Trading in financial markets is expected to be light today as a lot of market players are more interested in the holiday season. In the U.S., focus will be on consumer confidence data released later today. In crypto, the Bitcoin recovered from some major losses from recent sessions. In stocks, Apple was down on reports of weak iPhone X sales. Here’s the top things to know for today.
1. Stocks expect light trading
Despite the fact that Wall Street will reopen its doors Tuesday after Christmas, trading was expected be thin as many traders had already closed their books for the holiday season with plans to come back and face markets again in 2018.
After the Dow and S&P 500 ended Friday slightly lower, but still posting a fifth consecutive week of gains, U.S. stocks looked set to undergo another session of subdued trading.
European equities offered no references with most major exchanges closed Tuesday for Boxing Day.
Earlier Tuesday, Asian shares closed with mixed signs. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.23%, while China’s Shanghai Composite managed gains of 0.78%. Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand markets remained closed on Tuesday.
2. Focus on U.S. consumer confidence
The main focus ahead on the economic calendar will be the Conference Board’s consumer confidence for December, released at 15:00 GMT, Tuesday.
In lesser reports, those traders not enjoying the holidays will also digest the S&P/Case-Shiller housing price index for October, and manufacturing indices from the Richmond and Dallas Fed.
Ahead of the releases, the dollar held steady against other majors currencies on Tuesday, wavering around the unchanged mark.
At 11:02 GMT, the U.S. dollar index last inched up 0.01% at 92.89.
3. Bitcoin recovers from selloff
Bitcoin extended its recovery in holiday-thinned trading on Tuesday, regaining part of last week's plunge that that took the largest cryptocurrency by market cap below $12,000.
Bitcoin -that trades 24 hours a day, 7 days a week- lost nearly half its value last week tumbling nearly 50% from all-time highs close to $20,000 reached on Sunday December 17 to a low of $10,718.
As the digital currency wavered over the weekend, it appeared to stabilize on Christmas and was continuing the rebound on Tuesday.
On the Bitfinex exchange, Bitcoin was last trading up $1,303.00 or 9.51%, to $15.000 by 11:03 GMT.
4. Apple under pressure
Shares of Apple fell in pre-market trade on Tuesday on worries over sales of its iPhone X.
A report from Taiwan's Economic Daily suggested that the tech firm will slash its sales forecast for the iPhone X to 30 million units from an initial 50 million. The paper cited unidentified sources.
At 11:04 GMT, Apple fell 1.66% to $172.11 in pre-market trading.
