10 things before the opening bell

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1. Omicron wreaks havoc on travel stocks. Rising virus cases continue to disrupt holiday travel plans. Airline stocks dropped Monday — with American Airlines, United, Delta, and Southwest down between 0.2% and 0.8% — as carriers canceled thousands of flights for the fourth consecutive day.

Some airlines attributed cancellations to staff shortages due to COVID-19 as well as harsh weather. More than one-third of Monday's canceled flights were set to depart from or arrive in the US.

But Omicron isn't only hitting airline stocks — travel companies throughout the market have felt the holiday virus surge. Here's a look at Monday's numbers:

• Casino stocks Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts were down 1.6% to 2% in Monday trading.
• Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Carnival Corp., and Royal Caribbean fell between 1.1% and 2.3%.
• Shares of travel booking companies AirBnb, Expedia Group, and TripAdvisor fell between 0.4% and 1%, and hotel giant Marriott International also dipped.

2. U.S. futures ticked higher Tuesday, after the S&P 500's record. Monday marked the S&P 500's 69th record close of the year, continuing a year-end Santa rally. Here are the latest moves on the market.

3. Nine crypto experts told Insider their investing outlooks for 2022. From bitcoin price predictions to high-conviction altcoin picks, here's what to look out for in the new year according to top voices in the digital asset space.

4. Earnings on deck: Cal-Maine Foods, Weathernews, and Toshico, all reporting.

5. One Wall Street investment chief said the stock market's Santa Claus rally is just getting started. Doug Ramsey of Leuthold Group expects the seasonal uptrend to last through January 4. Here's why he thinks tech stocks are your best bet in the near term.

6. Elon Musk is the person of the year in part because of how his tweets can move markets. In front of his 67 million followers, he's praised crypto, had spats with US senators, and referred to himself as the "dogefather." Here are Musk's 12 top tweets that moved markets this year.

7. JPMorgan isn't worried about a sharp sell-off even with record concentration in stocks. The conditions for a big retreat aren't in place, said the firm, in part because the S&P 500's gain has been narrowly concentrated in mega-cap stocks. These are the two downtrodden areas JPMorgan says to buy now.

8. Natural gas prices have gone up following colder weather forecasts. Investors expect the heavy snow and cold temperatures to cause more homeowners to turn up the heat, per the WSJ. Here's what else to expect.

9. A 36-year-old has paid down $150,000 out of his $210,000 of student loan debt. Ian Group is tackling his debt from law school by getting organized and increasing his income. He shared the exact budget he follows to make his payments.

10. Jefferies said small-cap stocks are poised to rally in 2022. Sluggish fourth quarter returns make for a good entry point ahead of a likely rebound — here are the 18 stocks Jefferies says to buy right now.

Compiled by Phil Rosen. Feedback? Email prosen@insider.com or tweet @philrosenn.

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