Dow futures up, Bitcoin crosses 61K as stocks expect solid start to the week

U.S. stock futures moved higher in overnight trading and pointed to gains at the open on Monday, continuing last week’s rally that led the Dow and S&P 500 to record highs.

Dow futures rose 105 points. S&P 500 futures gained 0.25% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%.

Stocks rose last week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 4% and the S&P 500 gaining 2.6%. The S&P 500 and the Dow bother closed at a record high last week.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury e Nasdaq Composite advanced 3% last week, despite a sell-off on Friday spurred by rising interest rates.

U.S. crude futures traded at $66.23 per barrel, up 0.9% on the day.

The small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 surged more than 7% last week as investors rotated into smaller stocks that benefit from a sharp economic comeback.

Investors will be gearing up for Tuesday and Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting where the Federal Reserve will deliver its decision on interest rates. The bond market in the coming week will likely take its cues from the Federal Reserve.

The central bank is expected to acknowledge much better growth in the economy. Bond pros are also watching to see whether Fed officials will tweak their interest rate outlook, which now does not include any rate hikes through 2023.

The earnings calendar is sparse this week. The few major companies reporting include home-builder Lennar on Tuesday and business-services firm Cintas on Wednesday.Thursday will be more interesting as Nike, FedEx, and Dollar General report. Advanced Micro Devices will also host an event on Monday to unveil new chips.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, crossed $ 61,000 and has been up to over 80% this year and 570% higher over the last 12 months. On Sunday afternoon it was trading hands at $59,819, after hitting a fresh all-time high at $61,732 on Sat.

Its value surpassed $1 trillion last week for the second time.

The new mark for the world’s most popular crypto comes after a relatively fallow period for the asset whose gains have been attributed to greater adoption by a clutch of prominent institutional investors. Several high-profile Wall Street investors, including Stanley Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones, have prominently invested in bitcoin.

On the vaccine front, Dr. Fauci warned the U.S citizens that dropping mask mandates, even as vaccinations speed up, is ‘risky business.’

“When you get a plateau at a level around 60,000 new infections per day, there’s always the risk of another surge,” he said. “And that’s the thing we really want to avoid because we are going in the right direction,” he added.

A new study suggests 3 feet, not 6 feet, is sufficient distance for school students, with mask-wearing and other safety measures kept in place.