Futures suggest a Monday retreat after US stocks hit all-time highs last Wednesday.Asian stocks fell as China tightened its rules in education and property.Bitcoin surged above $38,000 partly due to speculation that Amazon might accept it as a payment.Subscribe to our daily newsletter 10 Things Before The Opening Bell.US stocks were expected to open in red Monday morning ahead of Tesla's second quarter earnings. Asian equities plummeted to a yearly low due to tighter government regulations.Futures on S&P 500 and Dow Jones fell 0.3%, suggesting that trading began later in the day.More than a third of the 500 S&P 500 companies will report earnings results this week. This includes the largest tech firms. Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker will be in action Monday. Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft will follow on Tuesday. Facebook will be on Wednesday.The series of Chinese regulatory crackdowns meant that Asian markets were on a lower footing when they returned to work this weekend. In recent weeks, the tech sector has been already under severe pressure. The government is now focusing on the education and property industries. According to the Communist Party, it will significantly improve the irregularities in property markets within three years.The education tech sector could be reformated by new rules. Companies that teach school subjects will no longer be allowed to make profits, raise capital or go public. This was done to ease financial pressures on families and encourage them to have more children.Jeffrey Halley, OANDA's senior market analyst, stated that "Given the China tech crackdown already frayed investors nerves, credit concerns, especially in the property development industry, the last moves of the central government in education sector, which threatens to wipe out billions by overseas investors is another ratchet higher on the regulatory risk landscape, in China."The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 3.8% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.3%. Tokyo's Nikkei grew 1%.Separately, Tencent shares fell by 3% after the government ordered that it give up music-streaming rights to record labels around the globe after it was found to be in violation of antitrust laws.European stocks also fell as investors waited for the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday to get clues about the US monetary policy and when it might start tapering asset purchases.Unexpectedly, German business sentiment dropped in July due to concerns about the supply chain and the rising number of coronavirus infections.London's FTSE 100 lost 0.2%, while the Euro Stoxx 50 dropped 0.4% and Frankfurt's DAX declined 0.4%. This is a reflection of a lower performance in German equities relative the rest of Europe.After a series of bullish developments that included talk about Amazon becoming involved in digital currencies, Bitcoin soared to $38,000."Given Amazon Web Services' immense power, it's not surprising that they want to be at cutting-edge of new payments technology. Establishing a new digital currency will likely be on the agenda," Susannah Streeter said, Hargreaves Lansdown senior investment and markets analyst. Their value has risen due to the possibility that payment could also be accepted by the crypto-kids on the block.Ethereum rose 7%, to $2.343, and dogecoin shot up 11%, to 22 cents.Read more: UBS lists 7 space stocks that will rise in the sector, which it predicts will grow to $900 billion by 2030. One of these stocks could see a 40% increase in its value.
