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postUS stock futures retreated on Monday, as bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) slump deepened and Wall Street’s strong late-November rebound looked set to hit a speed bump on the first trading day of December.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) futures slid roughly 0.5%, after the blue-chip benchmark led Wall Street indexes to a fifth day of gains on Friday. Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) dropped 0.6%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) fell 0.7%.
Bitcoin fell sharply, in another sign that markets are kicking December off in a risk-off mood. The leading cryptocurrency dropped as much as 6% in Asian trading, to below $86,000, before retracing some losses.
Meanwhile, all the “Magnificent Seven” megacap stocks edged lower, led by drops of over 1% for Nvidia (NVDA), Meta (META), and Tesla (TSLA) shares.
December is typically a strong month for stocks, but strategists say the so-called Santa rally may not happen this year after a string of events — not least President Trump’s tariff push — kept uncertainty high. That has led stocks to buck the usual seasonal trends throughout 2025, analysts say.
Focus is still on the Federal Reserve’s path for interest rates, even as over 85% of bets ride on a quarter-point reduction at policymakers’ meeting next week. The Thanksgiving week rally was fueled in large part by rising hopes for a cut and lower borrowing costs, on the back of supportive comments from Fed officials. But the central bank has now entered a blackout ahead of its gathering.
That puts the spotlight on economic data to set expectations for rates, as releases continue to flow back to normal post-government shutdown. Monday brings a reading on November manufacturing activity, ahead of updates on services activity and the jobs market in coming days. But the highlight comes Friday, with the delayed arrival of September’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.
Wall Street is also bracing for a potential change of leadership at the Fed, after a year of Trump butting heads with Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Trump said Sunday he has made his choice for replacing Powell, telling reporters: “I know who I am going to pick, yeah.” Trump didn’t give a name, though White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett is seen as most likely.
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Treasurys fall as Japanese sell-off ripples through bond markets
Bloomberg reports:
Treasurys started the post-Thanksgiving week on the back foot as a slide in Japanese debt spilled over into bond markets globally.
The yield on US 10-year notes (^TNX) rose three basis points to 4.04%, following a jump in the Japanese equivalent to the highest since 2008 on the prospect of a Bank of Japan interest-rate hike later this month. That also pushed up rates on bonds from Europe to New Zealand.
Read more here.
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
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Stocks drift back towards record highs as the final month of 2025 gets underway: What to watch this week
Yahoo Finance’s Jake Conley takes a look at the key events for markets this week.
He reports:
Read more here.
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Premarket trenders: Coupang, New Fortress Energy and Strategy
South Korea’s largest e-retailer Coupang Inc. (CPNG) stock fell 8% in premarket trading on Monday following a massive data leak. This latest break caps what is set to be a record year for online leaks in the country, highlighting weaknesses in Seoul’s cyber defenses.
New Fortress Energy (NFE) stock soared 22% before the bell on Monday. The liquefied natural gas supplier, which has faced questions over its rising debt, had a contract approved with Puerto Rico regulators late Friday.
Strategy (MSTR) stock fell 4% during premarket trading on Monday. The software company, which is one of the largest investors of bitcoin has suffered due to the crypto selloff.
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Silver jumps to extend its record-beating rally
Silver (SI=F) jumped nearly 2% to a fresh all-time peak on Monday as traders eyed tight supply and optimism for a US interest rate cut in December.
The metal was trading above $58 an ounce, having surged almost 6% on Friday to a record high.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
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‘I don’t know if we’ll get that Santa rally’: Why Wall Street says December may break from its usual strength
Yahoo Finance’s Allie Canal reports:
Read more here.
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Oil gains as traders eye risks from attack on key Black Sea terminal, Venezuela tensions
Bloomberg reports:
Oil rose as a key pipeline linking Kazakh fields to Russia’s Black Sea coast halted loading after one of its three moorings was damaged in an attack over the weekend.
Brent (BZ=F) traded above $63. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium carries most of Kazakhstan’s crude exports, which have averaged 1.6 million barrels a day so far this year.
Ukraine hasn’t commented on the incident at the CPC facility, although it confirmed separate attacks on an oil refinery and tankers over the weekend.
The incident came after the OPEC+ producer-group led by Saudi Arabia reiterated a three-month plan to halt output hikes in the first quarter of next year. OPEC+ again said the move reflected weaker seasonal market conditions. A major surplus is expected in the early part of next year.
Oil posted a fourth consecutive monthly drop in November as expectations for a swelling surplus weighed on the outlook, with the International Energy Agency forecasting a record glut in 2026. Still, geopolitical tensions from Russia to Venezuela — where President Trump warned airspace should be considered closed over the weekend, add to the bullish risks for prices.
Read more here.
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ChatGPT was unveiled 3 years ago, kicking off the AI revolution. For investors, it did even more.
Yahoo Finance’s Myles Udland reports:
The three-year anniversary of ChatGPT’s release was on Sunday.
For investors and the corporate world, a lot more than three years’ worth of change has followed.
Stock prices have soared. Workflows have changed. Staffing needs have been radically altered. A massive domestic infrastructure buildout is underway.
The economy has become increasingly K-shaped, with the distance widening between the financial haves and have-nots in both the corporate and consumer realms.
The transformed state of the economy and markets is remarkable on its own merits. But against the backdrop of the markets from which this artificial intelligence boom emerged, the turnaround is even more impressive.
Simply put, ChatGPT didn’t just catalyze the biggest technological boom in a generation; it offered a catalyst to turn around one of the lousiest market environments investors had been dealing with since the financial crisis.
… And it is with this context that the doubt which has seemed to dog this bull run becomes more explicable.
Read more here in this takeaway from Morning Brief.
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Bitcoin leads crypto sell-off as coin drops below $87,000
Cryptocurrencies fell early Monday morning as a week of sell-off continued despite appearing to stablize at the end of last week.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
