Elsewhere, bitcoin jumped back above $70,000 on Monday for the first time since March 15 – with little obvious news behind it, as is so often the case. It held those gains overnight and was hovering about $71,000 early on Tuesday.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust recorded $1.9 billion in outflows last week, tipping the group of U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds into net outflows for the week ending March 22, according to data from BitMEX Research.
Overseas, China stocks rebounded about 0.5% and the offshore yuan firmed another notch after last week’s swoon.
China’s President Xi Jinping will meet with American business leaders in Beijing on Wednesday, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter, in a follow up to his November dinner with U.S. investors in San Francisco.
The meeting was proposed by chief executive of U.S. insurer Chubb, Evan Greenberg, according to one source. Other attendees include Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council.
Japanese and European stock markets were flat, as were crude oil prices. U.S. stock futures were marginally higher ahead of the open – with Q1’s 10% gains in the S&P500 and Nasdaq holding and implied volatility in stocks and bonds subdued.
The dollar edged back further from Friday’s one-month highs. Dollar/yen ebbed a touch amid wariness about Bank of Japan intervention, but held above the 151 level.
In politics, a New York judge’s decision on Monday to set an April 15 trial date for Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money case ups the odds the former president will face at least one verdict that could complicate his bid to retake the White House.
And in shocking general news, Baltimore’s 1.6-mile Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed and vehicles plunged into the river early on Tuesday after a ship collided with a support pylon. Rescuers were searching the water for survivors.
