By Danilo
Hey, mooers! Here are things you need to know before the opening bell:
- Stock futures rose early Monday after the S&P 500 notched its best week since February at a fresh record close, rebounding from a big sell-off triggered by fears of the omicron coronavirus variant.
- Apple shares have been on a ferocious tear, up 34% year to date, leaving it less than 5% away from a $3 trillion market capitalization, a milestone never hit by any other public company. The rally includes a startling 18% spurt in just the past four weeks, a period in which the S&P 500 has improved less than 2%.
Market Snapshot
Stock futures rose early Monday after the S&P 500 notched its best week since February at a fresh record close, rebounding from a big sell-off triggered by fears of the omicron coronavirus variant.
$Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ futures traded 76 points higher, or 0.2%. $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ futures inched up 0.3% and $NASDAQ 100 Index(.NDX.US)$ futures were up 0.35%.
Market Temperature
Read more: Market Temperature (12/13)
Top News
Stock futures edge up after S&P 500 hits record
U.S. stock futures pointed to muted gains for major indexes as investors sat tight ahead of Wednesday's Federal Reserve monetary-policy decision. The Fed is expected to accelerate the paring of its bond-buying program and to signal that it will raise interest rates next year.
Inflation surge pushes U.S. real interest rates deeper into negative territory
By standing still, the Federal Reserve's policy has provided more stimulus to the economy this year.
Economy week ahead: Retail, factories, central banks
The Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, which wraps up Wednesday, is the highlight of this week's economic calendar.
Biden aims to win pivotal Democrat's support for $2 trillion spending plan
The backing of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin would be crucial for passage of social-policy and climate bill.
Pfizer boosters are effective against Omicron, Israeli study says
The findings also show that those who had their second Pfizer dose five months ago or more had little protection against the variant. $Pfizer(PFE.US)$
Sirius hires top builder of Disney+ streaming service
The satellite radio company is betting on one of streaming tech's key designers to help attract listeners beyond the car. $Sirius XM(SIRI.US)$ $Disney(DIS.US)$
Uber, Lyft drivers want more protection amid rising crime
Ride-sharing drivers are wearing bulletproof vests. Others are avoiding nights, exacerbating the ongoing labor shortage. $Uber Technologies(UBER.US)$ $Lyft Inc(LYFT.US)$
Read More
Do you want a Birkin bag that you could never touch?
PM Modi's Twitter account hacked with announcement India would adopt Bitcoin
ETF inflows top $1 trillion for first time
Will Omicron crash the global stock market?
Apple to bring nudity-detection in messages on iPhone, iPad with new update, says expert
Key Events This Week
Source: CNBC, Dow Jones Newswires, Bloomberg, Barron's

