US News: U.S. stock futures pointed sharply lower Monday morning, setting Wall Street up for a rocky open to December as a steep drop in bitcoin and renewed pressure on technology shares soured investor sentiment.
Shortly after 7 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 210 points, or 0.4%. S&P 500 futures slid 0.6%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.8%, signaling particular weakness in the tech-heavy index.
Pre-market trading painted a clear picture of where the pain was concentrated. Nvidia shed more than 1%, while fellow chip giants AMD and Broadcom also traded over 1% lower, extending the roller-coaster ride for artificial intelligence-related stocks. In contrast, Synopsys shares soared after Nvidia revealed a fresh investment in the chip design software company.
Cryptocurrencies weighed heavily on risk appetite. Bitcoin plunged more than 5% in early action, breaking below $87,000. The world’s largest digital asset has now failed multiple times to reclaim the psychologically important $90,000 level it first surrendered in late November, marking its weakest stretch since early spring.
The sour tone follows a blockbuster week for equities heading into the weekend. The Dow and S&P 500 both jumped more than 3%, and the Nasdaq Composite roared nearly 5% higher, fueled by bargain hunting after a brutal start to November. At its lowest point last month, the Nasdaq had fallen almost 8% from October highs amid widespread worries that AI-driven stocks had become overvalued.
When the dust settled on November, the scorecard was mixed: the Dow and S&P 500 ended essentially flat for the month, while the Nasdaq logged a 1.5% decline, snapping a seven-month winning streak.
Looking ahead, history is on the bulls’ side. Data going back to 1950 show the S&P 500 has averaged a gain of more than 1% in December, making it the third-best performing month of the year.
Market technicians are taking encouragement from last week’s rebound. Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors, noted that improving market breadth and rising odds of a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut at the December meeting are helping stabilize sentiment after a choppy November.
Investors now turn their attention to a busy week of economic releases, culminating with Friday’s November employment report, which could solidify or upend expectations for the Fed’s final policy decision of 2025.
