10 things before the opening bell

Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

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1. Cathie Wood is buying the metaverse hype. Notch up superstar investor Wood as the latest big name to call out virtual worlds as an opportunity set to sky-rocket.

In a CNBC interview, the Ark Invest boss agreed the metaverse will be a multitrillion-dollar market, echoing the likes of Morgan Stanley and Grayscale.

“It’s a big idea that will probably infiltrate — just like technology is, anyway — every sector in ways that we cannot even imagine right now,” she said Wednesday.

Wood thinks the metaverse will expand massively, beyond the current surge in interest that saw four virtual-world platforms pocket $106 million from land sales last week.

That’s not all she had to say in the wide-ranging interview. Wood said:

• The biggest fear is inflation, and it has been fanned by supply-chain problems
• ARK’s holdings aren’t in a bubble, but benchmark stocks are.
• She likes Twitter’s positioning as a verification platform, which will be huge with NFTs
• Tesla has created higher barriers to rivals entering EVs than even ARK understood
• Robinhood has a shot at becoming one of the important digital wallets in the world

2. US stocks are set to recover from the shock of the first case of Omicron in the US. Futures are shaking off yesterday’s virus-led tumble, as investors brace for the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting today. Check out what’s happening in markets.

3. As the stock market whipsaws due to Omicron concerns, the outlook for the benchmark US index is not looking too rosy. For the first time in two decades, Bank of America’s long-term forecasting model for the S&P 500’s 10-year return is negative. Still, some sectors will outperform the market in the short term. Here are those three. 

4. Earnings on deck: Dollar General and DocuSign are reporting.

5. LPL Financial analysts noted the S&P 500 could notch 12 straight months of record highs in December. Such a streak has only been seen in 2014. But the wealth management firm acknowledged that Omicron worries could halt the monthly run of new records.

6. OPEC+ expects a global oil market glut will worsen at the start of next year. The oil group will convene Thursday and reveal its output policy. Oil prices in November suffered their biggest one-month drop since March 2020 as the Omicron strain stoked demand worries.

7. The latest prominent figure to hop on the NFT bandwagon is Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s personal attorney for more than a decade. Cohen is selling digital representations of the badge he wore in federal prison while serving time for tax evasion and other crimes. You can find more details about the auction here.

8. The biggest names in the crypto universe will be meeting with US lawmakers next week. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas are set to testify as Congress seeks to ramp up its oversight over the rapidly growing space. Here are the other crypto bosses invited by the House Committee on Financial Services.

9. Ben Armstrong, better known as BitBoy Crypto to his 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, is bullish on bitcoin. Despite the asset’s recent slide, he is confident it will hit $100,000 by December or January. And once it does, he shares here what he will do next.

10. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates recently found himself studying the rise and fall of empires. And he said the US is in trouble. Here is his rationale behind that and what he thinks investors should do about it. 

Compiled by Isabelle Lee. Feedback? Tips? Email ilee@insider.com or tweet @isabelletanlee.