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Hello. I'm Margot Patrick, getting you started for Monday's session.

Markets remain focused what could change under a Trump administration, with Tesla surging premarket on hopes of a new set of federal regulations for autonomous vehicles. That helped lift Nasdaq-100 futures early Monday. Treasury yields edged higher, and Bitcoin continued to rally, testing $92,000.

On Friday, stocks fell after comments from Federal Reserve officials and stronger-than-expected retail sales data caused traders to slash their expectations for a December rate cut.

Follow our live coverage throughout the day for the latest news affecting markets.

Meanwhile, our Berber Jin reports on how venture-capital firms are doing great at finding promising startups, but not so good at cashing out of investments.

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Stocks to Watch

Tesla: President-elect Donald Trump's transition team wants a federal framework for self-driving vehicles, Bloomberg News reported . Shares of the electric-car maker rose 8% premarket.

Super Micro Computer: The company will submit a plan Monday to allow it to continue to trade on the Nasdaq, Barron's reported . The AI server maker's beaten-up shares jumped 13% premarket.

Warner Bros. Discovery: The company reached a legal accord with the National Basketball Association, a deal that will keep the two sides in business together for at least the next decade, The Wall Street Journal reported . Shares rose ahead of the opening bell.

Spirit Airlines: The discount-travel pioneer filed for bankruptcy, seeking to restructure its debts as it combats more intense competition from larger airlines.

T-Mobile: The telecom company's network was among the systems hacked in a damaging Chinese cyber-espionage operation , the Journal reported .

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AI Investments Are Booming, but Venture-Firm Profits Are at a Historic Low

By Berber Jin

Silicon Valley's venture-capital firms are having an easy time finding promising startups to back. The hard part is cashing out.

Last year, U.S. venture firms returned $26 billion worth of shares back to their investors, the lowest amount since 2011, according to the data provider PitchBook. Startup investors say 2024 has continued the trend, with high levels of investment and few acquisition deals or initial public offerings.

"We've raised a lot of money, and we've given very little back," Thomas Laffont, co-founder of investment firm Coatue Management, said at a recent conference. "We are bleeding cash as an industry."

Last year, U.S. venture firms invested $60 billion more than they collected, the highest such deficit in PitchBook's 26 years of data. As a result, the investors that back VC firms, such as university endowments and pension funds, aren't seeing the type of profits the industry has long delivered.

Keep reading . Charting the Markets

Some of the riskiest corners of financial markets are thriving since the U.S. presidential election . Three of the top five days for trading in call options-trades giving the right to buy shares-were this month, according to records going back to 1973.

Bitcoin miners are much less volatile than their gold counterparts when their underlying asset is soaring, and may be a poor way to bet on the cryptocurrency, writes Heard on the Street's Jon Sindreu .

Investors in the makers of GLP-1 diabetes and obesity drugs need to be on alert for cheaper copycats, since compounders are allowed to produce copies when ingredients are in short supply. The question now is whether makers can meet heightened demand without falling back into shortages, writes Heard on the Street's David Wainer .

Must Reads

Investors are positioning for another big run in Nvidia, which is due to report earnings on Wednesday. They are scooping up options contracts that would pay out if the shares jump more than 10% this week .

The hedge-fund billionaire and the property riddle. Miami's most intriguing real-estate mystery is unfolding at Ken Griffin's 4.2-acre development and office site.

President Biden wanted to lift the economy in 2021 with stimulus. But the spending ran headlong into crippled supply chains and discombobulated labor markets , and boosted inflation.

More:

Trump Broadens Hunt for Top Treasury Job After Jostling Became Messy TikTok Parent ByteDance's Valuation Rises to About $300 Billion 2.3 Million Jobs: The Federal Workforce in Charts This Day in Markets On this day in 1928: Mickey Mouse debuted on film in the first talking cartoon, Steamboat Willie. Mickey, originally named Mortimer, had been doodled a few months earlier by Walt Disney, as a one-up on the success of a rabbit character he lost control of. Beyond the Newsroom

Buy Side from WSJ:

Best 5-Year CD Rates for November Gifts to Buy for Your Favorite Techie About Us

We want to be the first place you go to get ready for the opening bell every day. This newsletter was written by Margot Patrick ( [margot.patrick@wsj.com]) in London.

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 18, 2024 07:08 ET (12:08 GMT)

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