Futures point to a steady start on Wall Street Friday, with stocks likely to hold 14-month highs.<\/p>\n
The rally, which has left the S&P 500 These include a CBOE VIX index There\u2019s also bulls\u2019 seemingly heretical \u2014 some may argue ultimately suicidal \u2014 dismissal of the market law \u2018Thou Shall Not Fight The Fed\u2019 as they challenge the central bank\u2019s interest rate projections.<\/p>\n Still, at least this risk-on bonanza has not reignited other parts of the 2021 asset frenzy, like crypto. Well, not yet.<\/p>\n BlackRock, the world\u2019s biggest asset manager, has reportedly chosen now to file an application for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Mike Novogratz, chief executive at crypto investment manager Galaxy Digital, is, perhaps unsurprisingly, keen:<\/p>\n Others, not so much. \u201cI would not recommend that anyone touch this product with a ten foot pole,\u201d said Marty Bent, of Tales from the Crypt, a crypto-focused blog. \u201cIf GBTC \u201cYou throw cash into this product and pay fees to underperform bitcoin in the long-run. The only difference with BlackRock\u2019s trust seems to be that you can take the bitcoin in-kind if you wish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n So far the impact on the price of bitcoin Yet new developments in an SEC legal case may give ethereum a boost, implies JPMorgan. <\/p>\n The regulator has been battling Ripple Labs over whether the XRP token that runs on Ripple\u2019s network is a security or not. Simply put, if a token is considered a security then the SEC clamps down and that is seen at the very least reducing the unit\u2019s attractiveness. <\/p>\n As part of the debate in defining a security in this context, an internal SEC discussion called the \u2018Hinman documents\u2019 was released this week, in which former SEC Director William Hinman stated that cryptocurrencies can transition from securities to commodities once they become decentralised enough, JPMorgan notes.<\/p>\n This viewpoint is important because as JPMorgan writes in its note: \u201c[W]e believe that the \u2018Hinman documents\u2019 would likely intensify the race among major cryptocurrencies and their respective blockchains to become more decentralised and look even more like ethereum in order to avoid being designated as securities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not clear when the Ripple vs SEC case will come to a conclusion\u2026[but] the revelations from the \u201cHinman documents \u201c boost the ethereum case to avoid being designated as [a] security,\u201d JPMorgan concludes.<\/p>\n Then, perhaps, BlackRock may consider an ethereum ETF too. <\/p>\n U.S. stock-index futures YM00, NQ00, Try your hand at the Barron\u2019s crossword puzzle and sudoku games, now running daily along with a weekly digital jigsaw based on the week\u2019s cover story. To see all puzzles,\u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic disclosed Thursday he made multiple trades before a Fed meeting last year, despite being prohibited from doing so.<\/p>\n Traders take note, U.S. stock markets will be shut Monday for the Juneteenth Day holiday.<\/p>\n The Japanese yen Virgin Galactic Holdings Shares of Adobe Inc. Cabot Corp.\u2019s The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s descent into military feudalism continues apace.<\/p>\n Fed and SEC are probing Goldman Sachs\u2019s role in SVB\u2019s final days.<\/p>\n Tesla\u2019s record breaking daily winning streak that ended this week saw the shares But as the chart below from Vanda Research shows, institutional investors have been an increasingly big player in Tesla options. It also shows their interest spike can be fleeting.<\/p>\n Here were the most active stock-market tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n Solving the cube puzzle in 3.13 seconds.<\/p>\n World record kidney stone. Warning: it\u2019s big!<\/p>\n How about a bet on something that is both fixed and does not exist?<\/p>\n
\n SPX,
\n
\n up 15.3% for the year, and the Nasdaq Composite
\n COMP,
\n
\n up 29.5%, is throwing up the kind of stats to give technically-focused bears severe conniptions.<\/p>\n
\n VIX,
\n
\n around 15 that supposedly signals complacency, and the relative strength indices for SPX and COMP of 76 and 79, respectively, showing the barometers are deep in so-called overbought territory.<\/p>\n
\n GBTC,
\n
\n [Grayscale Bitcoin Trust] has taught us anything it\u2019s that this particular trust structure is terrible for the investor. <\/p>\n
\n BTCUSD,
\n
\n appears minimal. The same came be said for crypto\u2019s other most popular unit, ethereum
\n ETHUSD,
\n Markets<\/h2>\n
\n ES00,
\n
\n
\n
\n are up, while benchmark Treasury yields
\n TMUBMUSD10Y,
\n
\n firm. The dollar
\n DXY,
\n
\n is little changed after Thursday\u2019s sharp fall, while oil prices
\n CL.1,
\n
\n dip and gold
\n GC00,
\n
\n is a touch higher. <\/p>\nThe buzz<\/h2>\n
\n USDJPY,
\n
\n and 10-year government bond yields
\n TMBMKJP-10Y,
\n
\n are softer after the Bank of Japan surprised no one by again keeping monetary policy ultra loose after its Friday meeting.<\/p>\n
\n SPCE,
\n
\n shares are rocketing 40% higher in premarket action after the space-travel company said it would begin offering commercial space flights this month. <\/p>\n
\n ADBE,
\n
\n are up 3% , topping $500, after the desktop publishing pioneer late Thursday reported record quarterly revenue of $4.82 billion and forecast solid sales for its current quarter. <\/p>\n
\n CBT,
\n
\n stock is dropping 7% after the specialty chemicals maker said its sales have slowed, as China\u2019s recovery hasn\u2019t materialized in the way that the company expected and global demand remains \u201csoft.\u201d <\/p>\nBest of the web<\/h2>\n
The chart<\/h2>\n
\n TSLA,
\n
\n at one point display their most overbought condition in nearly two years. Exuberance among retail traders is often cited as the significant driver behind such a surge, as they look to juice gains through short-term call options, which give the right to buy a stock for a set price up to a particular date.<\/p>\nTop tickers<\/h2>\n
\n
\n \n Ticker<\/p>\n<\/td>\n \n Security name<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n TSLA,
\n \n Tesla<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n MANU,
\n \n Manchester United<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n MULN,
\n \n Mullen Automotive<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n GME,
\n \n GameStop<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n NIO,
\n \n NIO<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n SPCE,
\n \n Virgin Galactic<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n NVDA,
\n \n Nvidia<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n NKLA,
\n \n Nikola<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n PLTR,
\n \n Palantir Technologies<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n AAPL,
\n \n Apple<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n Random reads<\/h2>\n