections caused by the delta variant.
It means rules keeping nightclubs closed, limiting gatherings to thirty people outdoors and 6 indoors, and requiring the wearing of face masks are set to continue.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to announce the delay at a news conference at 1:00 p.m. ET on Monday.
