Lithium price steadies after China pullback as Albemarle, SQM shares rise premarket
Chinese lithium prices ticked up on Monday, following a pullback in early February. In U.S. premarket hours, top producer stocks also saw gains.
US Economic Calendar Today: Stock Futures Hold Steady as Traders Eye Fed Speeches, Treasury Buyback and Delayed Jobs Data
Futures for U.S. stocks held mostly steady early Monday, with the market eyeing two key pieces of economic data: the January jobs numbers out Wednesday — delayed from last week — and Friday’s consumer price index release. Both could help shape the Fed’s rate path. As of 4:52 a.m. EST, Dow E-minis edged up 46 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 E-minis were off by 4 points, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis slipped 50.25 points. CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed markets still betting on a first rate cut in June. Earnings to watch before the bell: Kyndryl, Becton Dickinson, Apollo Global Management, and Loews.
IBM and Meta bring AI Alliance to Indonesia as IBM shares rise; Australia reviews Confluent deal
IBM and Meta are bringing their AI Alliance to Indonesia, ramping up efforts to promote open-source artificial intelligence—where anyone can see and tweak the code. The alliance’s reach is now 29 countries, 195 members. According to a recent IBM CEO Study, 61% of Indonesian firms are using “AI agents,” tools built to handle tasks and planning. Still, just 27% reported their latest AI systems hit the ROI they were aiming for, Tech in Asia said.
QQQ tug-of-war: SEC filings show fresh buying and a bank cut as Nasdaq tests faster Nasdaq-100 entry
Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV sharply boosted its exposure to Invesco’s QQQ ETF in the third quarter, bumping up its stake by 121.4% and ending up with 2,998 shares valued at nearly $1.8 million, according to a filing. That puts QQQ at about 1.8% of Paradigm’s portfolio, the disclosure shows.
Natural gas price today: U.S. Henry Hub futures slide about 7% as warmer forecasts bite
U.S. natural gas prices slumped nearly 7% early Monday. The March NYMEX contract dropped 25.2 cents, trading near $3.17 per million British thermal units.
Mortgage rates today steady near 6.23% as bond yields hold; mortgage stocks mixed in premarket
Mortgage rates in the U.S. barely budged early Monday. The 30-year fixed average stuck close to 6.23%, as investors braced for a data-heavy week likely to influence bets on Fed rate cuts.
Oil prices steady after Iran talks cool supply fears; Brent holds near $68
Oil barely budged Monday, recovering from an earlier dip as U.S.-Iran negotiations appeared to calm near-term supply worries. But traders kept one eye on the uncertain flow of Russian crude to India, which helped keep a floor under prices. Brent crude nudged higher, up 17 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.22 a barrel at 1044 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate showed a similar move, rising 18 cents to $63.73, also up 0.3%. “The Iranian risk premium cannot be fully defused as long as U.S. warships are located where they are,” SEB’s Bjarne Schieldrop said. Sparta oil market analysts, for their part, called a complete stop to India’s Russian oil imports “a sustained bullish development” for physical barrels.
XRP price today slips as traders brace for U.S. payrolls, CPI week
XRP slipped roughly 4% to $1.38 early Monday in New York, mirroring declines across the wider crypto market. The token moved in a band from about $1.37 to $1.47 during the session.
AI stocks brace for a big week: Micron slips on Samsung HBM4 talk as Nvidia looms
Micron Technology stock slipped ahead of the bell Monday, following a Barron's piece pointing to a report that Samsung Electronics plans to kick off mass production of its next-gen high-bandwidth memory, HBM4, later this month. The chips are intended for Nvidia’s AI processors.
Silver price jumps again after wild swings as delayed U.S. data looms
Silver shot up 4.3% to $81.32 an ounce as of 0948 GMT on Monday, building on Friday’s hefty nearly 10% surge. A softer dollar helped fuel the gains. “Gold reclaims its historical role as a neutral sovereign asset,” said Rania Gule, senior market analyst at XS.com. Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and FOREX.com noted, “Silver is more of a risk asset than gold... when risk appetite is strong, you tend to see silver outperform gold.”
