Here are five things you should know for Monday, December 28:
1. – Stock futures rise as asset signals bill
Stock futures soared on Monday after President Donald Trump signed a combined $ 2.3 trillion government funding and coronavirus relief package, backing down demands for aid checks greater than $ 2,000 and avoiding the closure of the government.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 178 points, S&P 500 futures rose 26 points and Nasdaq futures rose 89 points.
Trump delayed signing the bill, suggesting that he would block it if stimulus checks were not increased to $ 2,000 from the $ 600 that Congress passed last week, and if spending was not cut.
But by postponing the subscription, about 14 million Americans missed a week of expanded unemployment benefits.
The massive bill includes $ 900 billion in pandemic relief and $ 1.4 trillion in government spending to fund federal agencies by the end of the fiscal year next September.
The stimulus “may be favorable to the market, to the US economy,” Suresh Tantia, a strategist at Credit Suisse, told Bloomberg. “Next year, all the building blocks are there for the markets to continue this high.”
The S&P 500 rose almost 15% in 2020. On Thursday, the last trading day before Christmas, the S&P 500 rose 0.36%, the Dow rose 0.23% and the Nasdaq gained 0.26%.
2. – Coronavirus – The most recent
The number of global deaths confirmed by Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has increased to almost 1.77 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed cases of the virus worldwide have increased to 80.83 million.
The death toll in the United States is 333,129, the highest number in the world. The number of infected people in the United States was 19,136,158.
On Sunday, there were 226,274 new cases of coronavirus in the US and 1,663 deaths, according to university data.
Hospitalizations in California reached a record high after the state added 50,141 cases, one of the highest levels since a record two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported. The total number of fatalities in California has increased to 24,220.
The Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca (AZN) – Get report and the University of Oxford may be approved by the UK as early as this week, Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The approval would come about three weeks after the United Kingdom became the first western country to start immunizing its citizens with the Covid-19 vaccine, the injection made by Pfizer PFE and BioNTech BNTX.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said on Sunday that researchers believe the British pharmaceutical injection will be effective against a new variant of the virus that has rapidly increased infection rates in Britain.
3. – China asks Ant Group to review its business
Alibaba’s US listed shares (NANNY) – Get report fell 1% in pre-market trading on Monday after Chinese regulators ordered the Ant Group to review its credit and consumer finance operations.
Alibaba owns 33% of the capital of Ant Group, the largest financial technology company in the world.
The People’s Bank of China announcement came just days after regulators began an anti-monopoly investigation of Alibaba, the e-commerce giant. It also followed the suspension of the Shanghai Stock Exchange last month from the Ant Group’s $ 37 billion pending list, which would have been the largest initial public offering in the world.
Regulators said in a statement on Sunday that they ordered the Ant Group to formulate a rectification plan and implement a timetable for reviewing its businesses, including its credit, insurance and wealth management services.
Alibaba’s American deposit receipts fell 0.99% in the premarket to $ 219.81. ADRs fell more than 13% on Thursday after news of the antimonopoly investigation.
4. – Bitcoin smashes $ 28,000
Bitcoin rose to a record high above $ 28,000 early Sunday, and has been propelled upward in the past few days as institutional investors and speculators have embarked on the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin surpassed $ 25,000 on Friday night and then surpassed $ 26,000 and $ 27,000 over the weekend, according to CoinDesk. On the last check, bitcoin traded at $ 26,758.
Bloomberg noted that bitcoin’s massive returns in October, November and December so far are the longest period since mid-2019.
Bitcoin exceeded $ 20,000 for the first time on December 16.
Many experts believe that more gains are ahead for bitcoin – some expect it to trade above $ 30,000. But if investors and speculators lose faith in digital currency, it can easily plummet, as it did in February and March, and from December 2017 to December 2018.
5. – Economic calendar this week
The US economic calendar on Monday is light, but data on home sales, unemployment insurance claims and trade will be released later in the week.
Very few companies will issue earnings reports this week. Those who will be include SINA (SINA) – Get report, Weibo (WB) – Get report and CSP Inc. (CSPI) – Get report.