Markets: News  

Anna Hirtenstein 

Here's what we're watching as markets kick into gear on Tuesday.

-- U.S. stock futures edged lower as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony in Congress on the health of the economy.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 ticked down 0.5%. The benchmark stocks gauge on Monday fell for a fifth consecutive day, its longest losing streak since last February. Contracts for the Nasdaq-100 retreated 1.6%, suggesting technology stocks will continue to lead the market lower. Read our full market wrap here.

What's Coming Up

-- Earnings are due from Macy's ahead of the opening bell. Toll Brothers and XP will give updates after the close.

-- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will testify before Congress at 10 a.m. ET, providing an overview of the economy and monetary policy. It's the beginning of a two-day testimony on Capitol Hill. Watch the livestream here.

-- A gauge of consumer confidence in the U.S. for the month of February is also slated to be released at 10 a.m. by the Conference Board.

Market Movers to Watch

-- Tesla shares declined 6.4% in premarket trading, looking set to fall for the fourth consecutive trading session. It's currently below its S&P 500 entry price of $695.

-- Palantir tumbled 6%. Filings showed that one of its co-founders Stephen Cohen and two company officers jointly sold over 2.7 million shares overnight.

-- Shares of online entertainment companies fell. Sports-betting company DraftKings is down 5.8% and online pinboard Pinterest slipped 4.9%.

-- Etsy is also down 4.5%. The online marketplace is set to post earnings in two days.

-- Marathon Oil rose 2.8%. It released earnings after hours Monday, announcing a quarterly loss that wasn't as bad as analysts had expected.

-- Bitcoin tumbled over 13%. It traded at around $47,250, down from close to $57,000 at its peak on Monday, according to data from Coindesk. The cryptocurrency has largely been on a downturn since Sunday. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend "That said, BTC & ETH do seem high lol."

-- Shares of companies that provide services for cryptocurrencies and blockchain also fell. Both Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group dropped more than 18%. Shares of online retailer Overstock.com, which allows payments in bitcoin, fell 8.3%. Silvergate Capital, a bank based in La Jolla, Calif. that has for several years served crypto firms as a core part of its business, saw shares decline 16.8%.

-- Resort companies' shares are rising. Las Vegas Sands is up 3.2% and Wynn Resorts nearly 2% in premarket trading.

-- Home Depot slipped 2.2% after the company said it couldn't provide full-year guidance for 2021 given uncertainties from the pandemic in its latest earnings report. It reported profit and revenue that beat expectations and also raised its dividend.

Market Fact

Front-month ICE Brent crude oil futures for delivery in April have risen over 19% in the month of February.

Chart of the Day

The spread between the 2-year Treasury yield and a key interest rate set by the Federal Reserve is trading at all-time lows, a sign that many bond investors say points to excess cash coursing through the financial system.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2021 06:55 ET (11:55 GMT)

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