Bitcoin price drops below $70,000 again as Bithumb glitch and U.S. data test crypto nerves
Bitcoin dropped roughly 3% Monday, tumbling under $70,000 after losing momentum from an early rise. By 6:18 a.m. ET, the cryptocurrency was changing hands at $68,548, having swung between $68,439 and $72,024. Ether was off 4.3%, sitting at $2,021.
Solana price sinks to $83 as bulls pitch $250 and bears warn of $20
Solana's SOL hovered near $83.21 Monday, dropping 4.27% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Futures open interest clocked in close to $5.14 billion. Trading volume for Solana futures totaled about $10.0 billion, with liquidations reaching approximately $14.2 million over the same period, the data showed.
China’s Treasury warning jolts the dollar as Takaichi win sends yen swinging, Nikkei to a record
Treasuries lost ground and the dollar weakened Monday, after sources said Chinese regulators had cautioned banks on the dangers tied to large holdings of U.S. government bonds. The U.S. 10-year yield ticked up three basis points to 4.23%. In Japan, stocks and bond yields climbed as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi secured an election victory.
Dow 50,000 Hangover: U.S. Stock Futures Steady as Jobs, CPI Loom After AI Jolt
Futures on Wall Street were barely budging early Monday, following last week's volatile tech action. Investors eyed the still-pending January payrolls update and consumer price figures for the month, which have the potential to reshape forecasts for Fed rate cuts. Dow E-minis added 46 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures traded lower.
Shell stock creeps toward its yearly high as buybacks roll on — and JPMorgan sticks with “Overweight”
By 10:30 GMT on Monday, Shell shares were up 0.6% at 2,790 pence, with the stock still trading around 5% beneath its 52-week high.
Gold price above $5,000 again as dollar slips; U.S. jobs and CPI tests loom
Gold stayed above the $5,000 mark on Monday, with spot prices touching $5,012.53 an ounce by 0948 GMT, up 1.1%. That followed Friday’s 4% surge. U.S. gold futures for April picked up the same, trading at $5,033.70. A weaker U.S. dollar and looming economic releases kept the metal buoyant. “Gold reclaims its role as a neutral sovereign asset,” XS.com senior analyst Rania Gule said, noting traders are now factoring in at least two quarter-point cuts in 2026.
India stock market today: Nifty ends above 25,850 as SBI hits record close, trade deal hopes lift Sensex
Indian equities pushed higher Monday, with gains in public-sector banks and metals driving the move. State Bank of India popped after posting quarterly numbers. Nifty 50 closed up 0.7% at 25,867. Sensex added 0.6% to settle at 84,065.
Dow futures steady as Wall Street braces for delayed jobs report and CPI after tech jitters
Early Monday, U.S. stock index futures sent a mixed signal: Dow E-minis climbed 46 points, but S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 E-minis ticked down. Tech stocks had taken a hit lately, and now the focus is on several upcoming Fed speakers and critical data releases.
Dow Jones futures steady after Dow hits 50,000 as jobs report, CPI loom this week
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures held near flat early Monday, after the blue-chip index’s first close above 50,000 put a fresh spotlight on how much economic cooling the market can take. At 4:52 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis — futures contracts that track the index — were up 46 points, or 0.09%.
Ethereum’s $2,000 test: CoinShares sees outflows easing, but ETF cash keeps leaving
Crypto ETPs — that’s exchange-traded products like ETFs tracking digital assets — posted their third consecutive week of outflows, though the bleed slowed to $187 million last week, according to CoinShares on Monday. James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, said the deceleration could signal “inflection points in investor sentiment.” Bitcoin products led the outflows with $264.4 million pulled, while ether ETPs actually attracted $5.3 million. XRP funds brought in $63 million; Solana saw $8.2 million in new money. On the price front, ether dropped 3.7% to $2,018, with bitcoin down 2.4% to $68,562.
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