Stock futures point to a positive open
U.S. stock futures ticked higher early Monday, suggesting stocks will rise at the opening bell, as market participants digested comments from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard who seemed to raise hopes that the central bank might hike interest rates sooner than previously expected.
Bullard on Friday said the economy is seeing more inflation than he and several other Fed officials expected only a few months ago, and that he now hopes to see a rate hike in 2022.
“We were expecting a good year, a good reopening, but this is a bigger year than we were expecting, more inflation than we were expecting. And I think it’s natural that we’ve tilted a little bit more hawkish here to contain inflationary pressures,” Bullard told CNBC’s Squawk Box.
By 5:20 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were indicated 182 points, or 0.55% higher to 33,337.5. S&P 500 futures added 18.88 points, or 0.45% to 4,172.38 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 74.12 points, or 0.53% to 14,109.12.
Bitcoin crashes along with other cryptocurrency
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies including dogecoin tumbled on Monday morning as Chinese authorities intensified their clampdown on digital coins.
Over the weekend, Bloomberg reported that Ya’an, a Chinese city with abundant hydropower, has begun a sweeping crackdown on cryptocurrency miners.
According to the report, a Ya’an government official has told at least one Bitcoin miner that the city has vowed to end all Bitcoin and Ether mining operations within a year.
Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, fell as much as 4% to $32,676 at around 6:40 a.m. ET. Ethereum dropped 6% to $1,966 while dogecoin was down 9.69% to $0.024.
Raven Industries surges 47% after agreeing to be acquired by CNH Industrial
Meanwhile, Raven Industries (NASDAQ: RAVN) popped ahead of the opening bell Monday after the agricultural-technology company entered into an agreement to be acquired by CNH Industrial (NYSE: CNHI) for approximately $2.1 billion.
The companies said in a press release that CNH Industrial will pay $58 per share for Raven Industries, which reflects a 33.6% premium to the four-week volume-weighted average price of Raven stock.
As of writing, Raven Industries stock was marked $18.24, or 47.23% to $56.86 per share in pre-market trading session.
