10 things before the opening bell
Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
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1. Crypto's growing popularity on Wall Street could be an issue. The Financial Stability Board warned that big money institutions must tread cautiously as Wall Street's appetite for crypto increases.
The global financial watchdog warned this could cause a credit crunch-style financial crisis.
Since 2020, digital assets have seen surging interest from banking titans like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley as well as investment managers and private equity. Now, many companies are deeply embedded in the $1.9 trillion crypto market, and wealthy clients are demanding more exposure.
"If the current trajectory of growth in scale and interconnectedness of crypto-assets to these institutions were to continue, this could have implications for global financial stability," the FSB said in its report.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried noted the market was seeing a crypto "autumn" rather than a "winter," as excitement remains in the space despite the recent downturn. Still, one firm said bitcoin could plummet to $10,000 by next year.
In a separate interview, the FTX CEO said the Fed's expected pivot to a more hawkish monetary policy has pulled prices down. Bankman-Fried sees the Fed as a key driver of the digital asset market for the coming months — but also called for more sensible regulation of the space.
2. The mood is brighter in US stocks thanks to the prospect of US-Russia talks on Ukraine. It looks like a comeback is in store for the Dow, wh ish lost more than 600 points yesterday on geopolitical jitters. Here are the latest moves on the market.
3. An investment chief shared a simple four-part plan to handle inflation. Historically high readings have caused panic among investors, but Neil Azous, founder of Rareview Capital, said his playbook is the way to beat inflation.
4. Earnings on deck: DraftKings, AIR Canada, and North Bud Farms, all reporting.
5. Bitcoin could plummet to $10,000 by 2023, Stifel said. "In 2022, we see bitcoin in a broad trading range bounded by year-to-date intraday levels with greater downside risk in 2023. These three macro factors of crypto prices could suggest weakness ahead.
6. Cathie Wood's Ark Invest bought the dip in Roblox stock. The metaverse company's big earnings miss erased $11 billion in market value — and Wood's firm scooped up 450,000 shares.
7. Billionaire Dan Loeb said there's an epic $1 trillion opportunity in Amazon that the market is failing to see. In a private call with Third Point investors, he put AWS' enterprise value above $1.5 trillion and its core retail business at $1 trillion.
8. VC firm Sequoia Capital is launching a fund with up to $600 million to invest in crypto. "Our goal with this fund is to participate more actively in protocols, better support token-only projects, and learn by doing ourselves," the firm said. Here's what to know.
9. A couple in Chicago quit their corporate jobs to pursue careers as artists and are now making six-figures. They have a waitlist of customers paying up to $10,000 for handmade miniature ceramic homes — this is how they've built something that people want to pay for.
10. A 34-year-old with 198 rental properties explained how he scaled within seven years. There are certain things that every beginner needs to know, said the investor, including how to purchase property at a discount. See the rest of his five real estate tips here.
Event invite for Insider subscribers: The stock market remains volatile as the Federal Reserve prepares to undo its pandemic-era policies. Join us on February 23 for a webinar with two top strategists on how investors should approach the weeks ahead. Sign up here.
Compiled by Phil Rosen. Feedback? Email prosen@insider.com or tweet @philrosenn.
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