U.S. markets open in 3 hours 42 minutes

  • S&P Futures

    3,792.00
    -24.75 (-0.65%)
     

  • Dow Futures

    31,088.00
    -148.00 (-0.47%)
     

  • Nasdaq Futures

    12,584.00
    -97.75 (-0.77%)
     

  • Russell 2000 Futures

    2,183.10
    -22.70 (-1.03%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    60.83
    -0.45 (-0.73%)
     

  • Gold

    1,710.20
    -5.60 (-0.33%)
     

  • Silver

    25.92
    -0.46 (-1.75%)
     

  • EUR/USD

    1.2044
    -0.0023 (-0.19%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    1.4700
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     

  • Vix

    27.41
    +3.31 (+13.73%)
     

  • GBP/USD

    1.3935
    -0.0017 (-0.13%)
     

  • USD/JPY

    107.3380
    +0.3360 (+0.31%)
     

  • BTC-USD

    49,321.20
    -1,985.96 (-3.87%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    989.35
    +2.14 (+0.22%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    6,597.26
    -78.21 (-1.17%)
     

  • Nikkei 225

    28,930.11
    -628.99 (-2.13%)
     

Paul Ryan: Deficit increase is due to entitlement spending

House Speaker Ryan talks need to reform health care, breaks down the budget deal that was passed on 'Sunday Morning Futures.'

Recommended Stories

  • GBP/USD Price Forecast – British Pound Finding Support

    The British pound initially fell a bit during the trading session on Tuesday but found buyers underneath the 1.39 level to turn around and rally.

  • Your next stimulus check may be in jeopardy now

    A new compromise would make millions of Americans ineligible for the third checks.

  • Cathie Wood’s ARKK Set to Extend 20% Drop From Peak in Tech Rout

    (Bloomberg) -- The main fund from Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management slipped in pre-market trading on Thursday, looking set to extend its 20% drop from a February peak.The $22.9 billion Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) was down 2.5% as of 5:30 a.m. New York time. The ETF tumbled 6.3% on Wednesday alone as growth stocks such as Pinterest Inc. and Zillow Group Inc. took a beating, highlighting a swift turnaround for the formerly high-flying fund.Futures on the Nasdaq 100 Index were pointing to a red open after the underlying gauge lost almost 3% on Wednesday, with traders turning away from tech in favor of so-called value stocks that had underperformed during the pandemic. The rotation, along with higher bond yields that dim the allure of equities, is taking the shine off what had been one of the hottest investments on Wall Street.Since peaking on Feb. 12, ARKK’s price has now dropped by a fifth, the level that commonly defines a bear market.“People are worried the crowded trades will lose their momentum like they did last September” when some of the biggest tech names suffered a bout of selling, said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co.Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes have jumped more than 50 basis points in 2021, on track for the largest quarterly increase since 2016. Consequently, it’s growing more difficult to justify sky-high valuations for highly speculative, expensive areas of the stock market.ARKK’s three largest holdings, Tesla Inc., Square Inc. and Roku Inc., have about tripled over the past year. Tesla is up close to 350%, while Square has surged about 200% and Roku is up more than 240%. They were all down in pre-market trading after slumping on Wednesday.In fact, all but three stocks held by ARKK fell and three suffered losses exceeding 10%, including Stratasys Ltd., a maker of 3D printers, and Veracyte Inc., which develops molecular tests for oncology.The fund’s tilt toward long-term growth means short-term profitability isn’t a key consideration when stocks are picked. In fact, two-thirds of its current holdings didn’t make a profit in the past year. And even after the recent losses, ARKK is still slightly up for the year.Inflows to the fund have faltered in the past week, but there’s yet to be a mass exodus. ARKK took in more than $600 million combined the past two days, after losing more than $690 million last week in its worst five-day period on record.“There is growing unease in the markets and whether higher-risk asset classes can continue to climb,” said Michael Purves, chief executive officer at Tallbacken Capital Advisors. “If sentiment turns, you can see substantial outflows.”(Updates for Thursday’s pre-market moves)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Getting A Third Covid-19 Stimulus Check Just Got Tougher

    Congress is nearing passage of the third economic stimulus check it will send out to you and other taxpayers as part of its Covid-19 relief bill.