Asian stocks set to slip after Wall Street retreat
Asian stocks looked set to follow their U.S. peers lower as traders weighed the economic threat of virus restrictions against optimism about the efficacy of vaccines. Treasuries gained.
Futures pointed to modest declines in Japan and Hong Kong, and Australian shares slipped. Futures on the $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ and $NASDAQ 100 Index(.NDX.US)$ were little-changed after the gauges retreated Thursday, ending a three-day rally amid losses in the consumer discretionary and real estate sectors. Treasuries pared back a rally after a lackluster sale of 30-year bonds. Oil fell toward $70 per barrel and Bitcoin fell. The dollar rose.
U.S. jobless claims decline to lowest level since 1969
Applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits declined last week to the lowest level since 1969, illustrating difficulties adjusting the raw data for seasonal effects.
Initial unemployment claims totaled 184,000 in the week ended Dec. 4, down 43,000 from the prior period, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 220,000 applications.
U.S. household net worth posts smallest gain of Covid recovery
Growth in U.S. household net worth cooled in the third quarter as wealth created by rising home values was eroded by a temporary pullback in the stock market.
Household net worth increased by almost $2.4 trillion, or 1.7%, after a $6.14 trillion jump in the second quarter, a Federal Reserve report showed Thursday. While the quarterly advance was the smallest of the pandemic recovery, net worth still climbed to a fresh record of nearly $145 trillion.
Pfizer says booster neutralized Omicron but variant may elude two doses
$Pfizer(PFE.US)$ and $BioNTech(BNTX.US)$ said that a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine neutralized the Omicron variant in lab tests but that the two-dose regimen was significantly less effective at blocking the virus.
A third dose increased antibodies 25-fold compared with two doses against the Omicron variant, the companies said. Still, two doses may prove effective in preventing severe illness from Covid-19, they said, because immune cells are able to recognize 80% of parts of the spike protein that the vaccine targets.
AMC's meme-courting CEO sells $9.65 million more of shares
Adam Aron, chief executive officer of $AMC Entertainment(AMC.US)$, sold another $9.65 million in shares of the meme-driven theater stock, following sales that he had said were prudent for estate planning.
Corporate executives routinely sell stock they get as compensation. But Aron has publicly wooed retail investors and touted AMC's future prospects while selling the stock and benefiting from a mammoth rally in the shares.
AMC shares fell 8.9% to $29.46 in New York. The stock has gained nearly 14-fold this year.
Cathie Wood says Ark 'soul-searching' as once-stellar funds lag
Ark Investment Management is "going through soul-searching" as its growth-focused funds fall out of favor amid expectations of tighter Federal Reserve policy, said founder Cathie Wood.
The $17.8 billion $ARK Innovation ETF(ARKK.US)$ has tumbled more than 20% this year, with several of its top holdings like electric-vehicle giant Tesla Inc. and video-streaming platform Roku Inc. down from their peaks. During the same period, the S&P 500 Index climbed about 24%.
"When we go through a period like this, of course we are going through soul-searching, saying 'are we missing something?'" she said, adding that in response, Ark has doubled down on its research and modeling.
JPMorgan offers hedge funds a way to Dodge meme-stock shocks
$JPMorgan(JPM.US)$ is testing a new research product to guard big-ticket clients from losses linked to the meme stock phenomenon that has captivated Wall Street this year.
Around 30 asset managers and quant fund managers have been trying out the "Through the Retail Lens" data offering since September, the bank said. It's a response to the surprise that hammered investment professionals in January when day traders rushed in to buy stocks, sending the share price of firms including $GameStop(GME.US)$ and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. soaring.
Amazon fined $1.3 billion in Italian antitrust case
Italy's antitrust regulator fined $Amazon(AMZN.US)$ $1.3 billion, saying it harmed competitors by favoring third-party sellers that use the company's logistics services, a decision that reflects increased scrutiny of tech giants by antitrust regulators globally.
The regulator said Thursday that Amazon favored sellers in Italy that paid it to use its warehouse and delivery services, including by making them more likely to appear as the default option, or "Buy Box," when consumers click to buy a product.
Source: Bloomberg, WSJ

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Schumer stated that his goal is to vote on Biden’s nearly $2 trillion economic package before Christmas, but with the approach of the debt ceiling and the different opinions on the plan within the Democratic Party, this goal must be achieved. Facing resistance
$Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ 35,227.03+646.95  (+1.87%)
$Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ 15,225.2+139.7  (+0.93%)
$S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ 4,591.67+53.24  (+1.17%)

XPeng says it obtains ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 Certification, meeting meeting global standards for information security and privacy protection management, and becomes first emerging carmaker in China to achieve international standards for information security and privacy protection management.
$XPeng(XPEV.US)$
$XPENG-W(09868.HK)$

$Apple(AAPL.US)$ $Microsoft(MSFT.US)$ People are saying during inflation it's best to invest in stocks with high pricing power. What are some stocks that are:
1.High pricing power.
2.Moderate to high growth potential.
3.Is temporary down due to problems that are transitory (e.g. supply chain or covid)
It's more tech oriented.
Let's say factors 1 and 2 are must haves, and 3 and 4 are "nice to have" but not requirements. So far the only ones I can think of are
1.Apple
2.Microsoft
Would love your suggestions!