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Good morning, Bull Sheeters.
U.S. Futures are gaining as the Nasdaq looks to put a halt to its biggest losing streak since October. In pre-market, the FAANG stocks are in the green, but some of the smaller names—including Peloton and Uber—are getting pushed around by jittery investors.
Before the bell today, we get jobless claims figures. And tomorrow we have the April non-farm payrolls report.
Over in the crypto corner… Bitcoin and Ethereum are both climbing again. Alas, Dogecoin investors are dumping their positions, sending the meme coin down 10% this morning. But not to worry. With a market cap of $78 billion, Dogecoin is still worth more than ConocoPhillips, Colgate-Palmolive and insurance specialist Chubb.
Let’s check in on what else is moving the markets.
Markets update
Asia
- The major Asia indexes are mostly higher in afternoon trading with the Nikkei up 1.8%.
- There’s trouble in the lucrative Chinese market for sportswear giants Nike and Adidas. According to Bloomberg, new research shows sales for both brands plummeted on e-commerce platform Alibaba last month. That was at the height of boycott calls over the Xinjiang furor.
Europe
- The European bourses were a touch higher out of the gates this morning with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.1% in early trading, before slipping.
- Stellantis, the carmaker formed out of the PSA-Fiat Chrysler merger, said it expects to reach carbon compliance this year in Europe. That’s bad news for Tesla. Elon Musk’s EV maker has had a lucrative business selling carbon permits to non-compliant rivals. That business is quickly going up in smoke.
U.S.
- U.S. Futures point to a positive open. That’s after the Dow closed at an all-time high yesterday. Tech stocks, meanwhile, are now stuck in a four-day losing streak.
- Shares in Peloton are down again in premarket, after bombing 14.5% yesterday on news it was bucking to regulators’ demands to recall its Tread+ and Tread machines.
- Uber, too, is taking it on the chin this morning, down nearly 5% in pre-market trading after the Labor Department announced yesterday it will withdraw a Trump-era ruling that gave companies in the gig economy greater freedom in designating workers as independent contractors.
Elsewhere
- Gold is up, trading above $1,790/ounce.
- The dollar is down.
- Crude is down with Brent below $69/barrel.
- Bitcoin is on the rise again, trading near $57,000, back up over the $1 trillion market cap level.
***
Buzzworthy
Top dog
🐶🐶
Forget the gold standard
Maybe we should start making houses out of gold.
🌳🪓
Keep an eye on commodities
🙄
And, finally… a good wood pun
👏
ARKK is down eight straight days.
***
Have a nice day, everyone. I’ll see you here tomorrow… Until then, there’s more news below.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
[email protected]
As always, you can write to [email protected] or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.
Today's reads
Honest to goodness. Actress turned entrepreneur Jessica Alba saw her startup, Honest Company, boom in its market debut yesterday. The Nasdaq-listed—Ticker:HNST—company closed up nearly 44% yesterday after opening at $16 a share. Alba spoke to Coins2Day yesterday to share her vision for the company, and her role going forward.
Cramer cashes out. CNBC's Jim Cramer just cashed out his Ethereum stake after ETH hit a new all-time high. What did he do with his profits? Bought an all-electric Hummer. As Bull Sheet readers know, the new Hummers don't come cheap.
Speaking of crypto returns. My colleague Lance Lambert ran the numbers on three hottest crypto currencies: bitcoin, ethereum and dogecoin. Want to guess which of the three is outperforming the pack—and by a wide margin? Hint: 🐶.
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Market candy
Quote of the day
The vast majority are pipe dreams at best.
That's Carson Block, the notorious activist short-seller, speaking about SPACs. At the WSJ Risk & Compliance Forum, he laid out his case for why these blank-check IPOs are such a risky investment strategy. He also went on the offensive against U.S.-listed Chinese companies, saying they "are literally beyond the reach of investigation and enforcement." Block featured prominently in a magazine feature I wrote late last year about activist shorts.
