10 things before the opening bell

Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

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Let’s jump in. 

1. The mega Meta meltdown. Shares of Meta cratered Thursday, falling as much as 26% and dragging the market down with it. Investors fled technology, social media, and metaverse-related stocks following the company’s weak earnings and guidance, while JPMorgan downgraded the stock for the first time ever. 

The company’s shares are finding a bit more stability in Friday’s pre-market, up 0.5% so far. But Meta’s dive on Thursday marks the biggest single-day drop in value in stock market history, and has raised some big questions around the metaverse narrative and whether the nascent “future of the internet” is an investable space yet. 

A big loss in the giant’s Web3 division sparked a sell-off in metaverse stocks Nvidia and Roblox. Social media companies Twitter and Pinterest also plummeted. 

Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth plunged by $30 billion, chalked it up to heightened competition from rivals like TikTok as well as Apple’s changes to its privacy policy.

Meanwhile: Snap is up by 50% in Friday’s premarket, more than reversing Thursday’s 23.6% drop, after the photo- and video-sharing app’s strong after-hours earnings beat.

2. Tech futures are showing some strength in early trade. The Nasdaq 100 posted its bigggest one-day fall since September 2020 on Thursday after Meta’s big miss stole the headlines. Here’s the state of play across the markets ahead of the January jobs report.

3. Should you buy the Meta dip? Four experts shared whether this is a chance to grab shares in the tech giant at a bargain price or to run for the hills as TikTok takes over. Here’s what to know.

4. On the docket: Adient, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Spectrum Brands Holdings, all reporting. 

5. Amazon said profits almost doubled during the holiday season. In an after-hours earnings report, the ecommerce titan announced it had managed to control labor and supply costs better than expected, and made gains in its cloud-computing and ad business. Shares of Amazon rose by as much as 13% in Friday’s pre-market.

6. Veteran fund manager Tom Russo said volatile stocks are testing investors. When stocks are whipsawing, investors need to hold their nerves, sell weaker holdings, and identify long-term winners. Russo also said he thinks Warren Buffett may have bought the dip.

7. The startup behind Bored Ape Yacht Club is in talks with Andreessen Horowitz for a $5 billion valuation. Yuga Labs is eyeing its first institutional investment from the venture capital heavyweight, according to the Financial Times. In the last week alone, Bored Ape NFTs did $182 million in sales.

8. Coinbase will allow customers to get tax refunds in crypto in a partnership with TurboTax. The crypto exchange launched a direct deposit program which customers can use to automatically convert US dollars into crypto — all without trading fees.

9. Bitcoin and ether’s steep falls have shaken investor confidence. But certain indicators could tell us whether the bulls or bears will determine the two popular tokens’ next big moves. Here are four things experts say to look out for.

10. UBS shared how to invest in crypto technology without exposing your portfolio to bitcoin or ether’s high volatility. The $2.6 trillion asset manager maintained its bearish stance on individual coins and tokens — it listed three ways to get skin in the blockchain game with minimal risk. 

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

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