Stocks

As of March 4, 2026, U.S. lawmakers remain divided over whether stablecoin issuers and crypto platforms may provide yield-style incentives to users, leaving the CLARITY Act stuck in the Senate after a strong bipartisan vote in the House. Representative French Hill is urging senators to accept the House-approved language, while traders on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket are still assigning notable odds that the bill will be enacted in 2026.

Bitcoin maintained support near $68,000 on Tuesday while the US Dollar Index climbed from 96.6 to 99.4 over the past three weeks and gold slid 3.6%. At the same time, Bitcoin’s 30-day correlation with the Nasdaq 100 fell from 92% to 69%, and ETFs recorded $1.5 billion of net inflows since Feb. 24, highlighting resilient institutional demand despite a broader bear market.

On March 3, 2026, Abu Dhabi's Financial Services Regulatory Authority approved nine Ondo Finance tokenized equities and the Invesco QQQ ETF for trading on Binance's Multilateral Trading Facility, restricted to non-U.S. investors. The products are structured as equity-linked notes tied to underlying stocks such as Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Circle, with Ondo reporting over $11 billion in cumulative trading volume and more than $600 million in total value locked.

MARA Holdings reported in its latest 10-K that it began selling Bitcoin in the second half of 2025 and plans to continue monetizing BTC in 2026 to improve financial flexibility. The miner holds a treasury of 53,822 BTC, part of which is used for passive income, and may sell additional coins depending on market conditions and capital priorities.

In a Monday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, MARA Holdings said it may sell some of the Bitcoin on its balance sheet from time to time starting in 2026, after already allowing sales of mined coins in 2025. The update comes as major mining firms face higher production costs, post large 2025 losses and increasingly redirect infrastructure toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing services.

On March 2, 2026, American Express' Board of Directors approved a 16% increase in its quarterly dividend, lifting the payout from $0.82 to $0.95 per share and setting an annualized dividend of $3.80. As of March 3, 2026, AXP stock trades near $307.43, down about 16.71% year-to-date despite double-digit earnings growth and a payout ratio of roughly 21.6%. The combination of dividend hikes, ongoing buybacks, and recent share-price weakness presents both opportunities and risks for income-oriented investors.

The S&P 500's 2026 rally is under pressure as futures fell about 2% in early Tuesday trading while Brent crude briefly pushed toward 83 USD and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz intensified. The index had already slipped 0.5% to 6,860.71 on Monday as oil prices jumped more than 6% and volatility surged, forcing investors to reassess inflation, Federal Reserve expectations and sector positioning.

American Airlines Group Inc.'s AAL shares traded lower in premarket on March 3, 2026, after closing down 4.21% at $12.52 the prior session. The stock slipped to $12.06 before the open as military action in the Middle East triggered widespread flight disruptions and pushed Brent crude about 8% higher to $78.77 per barrel, pressuring airline margins and sentiment across the sector.

On March 3, 2026, Binance reentered the tokenized equities market by partnering with Ondo Finance to add 10 tokenized US stocks and ETFs to its Binance Alpha platform and Binance Wallet. This is Binance's first tokenized stock product since suspending a similar service in 2021, with the new digital securities offered under Abu Dhabi regulatory approvals and excluding US users.

Tom Lee, co-founder and Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, told CNBC's Squawk Box that he expects a broad rebound in both crypto and stock markets starting in March 2026. He projected the S&P 500 could climb to 7,700 by year-end and reiterated a Bitcoin target of $200,000–$250,000, alongside an Ethereum rally toward $7,000–$9,000 by early 2026. Lee's outlook, which highlights AI-driven productivity and strong corporate earnings, has drawn skepticism from some social media users who point to his historically bullish calls.