U.S. futures were mixed Monday as investors grew increasing concerned that the Fed may ‘taper’ early by cutting back on its monthly $120 billion bond purchases. Commodities fared even worse, reflecting concerns about falling demand in an economy that appears to be slowing.
Gold hit a 4-month low as investors considered the possibility that the Fed may raise rates to reign in inflation.
The only problem is that the Fed is largely powerless against inflation. Trillions of dollars in new money are already in circulation and are just starting to flow into the consumer goods market.
Some see the gold move as temporary as it will rally again as long as the Fed keeps printing money.
Equities
U.S. stock indices dropped in premarket trading on concerns over the Fed’s tapering and the global spread of the Delta variant.
| Level | Chg. | Chg. % | |
| DOW Futures | 34,997.00 | -94 | -0.27% |
| S&P 500 Futures | 4,424.00 | -5.5 | -0.12% |
| Nasdaq Futures | 15,117.00 | 21.5 | 0.14% |
U.S. Dollar and Treasuries
The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped almost two basis points. The dollar dropped against a basket of major currencies.
| Price | Chg. | Chg. % | |
| U.S. Dollar Index (DXY): | 92.77 | -0.03 | (-0.03%) |
| Yield | Change | Previous close | |
| U.S. 1 Year Treasury Bill | 0.079% | 0.006 | 0.073% |
| U.S. 2 Year Treasury Note | 0.212% | 0.000 | 0.212% |
| U.S. 5 Year Treasury Note | 0.758% | -0.008 | 0.766% |
| U.S. 10 Year Treasury Note | 1.283% | -0.020 | 1.303% |
| U.S. 20 Year Treasury Bond | 1.843% | -0.010 | 1.853% |
| U.S. 30 Year Treasury Bond | 1.938% | -0.009 | 1.947% |
Stocks To Watch
Retail investors dominated Monday’s top market movers.
Stocks of a biotech company Windtree Therapeutics rose on retail investor interest. Retail investors cited low float as an opportunity to “pump” the stock up for a quick profit. The company has recently reported Q2 financial results.
Sphere 3D Corp surged in premarket trading, continuing the last week’s surge as the company entered into an agreement with Hertford Advisors on bitcoin mining rights.
Retail investors also pushed up stocks of Sos Limited, an internet technology company and a popular meme stock.
The stocks of AzurRx BioPharma, Bitfarms and Future Fintech were all pushed up by retail investors looking for the next great meme-stock.
| Symbol | Price | Chg. | Chg. % | Volume | |
| Windtree Therapeutics | WINT | $2.33 | +0.520 | +28.73% | 4.07M |
| Sos Ltd | SOS | $3.58 | +0.510 | +16.61% | 3.61M |
| Sphere 3D Corp | ANY | $6.26 | +1.400 | +28.81% | 3.21M |
| AzurRx BioPharma | AZRX | $0.65 | +0.0643 | +10.98% | 2.62M |
| Future Fintech | FTFT | $3.48 | +0.570 | +19.59% | 1.95M |
| Bitfarms Ltd | BITF | $7.30 | +1.350 | +22.69% | 1.75M |
Commodities To Watch
Oil dropped with the markets as investors weighed concerns over the spread of the Delta variant and the Fed’s tapering. Copper sold off as well. Gold reached the lowest point in 4 months as investors expect an interest rate hike.
| Price | Chg. % | |
| WTI Crude Oil | $65.80 | -3.63% |
| Brent Crude Oil | $68.24 | -3.48% |
| Natural Gas | $4.13 | -0.22% |
| Gold | $1,748.50 | -0.83% |
| Silver | $24.06 | -$0.01 |
| Copper | $4.29 | -1.36% |
| Soybeans | $1,337.00 | 0.02% |
Crypto
Cryptocurrencies surged over the weekend with Bitcoin up over 15% in the last 7 days. Ethereum with some investors expecting that it might replace Bitcoin as the leading cryptocurrency.
| Global cap | global cap chg.% |
| $1.85T | 1.58% |
| Symbol | Price | Chg. % | Market Cap. | |
| Bitcoin | BTC | $45,749.41 | +2.73% | $859.22b |
| Etherium | ETH | $3,124.78 | +0.63% | $364.40b |
| Cardano | ADA | $1.47 | +0.74% | $45.77b |
| Ripple | XRP | $0.8196 | +2.11% | $36.12b |
| Dogecoin | DOGE | $0.2601 | +0.40% | $34.02b |
