LIVE: Markets surge to begin the week as Israel prepares to strike Iran

U.S. stock futures moved higher early Monday, giving Wall Street a positive start to a week packed with interest rate decisions and growing concerns about a possible military confrontation with Iran.

S&P 500 futures gained 0.25%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 155 points, or 0.31%. Nasdaq-100 futures were also up 0.29%.

Interest rates policy decisions by the Fed will be announced on Wednesday, those of the ECB will follow on Thursday while those of the BoJ will come on Friday.

Asian stocks had a mixed session. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1%, while the Topix gained 0.54%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.21%, and the smaller-company Kosdaq lost 1.67%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.66%, but mainland China’s CSI 300 declined 0.54%.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell during Asian trading, with Brent crude futures dropping 2.20% to $114.52 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 2.24% to $101.03.

The decline followed a sharp increase in oil prices last week. Brent reached its highest level since April on Friday after reports suggested that the United States and Israel could launch military strikes against Iran following the U.S. midterm elections.

These worries were already on the minds of investors on Wall Street. The Dow ended the week losing more than 650 points, the S&P 500 dropped 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 0.2%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both ended their second week in a row of losses because of rising energy prices and sector sell-offs.

Elsewhere, gold futures gained 0.29% to $4,007.04, while the U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.13% to 101.513.

Cryptocurrencies were trading lower, with Bitcoin changing hands at $80,068.30, down 0.50%. Ethereum fell 0.90% to $2,318.88, while Solana slipped 0.39% to $100.94.

According to CoinGlass data, the total crypto futures open interest amounted to $138.89 billion, falling by 0.02% from its previous value, while liquidations fell to $152.55 million, which is 72.29% lower than before.

The Average RSI was 42.5, while the Altcoin Season Index was 58. Both indicators were regarded as neutral. Similarly, the Fear and Greed Index was at 51 points, thus remaining neutral.

The Bitcoin dominance was 60.12%, falling by 0.02%, while the number of BTC on exchanges increased by 934 BTC and reached 2.50 million BTC.

Bitcoin’s derivatives market recorded a funding rate of 0.0076%, with trading volume falling 12.81% to $39.30 billion. Its market capitalization stood at $1.61 trillion, while open interest reached $53.70 billion, down 0.17% over the past hour but up 0.24% over 24 hours. Bitcoin liquidations totaled $33.97 million.

Ethereum had a funding rate of 0.0034%, while its trading volume dropped 19.02% to $28.91 billion. The cryptocurrency’s market capitalization stood at $282.62 billion, with open interest at $29.38 billion.

Open interest declined 0.25% over the past hour and 0.78% over 24 hours, while liquidations reached $41.86 million.

Solana’s funding rate was 0.0078% with a decrease of 14.20% in trading volumes at $4.67 billion. The market capitalization of Solana was $59.41 billion, whereas open interest amounted to $6.22 billion, falling by 0.41% over the past hour but rising by 0.05% over the last 24 hours.