10 things before the opening bell

Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

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Let’s jump in. 

1. The economy is booming but Americans aren’t feeling upbeat. People’s outlook has soured in the face of the Omicron variant, and consumer sentiment is at a historically bleak level.

For January, the University of Michigan’s sentiment index fell to 67.2, the lowest since 2011 and 11.8 points below the same time a year ago. 

Delta and Omicron variants “were largely responsible” for the grim mood, according to the survey’s chief economist, Richard Curtin. Inflation also played a role, as it cut into wage gains. Confidence in the government’s economic policies is also the lowest since 2014, Curtin noted.

Oddly, and similar to other periods in the pandemic, consumer sentiment seems to be moving in the opposite direction as the US economy. US GDP grew 5.7% through 2021, the fastest pace in nearly four decades. Concerns like inflation and housing affordability may be overshadowing the good news that comes out of higher level economic data points. 

In short, the economy and people’s mood appear to be decoupled for now. 

2. The mood across the markets is nervvy. There’s earnings due from mega-cap companies, plus a slew of data this week. Take a look at what’s happening today.

3. UBS said these growth stocks still look attractive even amid the sell-off. These 15 beaten-down picks could potentially surge anywhere between 32% and 105% given their price targets, according to the firm. See the full list here.

4. On the docket: Alibaba Group Holding, Autohome, and Woodward, all reporting. 

5. The sell-off in stocks is not a “growth scare” and fundamentals are still strong, said UBS. “The price action has been resoundingly negative in 2022,” the firm said — adding that “the underlying backdrop is not.”

6. Cryptos are taking a battering amid the bear market. With more than 17,ooo cryptos in existence, there are more than triple the number of coins than there are US exchange-listed stocks. Here are the five worst-performing tokens over the past week.

7. DeFi platform Wonderland erupted with controversy after an anonymous exec was outed with ties to one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. A Twitter sleuth confirmed that the treasury head of Wonderland was a cofounder of failed crypto exchange QuadrigaCX — which had “lost” over $190 million from over 115,000 customers.

8. Ark Invest bought Tesla stock for the first time in eight months. The move came after the company’s earnings report erased $109 billion in market value. Tesla remains Ark Invest’s top position, with a combined market value of $1.23 billion across all of Ark’s ETFs.

9. Two friends in their 20s bought 85 rental units with none of their own money. They shared the financing strategies they used to build up their real estate portfolio — and how they were able to do so in such a short period of time.

10. UBS’ investment chief is eyeing certain sectors to carefully buy the dip in after the correction. After a brutal month of trading, Mark Haefele thinks a rebound could be coming soon. He identified four critical tech industries to invest in.

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

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