{"id":129548,"date":"2025-10-18T05:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/129548\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T05:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:26:10","slug":"5-things-to-know-before-the-stock-market-opens-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/129548\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things to Know Before the Stock Market Opens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stock futures are mixed Friday as concerns about cracks in the credit market weigh on investor sentiment after Zions Bancorp (ZION<\/a>) reported yesterday it would have to write off millions in fraudulent loans; gold continues hitting record highs as investors turn to the traditional safe haven amid the stock market volatility, while bitcoin is trading at its lowest levels since June; the Trump administration is reportedly set to offer tariff relief on auto part imports; and shares of Novo Nordisk (NVO<\/a>) and Eli Lilly (LLY<\/a>) are losing ground after President Donald Trump said weight loss treatments should be significantly cheaper. Here’s what you need to know today.\n<\/p>\n

1. Stock Futures Mixed Amid Concerns About Banking Sector Stress <\/p>\n

Stock futures are pointing to a mixed open after major indexes tumbled Thursday<\/a> amid mounting concerns about bank lending standards and stress in credit markets. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2% recently, while those linked to the benchmark S&P 500 were flat and Nasdaq futures slipped 0.2%. Futures had been down sharply earlier this morning. The stock market has endured a volatile week of trading amid increasing uncertainty about the economic outlook and concerns that an AI bubble has formed. Nonetheless, each of the major indexes enters Friday’s session with weekly gains of more than 1%.\n<\/p>\n

2. Gold Continues Surging, Bitcoin Slides <\/p>\n

Gold prices hit another record this morning as investors continue piling into precious metals amid a flight to safety<\/a>. Gold futures were at $4,320 an ounce recently, after rising to near $4,400 earlier. Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTCUSD<\/a>) was at $105,600, down from an overnight high of around $109,000. The digital currency, which hit a record high of $126,000 early last week, dropped as low as $103,500 this morning, its lowest level since June. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects mortgage rates and a variety of other consumer loans, was up slightly at 4.00% recently, after dropping to 3.94% this morning, its lowest level since April.\n<\/p>\n

3. Regional Bank Stocks in Focus on Fears About Bad Loans <\/p>\n

Regional bank stocks remain in the spotlight after they plunged yesterday<\/a> following news that Zions Bancorp (ZION<\/a>) would write off $50 million in fraudulent loans made to two borrowers. The disclosure came after the recent bankruptcies of two companies in the auto sector\u2014car dealer Tricolor and auto parts maker First Brands\u2014cast a spotlight on potential credit market risks. Earlier this week, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon highlighted the issue during the bank’s post-earnings conference call. \u201cI probably shouldn\u2019t say this, but when you see one cockroach, there are probably more,\u201d Dimon said. Several regional banks are releasing quarterly results this morning, and investors are focused on what they say about exposure to bad loans. Zion Bancorp shares were up 4% in recent premarket trading, after falling 13% yesterday. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE<\/a>) was up 2.5%, after sliding 6% on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n

4. Trump Administration Expected to Offer Tariff Relief on Imported Auto Parts <\/p>\n

U.S. automakers are expected to see some relief from tariffs on imported car parts as the Commerce Department is expected to announce a five-year extension of an arrangement that allows reductions on those tariffs. Bloomberg reported that an announcement on the auto part tariff reductions could come as early as today. Ford (F<\/a>) and General Motors (GM<\/a>) had lobbied the Trump administration for relief on the tariffs, which they said gave an advantage to Japanese car makers. Ford shares were little changed in premarket trading, while shares of GM and Jeep-maker Stellantis (STLA)<\/a> were each up about 1%.\n<\/p>\n

5. Shares of Weight-Loss Drug Makers Tumble After Trump Comments on Prices <\/p>\n

Shares of weight loss drug makers fell in early trading after President Donald Trump said that the costs of those treatments should be significantly cheaper than they are currently priced. Trump said that the price of Ozempic, which generally costs around $1,000 a month, should be much lower. \u201cThose are going to be $150 out of pocket,\u201d Trump reportedly said. Shares of Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk (NVO<\/a>), which makes Ozempic and Wegovy<\/a>, were down 4% in recent trading, as were shares of Zepbound-maker Eli Lilly<\/a> (LLY<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stock futures are mixed Friday as concerns about cracks in the credit market weigh on investor sentiment after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[79,18,19,17,188],"class_list":{"0":"post-129548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-markets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}