  • WallStreetBets Eyes Tanger Factory Outlet Centers As A Short Squeeze Target

    Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc (NYSE: SKT) is attracting heightened discussion on r/WallStreetBets, the forum that came to light with the short squeeze in GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) stock earlier in the year. What Happened: The North Carolina-based real estate investment trust which operates factory outlet centers had a comments volume of 600 on WallStreetBets as of press time, as per SwaggyStocks data, and was the top-trending stock in the community in the near-term. Several users were pointing to what they said is a short squeeze opportunity. One forum member claimed he “just had to buy” Tanger stock as Melvin Capital and Citadel are short on it. Tanger shares have soared 76.69% since the year began. In the after-hours trading on Wednesday the company’s shares rose 5.13% to $18.65 after closing 9.24% higher at $17.74. Why It Matters: Tanger is the second most shorted stock after GameStop — attracting short interest or 39.98%, according to High Short Interest Stocks, a website that tracks stocks with short interest over 20%. The company was affected badly by the COVID-19 pandemic as most of the occupants of their outlet centers are non-essential businesses, the Motley Fool reported. However, the company’s fourth-quarter results indicated that it managed to attract customer traffic at 90% of 2019 levels and collect 95% of billed rent in the same period. Some of the positives related to the latest results have been noted by the WallStreetBets participants. Another emerging darling of the Reddit crowd is Rocket Companies Inc (NYSE: RKT), which was the second most discussed firm on the discussion board attracting over 3,700 comments as of press time. The resulting spike in Rocket shares gave Rocket founder Dan Gilbert’s wealth a billion boost on Tuesday before the stock dipped 32.67% on Wednesday. Related Link: GameStop Short-Selling Fame's Melvin Posts 20% Returns For February: Report Photo by Billy Hathorn on Wikimedia See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaWhy Globalstar Stock Spiked 9% In After-Hours TodayGameStop Short-Selling Fame's Melvin Posts 20% Returns For February: Report© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Day-Trading Reddit Users Nearly Crashed the Stock Market. Now They’re the Organizing Principle for a New ETF.

    Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy tweeted an elaborately produced “emergency press conference” video to debut the ETF. The stunt was also an uncomfortable reminder that one man’s meta meme may be another’s market manipulator.

  • Australia Plans to Loosen China’s Grip on Minerals Supply Chain

    (Bloomberg) -- Australia wants to leverage off its position as a top mineral producer by boosting processing and manufacturing, part of a plan to challenge China’s dominance in the supply of products key to the clean-energy transition.The government unveiled a 10-year road map on Thursday that includes A$1.3 billion ($1 billion) of funding to help businesses capitalize on the country’s abundant natural resources and exploit opportunities in a de-carbonizing world. It encourages growth in high-value products like batteries and solar cells, as well as technologies and equipment that make mining safer and more efficient.The Modern Manufacturing Initiative comes as the U.S. and Japan look to cut their dependence on China for minerals that are vital to many manufacturing sectors. Australia is the top exporter of lithium, a key component in batteries, and is also a major source of rare earths. Beijing is reviewing its rare earths policy and there are signs it may ban the export of refining technology to nations or firms that it deems are a threat to state security.See also: Biden’s Hopes for Rare Earth Independence at Least a Decade Away“It’s a sovereign and strategic priority for Australia to ensure that we are hard-wired into this supply chain around the world,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a media briefing following the announcement. It has to be “a supply chain that Australia and our partners can rely on, because these rare earths and critical minerals are what pull together the technology that we will be relying on into the future,” he said.Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. currently sends rare earths from its operations in Australia to Malaysia for processing, but has plans to build a facility close to its Mt. Weld mine in the country’s west. Lynas’ rival Iluka Resources Ltd. is also assessing options to build processing capacity. Energy Renaissance, meanwhile, and other companies are looking to establish a domestic battery manufacturing industry on Australia’s east coast.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • ARK’s Red-Hot ETF Fell 20% in 12 Days. The Pain for Tech Stocks Might Just Be Beginning.

    Growth investors should watch out. The ETF (ticker: ARKK), actively managed by Cathie Wood, founder of ARK Investment Management, was one of the star performers of 2020. It gained more than 150% by riding stay-at home stars like (TSLA) (TSLA), (ROKU) and (SQ)(SQ) to new heights.

  • How to claim stimulus money on your 2020 taxes. ‘It’s really the only vehicle that you have right now’

    36% of taxpayers said the Recovery Rebate Credit was the 'most confusing' part of taxes this year.

  • The oil market’s wild pandemic ride is about to take another turn

    The oil industry is no stranger to boom-bust cycles, but the pandemic has been its wildest ride to date, and on March 4 it’s due to take another turn when OPEC meets to consider rolling back production cuts. As the world’s cars and airplanes idled, global oil demand bottomed out in April at levels 16.4% below the previous year, dragging the price into negative territory for the first time. White-knuckling through it all has been OPEC, the 13-member cartel that dictates quotas for most of the world’s biggest oil-producing countries (notably excluding the US).

