Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
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Let's get into it.
1. The wait is over for Jackson Hole and Fed chief Jay Powell's speech. The jury is out on whether Powell will say anything valuable about the timeline for tapering bond buys, but investors will stay laser-focused on his words. Check out what markets are doing.
2. Warren Buffett's favorite market indicator is signaling stocks that are heavily overvalued. The "Buffett indicator" compares the stock market's valuation to the size of the economy, and just spiked to 205%. This could imply a "very strong warning" for a sharp market sell-off.
3. US investing championship contender Ryan Pierpont returned 287% through June. His process doesn't include options or futures, and he focuses instead on technicals and fundamentals when buying stocks. Here's his full strategy, broken down step by step.
4. On the docket: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, PetroChina, and Ping An Insurance, all reporting.
5. Strong earnings from Dick's Sporting Goods and Williams-Sonoma suggest consumer spending is doing just fine. Both companies delivered robust earnings results, and have both clocked in strong two-year growth rates - and that's a good sign for retailers.
6. Massive short squeezes are hitting certain SPAC stocks ahead of mergers. While the lawyers that sued Bill Ackman's SPAC are targeting 50 more, short-sellers scramble to buy back shares and cover their bets. This is spurring volatile trading - and speculation that more shareholders will redeem even shares.
7. Morgan Stanley funds have bought more than 1 million shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. More institutional investors are boarding the crypto train, and big banks continue to look for ways to expose their clients to digital currencies. Other banks are making similar moves, too.
8. Bitcoin ATMs are banding together to prevent crypto-crimes. 15 initial members have formed the Cryptocurrency Compliance Cooperative with consumer safety as their top priority. Here's how they plan to slow down digital thefts.
9. The threat of a stock market sell-off is growing, says Bank of America. "Fragility" in the markets may be returning soon due to low volatility and low trading liquidity. The bank recommends a simple options strategy to net extra profits.
10. Big companies are expanding big-city salaries to small-town America. The work from home war wages on as employees who relocated to cheaper places during the pandemic still want to be paid coastal salaries. See how this could change how everyone gets paid.
Compiled by Phil Rosen. Feedback? Email [email protected] or tweet @philrosenn.
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