US pre-open: Markets set to hit new records early, crypto stocks jump
US stock futures were pointing higher ahead of the opening bell on Monday, with all three Wall Street benchmarks set to hit fresh record highs – though volumes are expected to be light due to the Veterans Day holiday.
Futures on the Dow were up 0.4% by 0611 in New York, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were rising 0.2%.
Markets hit new all-time highs on Friday in the aftermath of last Tuesday's presidential election, in which Donald Trump comfortably beat Kamala Harris to be America's new pro-business president elect, while another rate cut from the Federal Reserve on Thursday also boosted investor sentiment.
Over the past four trading sessions alone, the Dow has risen 5.25% to 43,988.99, the S&P 500 gained 4.95% to 5,995.54, while the Nasdaq increased 6.1% to 19,286.78.
"The Veterans day holiday does provide the basis for lower volumes, although markets are open as normal," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets, ahead of the opening bell.
No major economic data was due to release during Monday's session, though things will pick up later in the week with October's US inflation report out on Wednesday, followed by the US producer price index on Thursday and US retail sales on Friday.
"The US inflation report comes at a timely moment, with markets second guessing whether a December rate cut will come to fruition or not. While Trump’s policies have been largely deemed to be inflationary, the continued slump in energy prices does at least keep a lid on one key element that helps drive price pressures throughout the world," Mahony said.
In corporate news, futures of crypto stocks Coinbase and Microstrategy were putting in double-digit gains in pre-market trading after bitcoin prices hit a new all-time high of $82,000.
Bitcoin has surged nearly 20% since election day, propelled by investor optimism that Trump's new administration would support a friendlier regulatory environment for digital currencies. The broader cryptocurrency market was mirroring Bitcoin’s momentum, with assets like Ethereum and Dogecoin seeing significant gains - Ethereum rose nearly 29% over the last week, while Dogecoin surged 83%.
A number of heavyweights will report earnings this week, including Monday.com, Home Depot, Alibaba, Cisco, and Walt Disney.