5 things to know before the stock market opens on Monday

Here are the most important information investors need to start their trading day:

Federal Reserve policymakers won’t hold their December meeting until next week, but investors are already anticipating the Fed’s most anticipated move in months. The central bank has steadily raised its benchmark rate in three-quarter-point increments since June, but is now expected to begin to slow that aggressive pace. Yet, as recent economic data has shown – inflation is still elevated, albeit somewhat calmer, and the labor market continues to swing – the Fed hasn’t cooled the economy as much as it did. would have liked so far. “Despite some promising developments, we still have a long way to go to restore price stability,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week. Read live market updates here.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ‘zero Covid’ policy has disrupted a key part of the global economy for some time now, often resulting in lockdowns that compromise supply chains and keep consumers locked in for long periods of time. There are signs this is starting to subside, however, after people across China have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the policy in a rare show of unified resistance. Beijing and Shenzhen said over the weekend they would relax a rule that required negative Covid tests before travel. This, in turn, boosted Chinese stocks. Morgan Stanley analysts also raised its rating for Chinese stocks, saying a “path to reopening is finally charted, likely bumpy but with no turning back.”

The news from China also gave a small boost to crude prices, which were lagging in part due to concerns about a drop in demand from the nation of 1.4 billion. WTI Crude Futures traded above $80 early Monday morning, while Brent crude eclipsed $86. Oil prices have also received some support from OPEC+, which has said it will stick to its production cut plan, even though the G-7 has imposed a price cap of $60 per month. barrel on Russian oil. “It’s the right decision to hold steady, especially if you don’t know by how much, if at all, Russian production is going to drop after today,” Amrita Sen, head of research at the firm, told CNBC. energy consultancy Energy Aspects.

Tesla’s share of the U.S. EV market is shrinking, but it still dominates as traditional automakers race to catch up. This makes the battle for second place the most compelling competition. Last week, Ford reported electric vehicle sales figures that put it in the no. 2, knock out Hyundai (but only if you don’t count sales of Hyundai’s Nexo hydrogen fuel cell vehicle). And Hyundai is also at a disadvantage since its vehicles are no longer eligible for U.S. electric vehicle tax credits under President Joe Biden’s new Inflation Reduction Act. Ford says it now has 7.4% of the electric vehicle market in the United States, up from 5.7% in November last year. You’re here controls around 65% of the market, however, and Ford’s rival, General Motors, has set an ambitious goal of being no. 1 in the middle of the decade.

Two Russian bombers were the apparent targets of an attack on an airbase near Ryazan, southeast of Moscow. Reports said drone attacks were behind the explosions. The base has reportedly served as a launch site for airstrikes on Ukraine in recent weeks. As Ukraine has made progress on the battlefield, Russian missiles have crippled much of the country’s infrastructure, plunging millions into darkness as extremely cold weather sets in region. Read live war updates here.

– CNBC’s Sarah Min, Jihye Lee, Lee Ying Shan, Michael Wayland and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.

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