  • Why the S&P 500’s bull-market run probably is only getting started

    This chart shows why the S&P 500's bull market run may be both too short lived and too limited, in terms of price gains, to be over anytime soon.

  • China’s Top Stock Funds Trashed by $111 Billion Moutai Wipeout

    (Bloomberg) -- The most popular stock trade in China is unraveling, tarnishing the reputations of some of the country’s most successful money managers and undermining the outlook for the world’s second-largest equity market.Until three weeks ago, buying the nation’s beloved liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Co. was a surefire way for the $3 trillion mutual fund industry to mint money and attract bumper inflows. The stock soared 30% year-to-date through its Feb. 10 record, after gaining almost 70% in 2020 -- and doubling in the year before that.Many funds, flush with a record amount of cash, didn’t have a choice if they wanted to keep their clients and attract new investors. Buying Moutai was the simplest and most effective way to top rankings -- until it wasn’t. The stock began tumbling after the Lunar New Year break, and kept falling. It’s now down 22% since its peak, including a drop of as much as 6% Thursday, and has lost more than $111 billion in value.One of the most high-profile casualties is E Fund Management Co.’s Zhang Kun, the first in China to oversee 100 billion yuan ($15 billion). Zhang’s E Fund Blue Chip Selected Mixed Fund is down 12% in 10 trading days after returning 95% last year largely due to a big bet on baijiu, the Chinese white spirit. The fund had 9.6% of its assets invested in Moutai as of December. Another fund run by Zhang has lost 23%. Zhang didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.The fund manager has received “verbal abuse” in recent weeks by investors who were previously fans, according to a report Wednesday in China’s state tabloid Global Times. He was known as “Prince Charming” or “Brother Kun” among his investors, who now refer to him on social media as “Kun Gou” or “Kun the dog” -- an offensive term in Chinese.Other copycat money managers will be feeling the pain: recent data showed two-thirds of mutual fund assets were invested in only 100 stocks, while the top 400 stocks lured 93% of total funds. Although China’s onshore market contains more than 4,000 stocks, Moutai is by far the largest with a market value of about $390 billion.Moutai accounts for 27% of the loss in the FTSE China A50 Index of the nation’s largest companies since Feb. 10. When added together with fellow spirit makers Wuliangye Yibin Co. and Luzhou Laojiao Co., the three comprise more than half of the gauge’s decline.Concern had been growing about the stretched valuations of Moutai and its peers, especially as gains accelerated. A gauge tracking consumer staples, including liquor makers, traded at a record 36 times projected 12-month earnings in February.Read how China is warning against ‘entertaining’ investors with fund pitchesTo be sure, the company’s shares have faced plenty of risks in the past. The stock tumbled about 8% in a single day in July after the People’s Daily criticized the high price of the company’s liquor. In 2017, Xinhua News Agency said the stock was rising too fast, triggering a selloff. Back in 2013, the stock plunged when Xi Jinping came to power and clamped down on lavish spending by party cadres.But this time around, authorities have grown increasingly concerned about risks to the financial system posed by excess liquidity. On Tuesday, China’s top banking regulator jolted markets with a warning about the need to reduce leverage amid the rising risk of bubbles globally and in the local property sector. With Moutai being the best-known proxy for liquidity-fueled bets and momentum, fund managers will likely need to find a new strategy to protect their returns.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Maxing Out Your 401(k) and What to Do Next

    Max out your 401(k) each year, and be sure to get your 401(k) employer match, if you have one. And for you super savers, here are other ways to save for retirement.

  • Stellantis CEO says 4th largest carmaker to be disruptive

    Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares on Wednesday said the new car company formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot would be a “disruptive” force in the industry, and that both sides would provide technologies to achieve the promised 5 billion euros ($6 billion) in cost savings each year. The Italian-American carmaker and the French mass-market automotive company completed their merger on Jan. 16, creating Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, despite a pandemic year that saw profits plunge.

  • Dow tumbles for second day, U.S. stocks swoon as bond yields flirt with year’s highs

    U.S. stocks closed lower Wednesday, as benchmark bond yields climbed nearer to their highs of 2021 and a slate of fresh economic data came in mixed, despite progress on the vaccination front.

