10 things before the opening bell

Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

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1. Interpreting huge volatility in the stock market. Massive turbulence has rocked markets in 2022 as uncertainty around Fed policy, slower corporate growth, and geopolitical tensions have converged. This “investor triple-whammy,” according to eToro global markets strategist Ben Laidler, has dragged stocks down and rattled investor confidence. 

The Dow plunged as much as 5% before closing in the green to complete a 1,100-point whipsaw to open this week, with the wild moves continuing through Tuesday’s session. But Brown Advisory’s Tom Graff said it’s nothing to get overly worried about.  

“For a long time — two years — we took for granted that interest rates are gonna remain extremely low,” Graff said. “Now that’s uncertain and uncertainty breeds volatility.”

Much of the current volatility is more of an expression of uncertainty than anything else, and the next wave of big tech earnings — Tesla and Apple are up next this week — could stir up more wild trading as investors pivot further out of growth and look for value picks. 

Long-time bear John Hussman, who correctly predicted the 2000 and 2008 crashes, isn’t keen on what comes next, though: “The Federal Reserve has spawned an all-asset speculative bubble that we estimate will provide investors little but return-free risk.”

2. Stock futures have bounced back after another volatile day. With just hours to go to the Federal Reserve’s decision on rates, investors are nervous. Take a look at what the markets are doing here.

3. Goldman Sachs recommends these 24 stocks. The bank’s top strategists are eyeing stocks with solid balance sheets, healthy margins, and reasonable valuations as the market downturn continues. See the full list here. 

4. Earnings on deck: Visa, Samsung, and Mastercard, all reporting. 

5. A year after the meme stop saga began, GameStop could fall another 59%, according to New Constructs CEO David Trainer. The broader market slump isn’t “good news” for meme stocks, Trainer said. He thinks GameStop has only downside ahead.

6. “The Big Short” investor Michael Burry sold most of his US stocks before the market rout. He likely avoided a painful blow to his portfolio ahead of the recent volatility — but he may have missed out on gains by closing out his bet against Cathie Wood. 

7. Anthony Scaramucci said crypto investors should weather the dotcom-style crash. “Bitcoin is going t0 have, in my opinion, possibly a billion wallets as we get to 2024,” he said. “People should ride this stuff out.” 

8. The world’s 10 wealthiest people have lost billions in the stock-market rout this month. But Warren Buffett is the only person on the list who’s actually gotten richer. The legendary investor’s net worth has grown by $1.4 billion this year — the other nine have lost an average of $15 billion. 

9. A cat GIF that became an NFT sold for about $690,000. Its creator explained how its value surged, the tools he used, and how he found the right platform to display his work. See it for yourself. 

10. The head of financial strategy for a crypto-finance firm said bitcoin could plunge to $18,000 this year. And once bitcoin bottoms out, according to Solrise’s Joseph Edwards, investors should scoop up these four high-quality altcoins. 

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

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