Futures point to a mixed open
U.S. stocks were poised to open mixed on Tuesday after a volatile day on Wall Street that saw the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly plunge more than 400 points on worries of a new Covid-19 strain before erasing the losses to close 37.40 points, or 0.1% higher at 30,216.45.
Congress approved a $900 billion coronavirus aid package and government spending package to help the economy get through the pandemic.
The long-awaited coronavirus aid package passed on Monday night helped offset concerns over the discovery in the United Kingdom of a new, potentially more deadly strain of coronavirus that some countries around the globe restrict travel from the UK.
As of 5:35 a.m. ET, the Dow futures were down 48 points, or 0.16% to 30,065. The tech-dominated Nasdaq 100 futures gained 45.62 points, or 0.36% to 12,729.12 while the S&P 500 futures were flat.
XRP cryptocurrency plunges as Ripple says it faces SEC lawsuit
XRP, a cryptocurrency issued and partly managed by Ripple Labs Inc, slumped over 17% to $0.4630 early Tuesday after the company said it expects to face a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its alleged sale of unlicensed securities.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the lawsuit is expected to name Ripple’s cofounder Chris Larsen and its chief executive Brad Garlinghouse as defendants.
Over the past few years, the SEC has filed and mostly won civil lawsuits accusing startups of breaking securities laws when they raised funds by selling cryptocurrencies.
Garlinghouse said in a tweet on Tuesday that the SEC “voted to attack crypto.” He added that SEC Chairman “Jay Clayton – in his final act – is picking winners and trying to limit US innovation in the crypto industry to BTC and ETH.”
“We know crypto and blockchain technologies aren’t going anywhere. Ripple has and will continue to use XRP because it is the best digital asset for payments – speed, cost, scalability and energy efficiency. It’s traded on 200+ exchanges globally and will continue to thrive,” Garlinghouse said.
Apple jumps on reports company plans autonomous car production by 2024
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) jumped in pre-market trade on Tuesday on media reports that the company planning autonomous car production by 2024 using its own breakthrough battery technology.
According to a report published by Reuters on Monday, Apple’s “Project Titan,” which started developing a vehicle in 2014, has advanced to the point where the company will aim to build a passenger vehicle that could include its own next level battery technology and take on rivals like Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA).
The report, which cited people familiar with the matter, said the iPhone maker is concentrating on a new design that could “radically” bring down the cost of batteries and improve the vehicle’s range.
Apple shares gained 2.78% to $131.80 in the pre-market trading session, while those of Tesla were little changed. Tesla dropped 6.49% on Monday to end the session at $649.86 per share.
