
US stock futures sank on Monday while bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) slump deepened, as Wall Street’s strong late-November rebound looked set to hit a speed bump on the first trading day of December.
Tech led the retreat, with Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) down around 1% and those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) dropping roughly 0.7%. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) slid 0.5%, after the blue-chip benchmark led Wall Street indexes to a fifth day of gains on Friday.
All the “Magnificent Seven” megacap stocks pulled back, led by falls of over 1% for Nvidia (NVDA), Meta (META), and Tesla (TSLA) shares.
Meanwhile, bitcoin fell sharply, in another sign that markets are kicking December off in a risk-off mood. The leading cryptocurrency sank below $85,000 a token on Monday morning, extending a weeks-long slide, before bouncing to trade above that level.
December is typically a strong month for stocks, but strategists say the so-called Santa Claus 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. Trump didn’t give a name, though White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett is seen as most likely.
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