Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
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1. An insider trading crackdown. The SEC this week proposed a new amendment to 10b5-1 plans — aka, the loophole that informally allows corporate insiders to sell stock. Execs have long been able to schedule stock trades ahead of time as a way to avoid accusations of insider trading.
This year was no different — higher-ups from Walmart, Tesla, Microsoft and dozens of other corporate giants have each reaped over $200 million in stock sales in 2021. The rule has allowed corporate chiefs to capitalize on record high share prices — and insider selling in 2021 has hit an all time high.
Elizabeth Warren and other policymakers have been calling on the SEC for months to enact a change to the 10b5-1 snag, claiming execs bagged profits from trades completed with privileged information. An insider scheduling trades ahead of company announcements is unfair to the everyday trader, Warren argues.
"Over the past two decades, we've heard concerns about and seen gaps in Rule 10b5-1 — gaps that today's proposal would help fill," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said. The rule change is meant to crack down on insider-trading abuses and bring transparency to the market.
2. Gold shines as investors wind down the week by shunning riskier bets. Global stocks are down as the Bank of Japan joins the crowd of central banks trying to put out the inflation fire. Here are the latest moves on the market.
3. Stifel's top strategist shared his prediction for a bitcoin plunge. The crypto could dip as the Fed gears up to cut off liquidity and hike interest rates, says Barry Bannister. Here's why he thinks bitcoin could drop to $12,000.
4. Earnings on deck: Darden Restaurants, Nitori Holdings, and Medmira, all reporting.
5. Investors should expect more stock gains in 2022, said JPMorgan's quant guru. The strong gains of this year should continue, said Marko Kolanovic, who is banking on earnings momentum and easy Fed policy. He shared three reasons for bullishness going into 2022.
6. The Russian central bank is preparing to ban crypto. It is looking to prohibit investment in cryptocurrencies, per Reuters. The Bank of Russia said it was preparing to release an advisory report to voice its official stance.
7. Mohamed El-Erian said some Fed officials may regret unwinding stimulus so slowly amid soaring inflation. The markets "can handle the Fed easing its foot off the stimulus accelerator." Here's what else the chief economist said.
8. Robinhood is launching a crypto gifting feature on the app. In the midst of the holiday season, the commission-free trading platform will enable people send crypto to friends and family as a gift. The feature will be available to customers starting December 22.
9. After Nike snapped up a virtual sneaker brand, the CEO of a digital agency behind a $4.5 million NFT sale has high hopes for metaverse fashion. Dorian Banks expects apparel brands to shape the metaverse — and he shared one under-the-radar virtual world to watch.
10. A top Macquarie fund manager sees new digitalization trends defining multiple industries. As innovation mitigates hot inflation, Alex Ely broke down how investors can play the trend. He also shared three pockets of the market to target.
Compiled by Phil Rosen. Feedback? Email [email protected] or tweet @philrosenn.
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