  • Monthly stimulus checks may be on the way for families later this year

    A bill in Congress would give families up to $300 a month per child starting this summer.

  • U.S. Inflation Expectations Hit Decade High as Yields Resurge

    (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasuries tumbled anew on Wednesday, driving long-maturity yields to their highest levels this week and pushing up inflation expectations as traders continued to price in a quicker economic rebound from the pandemic.Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields surged as much as 10.3 basis points to 1.495%, a move reminiscent of last Thursday’s startling selloff in government debt. Meanwhile, a market proxy for the anticipated annual inflation rate for the next half-decade exceeded 2.5% for the first time since 2008 -- aided by climbing oil prices. At least part of the trigger for the fixed-income losses came from the U.K., which said it will sell more bonds than expected as its economy emerges from a deep recession.Also in the background was Joe Biden’s announcement that enough doses of virus vaccine should be available to every American adult by the end of May, and a report Wednesday that the president would moderate certain stimulus demands to try to win support for his virus-relief bill. Rising yields have started to draw the attention of Federal Reserve officials, leaving all eyes on an appearance Thursday by Chair Jerome Powell.Among other things, “the stimulus package is likely to go through and the economy is reopening,” said Michael Franzese, managing partner at MCAP LLC in New York. “The battle is on between rates going higher super-fast and a Federal Reserve that’s trying to keep the market stable and may try to slow the momentum of the reflation and economic-rebound trade into something more manageable.”Early inklings of inflation were evident in data from the Institute for Supply Management this week: Measures of prices paid jumped to their highest levels since 2008.A large trade on Wednesday in 10-year Treasury options and accompanying futures selling also fueled the leap in yields, as did heavy corporate bond supply.The rates market is not yet done fully pricing in robust U.S. economic growth, which would entail a 10-year yield trading around 1.90%, said Mark Heppenstall, chief investment officer of Penn Mutual Asset Management in Horsham, Pennsylvania. That’s the level last seen in January 2020, two months before pandemic fears started prompting forced shutdowns in the U.S.Beyond rising nominal and breakeven rates, “the dynamic rise in the 10-year real, inflation-adjusted yield we’ve seen is the market partly adjusting to a faster-than-anticipated pace of rate normalization by the Fed,” he said.The timing of the Fed’s first rate hike, known as liftoff, and subsequent rate hikes haven’t been factored in, making Treasuries vulnerable to a further selloff in the weeks ahead, according to Heppenstall.(Adds reference to Fed rate hikes in ninth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Rocket Companies Short Squeeze Gives $25B Single-Day Boost To Dan Gilbert's Wealth

    Rocket Companies Inc (NYSE: RKT) founder Dan Gilbert’s wealth got a $25 billion booster on Tuesday as the holding company gets the attention of retail investors on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets, according to Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. What Happened: Gilbert, Age 59, has moved up 19 spots to No. 16 on the index that tracks 500 of the world’s richest. A large chunk of Gilbert’s fortune, 93% to be precise, is comprised of his stake in Rocket, reported Bloomberg. See also: How to Buy Rocket Companies (RKT) Stock Why It Matters: The one-day jump in Gilbert’s wealth is the largest so far in the year, noted Bloomberg. As of press time, Detroit-based Rocket Companies with subsidiaries such as Rocket Mortgage and Quicken Loans was the most discussed company on WallStreetBets, according to SwaggyStocks data. WallStreetBets investors previously carried out short squeezes in the stocks of GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME), AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC), Nokia Oyj (NYSE: NOK), BlackBerry Ltd (NYSE: BB), and others. Rocket reported 162% revenue growth and 350% growth in net income for the fourth quarter, which beat analyst estimates. The company’s shares have shot up since last Friday. S3 Partners data indicates the Rocket has currently $1.2 billion in short interest — making it one of the most shorted stocks in the market. Price Action: Rocket shares traded nearly 8.2% lower at $38.20 in after-hours trading on Tuesday after shooting up almost 71.2% in the regular session. Photo by Steve Jennings on Wikimedia See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaRocket Companies Overtakes GameStop, Palantir As WallStreetBets' Top Interest© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Investors Dumped Cloud Stocks Today. Here’s Why.

    FEATURE Investors dumped their holdings in cloud-based software stocks on Wednesday, taking profits in last year’s hottest names and shifting cash to other sectors expected to benefit from an economic recovery late this year.

  • 13 years after investing in an obscure Chinese automaker, Warren Buffett’s BYD bet is paying off big

    A $232 million investment has ballooned into a $5.9 billion stake.