10 things before the opening bell

Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Plus, download Insider’s app for news on the go – click here for iOS and here for Android.

Let’s jump in. 

1. The cryptocurrency market is definitely not feeling the holiday cheer. After a punishing sell-off at the weekend, bitcoin, ether and everything from doge-related coins to metaverse tokens are down again.

Almost $500 billion has been wiped off the market in a matter of days. Analysts say the crash has been made worse because of traders’ excessive leverage — that’s the money people borrow to then trade cryptocurrencies.

As prices started falling Friday, many exchanges began “liquidating” traders’ positions to ensure they had enough money on hand to cover losses, adding to the downward pressure in the market.

Bitcoin fell by as much as 20% on Saturday, hitting lows just above $42,000. It’s since recovered to around $47,500 this morning.

Anyone who witnessed the meltdown in late 2017 and subsequent “crypto winter” will have a definite sense of deja vu today.

2. US stocks are tentatively on course for a rebound, but Omicron is still playing on nerves. Virus-driven volatility is haunting markets, with a side helping of Fed fears and revived Evergrande jitters. But oil is rebounding after a Saudi price hike. Here’s what’s happening in markets.

3. The debate over transitory inflation is over, and the Fed lost. Bob Doll, the CIO of Houston-based Crossmark Global Investments, which manages about $5.9 billion in assets, says that even with inflation on the rise investors can position for continued gains ahead. Here are four sectors he recommends investors consider.

4. Earnings on deck: H&R Block and database software firm MongoDB are reporting.

5. Elon Musk sold another $1 billion worth of Tesla shares. The CEO of the EV-maker has been on a selling spree since polling his Twitter followers about dumping 10% of his stake in the company. He’s sold $10.9 billion so far. 

6. Metaverse crypto coins have rallied at a dizzying rate this year. Boosted by Facebook’s rebrand to Meta, five coins — Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Sandbox, Enjin Coin, and GALA — have rallied 37,000% in 2021 as of Friday, according to Macro Hive. Bitcoin, meanwhile, was up only about 97%. 

7. Danish asset manager Saxo Bank released its Outrageous Predictions list for markets in 2022. The bank sees NFTs taking over the music industry and tanking Spotify stock, and US inflation soaring to 15%. It also predicts the “Women’s Army” on Reddit will put an epic squeeze on “patriarch companies.”

8. India ditched plans to ban all private cryptocurrencies. The announcement last month that India was considering a ban sent shockwaves throughout the market. Now crypto fans in India can breathe a bit easier. The country, instead, wants to regulate digital assets. 

9. Star stock-pickers from Baillie Gifford, a leading investment firm managing over $465 billion in assets, have collectively returned 356% with major bets in the last five years. Here are 8 stocks they think will outperform. Plus, their thoughts on the metaverse and play-to-earn games.

10. Shelby Osborne left the military in 2018 and went all in on real-estate investing. She now has 74 rental units that she amassed using four types of loan products. But there’s only one type of loan she recommends for its range of advantages.