Futures inch up, bitcoin grabs investor interest
(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Wall Street on Monday, with the launch of bitcoin futures raising investor interest in cryptocurrency related companies.
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
** Shares of Marathon Patent (MARA.O), Riot Blockchain (RIOT.O), Overstock.com (OSTK.O) and Xunei (XNET.O) were up between 3.8 percent and 8 percent in premarket trading.
** Bitcoin futures jumped more than 20 percent in the U.S. debut on Sunday, which backers hope will encourage wider use and give legitimacy to cryptocurrency. [nL1N1OA0AG]
** At 7:21 a.m. ET, bitcoin futures were quoted at $17,800 on the Chicago-based CBOE Global Markets exchange XBTc1, up 12.3 percent from its Sunday opening price, while bitcoin itself hovered at $16,459. BTC=BTSP
** Shares of Cboe Global Markets (CBOE.O) rose 3.7 percent.
** U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, buoyed by a solid payrolls report for November that locked in expectations for an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve this week.
** The report showed the economy added 228,000 jobs in November but average hourly earnings failed to meet expectations.
** The third rate hike in 2017 is near certain, with traders betting a 90 percent chance in its favor, according to CME Group’s Fedwatch tool.
** But, a sluggish growth in wages in latest U.S. jobs report could raise doubts about the central bank’s plan to raise interest rates thrice in 2018.
** The Labor Department is slated to release a report at 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) on job openings and labor turnover for October.
** Bluebird Bio (BLUE.O) shares rose 11.13 percent after its experimental gene-modifying immunotherapy drug co-developed with Celgene (CELG.O) received positive responses in early stage study. Celgene’s shares were up 2.6 percent. [nL1N1O81FI]
Futures snapshot at 6:52 a.m. EDT:
** Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 46 points, or 0.19 percent, with 7,997 contracts changing hands.
** S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 2.25 points, or 0.08 percent, with 154,048 contracts traded.
** Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 7.25 points, or 0.11 percent, on volume of 11,062 contracts.