By Julianna
Hey, mooers! Here are things you need to know before the opening bell:
- U.S. stock index futures indicated a muted start on Monday as markets reopen after the Christmas holidays and investors assess the spread of the omicron Covid-19 variant.
- U.S. holiday spending rose 8.5% over last year, fueled by shoppers hitting physical stores early over worries about supply.
Market Snapshot
U.S. stock index futures indicated a muted start on Monday as markets reopen after the Christmas holidays and investors assess the spread of the omicron Covid-19 variant.
$Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ futures pointed to a higher open by around 10 points on Monday. Also, $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ and $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ futures both indicated a slightly higher open.
Market Temperature
Read More: Market temperature (12/27)
Top News
Economy week ahead: Home prices, unemployment claims
Data due this week will likely show a slight cooling in the hot real-estate market and historically low jobless claims.
Stocks Finish Higher as Investors Digest Spending, Jobless Data
U.S. stock indexes and Treasury yields rose after figures showed that consumer-spending growth cooled last month.
Wall Street Bets S&P 500 is due for a slowdown in 2022
The Federal Reserve's expected interest-rate increases in the year ahead could make stock investors less willing to accept lofty valuations.
Lawmakers want Biden to play bigger role pushing tech legislation
Lawmakers say 2022 is shaping up as a pivotal year in their efforts to tighten regulations on social media and other internet platforms.
Early holiday shopping helps offset Omicron damper
U.S. holiday spending rose 8.5% over last year, fueled by shoppers hitting physical stores early over worries about supply.
AMC lags behind in surprisingly competitive Saudi cinema market
Four years since the kingdom lifted a ban on theaters, local rivals have moved ahead of the U.S. giant.$AMC Entertainment(AMC.US)$
AstraZeneca's vaccine helps fill gaping global need
The Covid-19 shot, beset by early production problems and rare side effects, has been a workhorse for lower-income countries.$AstraZeneca(AZN.US)$
AT&T slashed promised life insurance for former workers
$AT&T (T.US)$, which is sparing its executives from the cut, says it brings benefits in line with what other firms offer. One retiree: 'If there isn't a legal obligation, there certainly is a moral obligation.'
Read More
Meme stocks rally shock Wall Street in 2021
Apple hires Meta AR comms chief for headset launch
SPAC explosion in 2021
Weekly Retail Trading Trends | SOPA and BFRI grabbed retail trarders attention
4 top stock trades for Monday: TSLA, MSFT, TWTR, F
Key Events This Week
Source: CNBC, Dow Jones Newswires, Bloomberg

This year's activity coincided with a surge of rookie investors who joined the world of stock trading to ride the historic market rebound. Remote work, stimulus checksandhigher personal savings levels,as well as social media chatrooms only accelerated the boom in retail trading.
The meme stock saga started just days into 2021 when retail traders teamed up on Reddit's WallStreetBets' forum, aiming to bid up $GameStop (GME.US)$'s shares, which were heavily shorted by hedge funds. The retail buying triggered massive short covering among hedge funds that fueled the rally even further.
Trading volume for GameStop and meme stock favorite $AMC Entertainment (AMC.US)$ has faded. About 2.5 million shares of GameStop are changing hands daily based on a 30-day average as of Dec. 22, a fifth of that in January.
--- according to FactSet
Reddit traders also appear less focused on GameStop and AMC, which were the two most-mentioned tickers on WallStreetBets this year.
--- according to data tracker YoloStocks
WallStreetBets mentions for both peaked on Jan. 28 at about 267,000 for GameStop and 47,000 for AMC, but typical days for each over the past few months see hundreds, not thousands, of mentions.
Follow me to know more about meme stocks
Despite recent market sell-offs with GameStop and AMC each dipping to their lowest levels in months on Dec.14. But both stocks are up this year, at about 707% and 1,245% as of Dec.27, respectively .
Performance varies for other stocks popular on Reddit message boards. $Koss Corp (KOSS.US)$jumped 285%, $BlackBerry (BB.US)$ was up 43% for the year, while $Tesla (TSLA.US)$added 51%. On the down side, $ContextLogic (WISH.US)$dipped 80%, $Clover Health (CLOV.US)$dropped about 75%. $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ and $Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (BBBY.US)$ was down roughly 20% and 10%, respectively.
Source: Reddit, CNBC