U.S. Opening Bell: Futures Signal Further Selloff; Dollar, Gold Rally

 | Jan 24, 2022 12:34

  • Bitcoin's slide continues
  • US dollar, gold both marginally higher
  • Oil is struggling
  • h2 Key Events/h2

    After one of the worst weeks for US markets since the start of the global pandemic in March 2020, US futures on the Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 traded higher in pre-US open trading on Monday, only to lose positive momentum and slide back into negative territory. 

    Yields on the 10-year Treasury note also slipped as investors returned to buying US government bonds. 

    h2 Global Financial Affairs/h2

    US futures have been volatile in trading ahead of the Wall Street open, wavering from positive to negative territory as markets await any information from this week's Federal Reserve meeting—when markets expect the US central bank to confirm it will finish tapering in March and begin hiking rates.

    Investors are also eagerly awaiting earnings from some mega-cap tech names, including IBM (NYSE:IBM) which reports after the close today and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which reports on Thursday, to see if they can glean any information on the global economic outlook. 

    The STOXX 600 Index was trading over 2% lower this morning, putting it on track for its worst two-day drop since November 2020. Tightening monetary policies tend to hit growth stocks first, as they typically have higher valuations. The expectation that the Fed will indicate a March interest rate hike to quell US inflation may result in stocks sliding even further as the rising cost of money leads investors to reprice the value of assets.

    Another worry for markets to contend with is a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    In Europe, technology stocks fell to a 14-week low. Even car manufacturers Renault (PA:RENA), Nissan (T:7201) and Mitsubishi (T:7211) all slipped though they are planning to triple their investment to jointly develop electric vehicles.