U.S. stocks look set for a subdued start to the week, after closing higher on Friday following weaker-than-expected jobs data for May.
Comments made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are also in focus, after she said higher interest rates down the line would be “a plus” for policy makers, in an interview on Sunday with Bloomberg News. Investors will be closely watching the latest U.S. inflation figures when the consumer-price index is published on Thursday.
Investors are also digesting another volatile weekend for cryptocurrency assets.
Our call of the day comes from a Goldman Sachs
GS,
survey, in which chief investment officers said bitcoin was their least favorite investment.
The world’s No. 1 crypto has had a volatile few months and moved lower on Sunday, on reports that Chinese social media platform Weibo had suspended a number of crypto accounts. A warning from the People’s Bank of China against using crypto for payments last month sparked a bitcoin crash, as it fell below $40,000 from a mid-April peak of $64,829.
Bitcoin’s rally to that peak had been partially attributed to more institutional adoptions of the crypto assets, according to some analysts and commentators.
However, a number of chief investment officers made their views on bitcoin clear in a recent survey conducted by Goldman Sachs.
“We held two CIO round table sessions earlier this week, which were attended by 25 CIOs from various long only and hedge funds,” said the Goldman strategists. The CIOs were surveyed on their views and outlooks, including their favorite investment styles and asset classes.
“Their most favorite is Growth style but least favorite on bitcoin,” added the strategists, led by Timothy Moe. In fact, 35% said the world’s No. 1 cryptocurrency was their least favorite, followed by new initial public offerings with 25%, and rate sensitivities with 20%.
Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
In contrast, Bank of America’s global fund manager survey for May found that long bitcoin was the most crowded trade. The survey of 216 panelists with $625 billion in assets under management was conducted between May 7 and May 13. While the surveys differ in their context and size, a month is a long time in the markets, particularly for crypto assets. The price of bitcoin
BTCUSD,
on May 7 was $57,699, according to CoinDesk data. On June 7 it sits at $36,316.
In better news for bitcoin, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, is set to propose legislation making the cryptocurrency legal tender in the Central American country.
Goldman’s CIO survey produced a number of other results, finding that chief investment officers were most bullish on China A shares and Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225
NIK,
index. Their biggest concern for the market was inflation and interest rates, expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to start tapering in the first half of 2022, with the first interest rate increases coming in the second half of next year.
The markets
U.S. stocks
DJIA,
COMP,
were set to start the week lower, with equity futures
YM00,
NQ00,
pointing largely down early on Monday. European stocks nudged higher after hitting record levels on Friday, while Asian markets were mixed.
The buzz
Tesla
TSLA,
Chief Executive Elon Musk has “destroyed lives” through irresponsible tweets that have recently roiled cryptocurrency markets, a group claiming to represent the hacker group Anonymous said in a video posted on Saturday.
Tesla has canceled plans for a Model S Plaid Plus electric car because the regular Plaid is “just so good,” Musk said in a series of tweets on Sunday.
Alphabet Inc.’s
GOOG,
Google has agreed to pay a fine of nearly $270 million, as part of a settlement with French regulators of one of the first antitrust cases globally to allege the technology company abused its leading role in the digital advertising sector.
A streaming glitch struck a blow in Sunday night’s fight featuring boxer Floyd Mayweather and YouTube creator Logan Paul.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s second child was born on Friday and has been named Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
Random reads
Why North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is waging war on slang, jeans and foreign films.
Sharks almost disappeared 19 million years ago and scientists don’t know why.
Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.
Want more for the day ahead? Sign up for The Barron’s Daily, a morning briefing for investors, including exclusive commentary from Barron’s and MarketWatch writers.