Here are five things you should know for Monday, February 1st:
1. – Stock futures rise as Reddit crowd turns to precious metals
Stock futures soared on Monday, due to anxiety about the volatility of the retail market, mainly for GameStop shares (GME) – Get report and AMC Entertainment (AMC) – Get report, decreased when day traders turned their attention to precious metals.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 240 points, S&P 500 futures rose 38 points and Nasdaq futures rose 133 points.
Silver became the new target for retail investors over the weekend, with futures rising up to 13%.
Shares ended in a sharp drop on Friday amid the continuing frenzy of retail trade on Wall Street and concerns over the distribution of vaccines against the coronavirus. The S&P 500 recorded its biggest weekly drop since October.
The Dow and S&P 500 lost 3.3% each last week, and the Nasdaq fell 3.5%.
On the stimulus front, 10 Republican senators have proposed a $ 600 billion coronavirus relief plan, an alternative to the Biden government’s $ 1.9 trillion package.
2. – Silver is the new target for retail investors
Silver prices rose on Monday, with Reddit’s craze over heavily sold shares spreading to the metals market.
Spot silver traded 8.69% higher on Monday to $ 29.35 an ounce. Futures soared by 13% over the weekend, with silver surpassing $ 30 an ounce for the first time since 2013.
Twitter trends: “#silversqueeze.”
People on the WallStreetBets Reddit forum have launched themselves on silver and the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) – Get report, with traders seeing this as a way to hurt the big banks they believe are artificially suppressing prices.
BlackRock’s (BLK) – Get report iShares Silver Trust, the largest publicly traded product tracking metal, recorded net inflows of $ 944 million on Friday, according to Bloomberg.
The scope for short compression on silver is less obvious, with money managers having a long net position in silver since mid-2019, Bloomberg reported, citing futures and options data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“Last week’s events showed that it is unwise to doubt the purchasing power of retail investors, and this has been demonstrated sufficiently again in the silver market,” said Howie Lee, economist at Banco OCBC. “They may find it a little harder to squeeze the silver market than with GameStop – the first is much bigger and more liquid – but the moment seems to be with them at the moment.”
3. – Robinhood Reduces Restricted Trading List to Eight Shares
Robinhood, the online commerce app, has reduced the number of companies it has imposed trade limits from 50 to eight.
Opening new positions at GameStop, AMC Entertainment, BlackBerry (BB) – Get report, Express (EXPR) – Get report, Genius Brands (GNUS) – Get report, Koss Corp. (KOSS) – Get report, Naked brand (NAKD) – Get report and nokia (NOK) – Get report on Monday it will be limited, Robinhood said on his website.
GameStop was up 4.46% in pre-market trading on Monday, to $ 339.50. The stock has gained 1,643% so far in 2021.
Robinhood said last week that he had to limit trading to 50 shares because of the huge costs associated with settling the large number of trades.
“It wasn’t because we wanted to stop people from buying these shares,” said Robinhood.
The trading app was criticized last week after its move to impose trade restrictions, along with limits imposed by online brokers, sparked protests between social media groups and elected officials, alleging an effort by Wall Street to protect itself against newly populist investors -authorized.
4. – This week’s calendar: Amazon and Alphabet Earnings, US Jobs Report
Earnings reports are expected for Monday by Warner Music Group (WMG) – Get report, Cirrus Logic (RAW) – Get report, ON Semiconductor (IN) – Get report, Thermo Fisher Scientific (BMT) – Get report and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) – Get report.
Reports are expected later this week from Amazon (AMZN) – Get report, Alphabet (GOOGL) – Get report, Alibaba (NANNY) – Get report, United Parcel Service (UPS) – Get report, Pfizer (PFE) – Get report, Chipotle (CMG) – Get report, Amgen (AMGN) – Get report, Exxon Mobil (XOM) – Get report, AbbVie (ABBV) – Get report, PayPal (PYPL) – Get report, Electronic Arts (AND THE) – Get report, Spotify (PLACE) – Get report, Merck (MRK) – Get report, Penn National Gaming (PENN) – Get report, Snap (SNAP) – Get reportFord (F) – Get report, Pinterest (PINS) – Get report and Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – Get report.
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The US economic calendar on Monday includes the Markit Manufacturing PMI (final) for January at 9:45 am ET and the ISM Manufacturing Index for January at 10 am, and construction spending for December at 10 am
Economic reports expected later this week include the official US non-farm payroll report for January, Durable Goods Orders and Factory Orders.
5. – Exxon and Chevron reportedly discussed a merger last year
The main executives of Exxon Mobil and Chevron (CVX) – Get report discussed a merger of the two oil companies last year after the coronavirus pandemic hit demand for oil and gas, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The discussions were described as preliminary and are not in progress, but may return in the future, people familiar with the talks told the Journal.
A merger of the energy giants would create a company with a market value of more than $ 350 billion. Together, they would form the second largest oil company in the world by market capitalization and production, producing around 7 million barrels of oil and gas a day based on pre-pandemic levels, the Journal noted.
Saudi Aramco is No. 1 in both measures.