US 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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