Here are the key news, trends and analyzes that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Dow futures decline after biggest one-day loss
The Wall Street sign will be seen on February 16, 2021 outside The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
US futures rose on Friday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq suffered their biggest one-day losses in the red-hot month of February. The Dow, which broke a three-day winning streak and finished off a record, stayed afloat for a positive week, which would be its third series. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost three days and are on track for their first losing weeks in the past three.
Bitcoin – which rose more than $ 52,000 this week – reached an all-time high again early Friday, near $ 53,000 per unit. After Tesla and other companies recently showed support for the largest cryptocurrency in the world, it seems that big financial companies are heating it up as well. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC on Thursday she believes bitcoin is a “highly speculative asset.”
2. The Minister of Finance, Yellen, advocates for major Covid stimulation
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a virtual roundtable meeting with participants of the local Black Chambers of Commerce on February 5, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
As the House plans to pass its version of President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion coronavirus relief leaflet by the end of next week, Yellen told CNBC that a major stimulus package is needed to get the economy back on track. . “The price of doing too little is much higher than the price of doing something great,” she said. “We think the benefits will outweigh the costs in the long run.” Democrats hope to get their bill through Congress by March 14, when major federal unemployment benefit programs expire.
Pray to pledge billions of global Covid vaccination assistance
President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with labor leaders on coronavirus relief in the Oval Office on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
Pete Marovich | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Biden is expected to announce on Friday that the US will spend $ 4 billion on international Covid vaccination efforts. He will make the promise during his first virtual meeting as president with G-7 leaders. Biden will also urge other nations to spend more money on the global fight against the pandemic.
Later that day, Biden travels to Michigan to visit Pfizer’s vaccination equipment in Kalamazoo, a trip that was scheduled to happen Thursday but was postponed due to winter weather. Biden made his first domestic trip as president Tuesday to travel to Wisconsin for a coronavirus CNN town hall.
4. Uber is dealt a major blow as the UK’s Supreme Court rules that drivers are workers
A driver uses the Uber app to drop off a passenger in London.
Chris J. Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Shares in Uber fell 3% in the pre-market after the British High Court ruled on Friday that the company’s executives there should be classified as workers rather than independent contractors. The ruling ends a nearly five-year legal battle between Uber and a group of former drivers in Britain. Uber maintains that the drivers are independent and that it is more of an ‘agency’ that connects them to passengers through an app. The company faced a challenge in its California home market in November, when voters supported a proposal confirming the delivery of app-based food delivery and managers’ status as independent contractors, not employees.
5. Ken Griffin of Citadel defends controversial Wall Street practice
Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO, Citadel
Mike Blake | Reuters
Citadel’s Ken Griffin defended a controversial method used by brokers to make money during the GameStop trial on Capitol Hill on Thursday, saying his firm would adapt if new regulations banned its use. Members of Congress have spent much of their time on ‘order flow payments’, a practice in which a broker receives payment from a market maker such as Citadel to direct the order to them. This model is how Robinhood and other brokers are able to offer commission-free trading. “I do believe that paying for order flow was a major source of innovation in the industry,” Griffin said.
– Reuters contributed to this report. Follow all the developments on Wall Street in real time with CNBC Pro’s live market blog. Get the latest pandemic information with our coronavirus blog.