Shortly before the start: Wall Street expects firmer results – Bitcoin weighs on Coinbase and Co.

After Wall Street started the week rather cautiously yesterday, investors are now looking forward to a somewhat firmer start to trading. The leading index Dow Jones is valued 0.24 percent higher at 43,566 points. The broker IG also recently saw the Nasdaq 100 up slightly by 0.1 percent in its calculations.

The number one issue remains the uncertainty surrounding the policies of US President Donald Trump and the associated concern that these will leave their mark on the global economy with tariffs and other restrictions. Once again, the focus was on the chip sector. The Bloomberg news agency reported, citing sources, that the US government is planning to tighten restrictions and is also putting pressure on important companies in other countries.

Nvidia's quarterly figures are due tomorrow. The chip giant's share price is up 0.6 percent before the market opens. In a study, expert Mark Lipacis from Evercore ISI is optimistic about the results of the artificial intelligence profiteer. He also pointed to a poor share price trend recently. After the enormously strong years of 2023 and 2024, they have lost three percent so far this year.

As Bitcoin fell, related stocks such as Coinbase, Microstrategy and Riot Platforms suffered, with pre-market losses of up to 4.7 percent. At times, the cryptocurrency had slipped to its lowest level since mid-November. Stock market traders pointed to a hacker attack on the crypto exchange Bybit as the reason.

Zoom shares were another clear loser, falling 3.8 percent in pre-market trading. RBC expert Rishi Jaluria said the video conferencing specialist had a positive year-end. However, the targets for the new fiscal year were criticized, as they were somewhat weaker than investors had hoped.

Next in the group with a rather disappointing outlook was the home improvement chain Home Depot, whose share price rose by 0.3 percent in pre-market trading. Analysts had hoped for more than a sales increase of around one percent for the new fiscal year.

Two stocks were particularly notable for their large losses: the shares of the education provider Chegg fell by more than 20 percent due to a disappointing quarterly outlook. The share price of Hims & Hers Health also fell by a similarly significant 20 percent. A decision by the US health authority, which officially declared the shortage of GLP-1 weight loss products to be over, caused an uproar among Hims & Hers investors. With the FDA's announcement, exemptions for generic drugs containing the active ingredient semaglutide, from which the company had recently profited greatly, are now expiring.

Contains material from dpa-AFX