Stocks set for flat opening after Monday’s rally
U.S. stock futures were little changed early Tuesday after all the three major indices rose in the previous session, with the blue-chip Dow rallying 586.89 points, or 1.76%, to 33,876.97.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.4% to 4,224.79, while the Nasdaq Composite gained just 0.8% gain to 14,141.48.
As of 5:30 a.m. ET, Nasdaq 100 futures tumbled 19.88 points, or 0.14% to 14,110.12. The blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500 futures were little changed.
Powell testimony eyed
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will appear before Congress on Tuesday for the first time since the June 15-16 FOMC meeting, and market participants will be scrutinizing his testimony for signs of when the central bank will begin pulling back its support for the nation’s coronavirus recovery.
In prepared remarks for delivery on Capitol Hill, Powell says the U.S. economy has shown “sustained improvement” thanks to widespread vaccinations and unprecedented monetary and fiscal policy actions from the government.
At its recent monetary policy meeting, the Fed left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a rate range of zero to 0.25%, and maintained its $120 billion pace of bond-buying program.
However, Fed policymakers signaled they expect to hike interest rates sooner than previously anticipated amid rising consumer prices and a strengthening economy.
Torchlight surges 9% pre-market in latest meme stock mania
In other news, the meme stock trade continues to broaden, with Torchlight Energy (NASDAQ: TRCH) posting gains in the premarket trading session Tuesday after rallying more than 58% yesterday.
The Plano, Texas-based company has been mentioned on the WallStreetBets subReddit, where retail traders have touted the opportunity to make a profit off the stock from a short squeeze and dividends.
Torchlight Energy shares were marked 98 cents, 9.88% higher to $10.90 before the opening bell.
Bitcoin, dogecoin dip as China amplifies war on crypto
Bitcoin extended losses on Tuesday, pulling other digital coins down, as Chinese authorities continue to tightening their grip on cryptocurrencies.
China, the world’s second biggest economy, has intensified its iron-fisted clampdown on trading and using bitcoin to firms that oversee the mining of new cryptocurrency tokens. Last week, law enforcers in the southwest province of Sichuan told bitcoin miners to shut their operations.
On Monday, China’s central bank ordered Ant Group and four state-owned financial institutions to step up their crackdown on bitcoin and other digital coins.
Bitcoin was down nearly 4.5% to $31,720 at the time of writing this article. Ethereum dropped 2.36% to 1,894 and dogecoin gave away 19.74% to $0.186511. Ripple fell 12.8% to $0.58255 while litecoin fell 9.41% to $118.
