5 things to know before the market opens Monday July 26

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis investors need to start their trading day:

Dow futures fell about 150 points on Monday, halving overnight losses, as Hong Kong and China stocks plunged amid concerns over the Chinese government’s crackdown on markets. education and real estate sectors.

Ahead of a big week for tech stocks on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 35,000 for the first time on Friday. Four consecutive days of more than canceled gains, last Monday’s more than 2% drop as high concerns about spikes in Covid cases due to the delta variant briefly hit the market. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also closed at record highs on Friday.

The two-day Fed meeting in July is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. Investors will be looking for signals on when central bankers might start to tighten monetary policy and how they feel about rising inflation. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to around 1.25% on Monday. Yield, which moves inversely to price, hit a 5.5-month low at nearly 1.13% last week.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng stock index fell more than 4% overnight. Mainland Chinese stocks also fell, with the Shanghai and Shenzhen composite components each falling more than 2%.

Many Chinese education stocks, listed in Hong Kong and the United States, lost about half of their value after Beijing on Friday announced new rules banning for-profit tutoring in basic school subjects in order to ” alleviate financial pressures on families. Chinese regulators also took steps to correct irregularities in the property market on Friday.

Adding to the uncertainty, a meeting of senior Chinese and US officials got off to a rocky start. In an interview with US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said relations between the two countries were “at an impasse”, urging America to ” change his highly erroneous state of mind “.

Bitcoin hit its highest level since mid-June Monday, trading up to nearly $ 40,000, before dropping some below $ 39,000. Traders were hoping that last week’s positive feedback from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, would put bitcoin back on the right track. Bitcoin hit a record high of almost $ 65,000 in mid-April. On June 22, bitcoin briefly turned negative for the year, falling below $ 29,000. Inventors will see how the bitcoin mad rush can impact Tesla’s quarterly results. Musk’s Tesla, who holds the crypto in his company’s balance sheet, is expected to report after the bell on Monday.

Covid cases are on the rise in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as the delta variant spreads rapidly across the United States. Cases hit a 15-month low in late June before infections began to rise. Immunization rates peaked in April and have declined significantly in recent months. White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that Americans with compromised immune systems may end up needing booster shots against Covid. Fauci told CNN that health officials are considering revising mask guidelines for people vaccinated in the United States.

Senators are rushing to strike a bipartisan infrastructure deal on Monday, as pressure mounts from all sides to show progress on President Joe Biden’s top priority. Senior Republican negotiator Ohio Senator Rob Portman said the two sides were “about 90% of the way” on a deal. Senior Democrat Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said he hoped a final bill would be ready Monday afternoon. The White House wants a bipartite agreement for this first phase of infrastructure. But as talks drag on, anxious Democrats, who have limited control of the House and Senate, could leave Republicans behind and try to go it alone.

– Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest pandemic news with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.