Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Trump's Trade War Arrives in the Data as China Awaits Tariffs.

• Car Companies, Parts Makers Urge U.S. to Abandon Tariff Plan.

• Curve-Flattening Juggernaut Faces Risk From Fed Concern on Trade. 

• Live: Mexico Votes in Presidential Election.

• Asian Stocks Face Mixed Start to Week; Oil Drops. Stocks in Asia looked set to kick off the second half of 2018 in a mixed fashion, while oil declined and the euro came under pressure over German political concerns. Investors will be focused again on Chinese assets after the biggest weekly drop in the yuan since the 2015 devaluation stoked concerns about the currency’s use as a tool in the trade spat. Equity futures in Japan were little changed ahead of the quarterly Tankan survey of business confidence. Australian futures rose. Hong Kong is closed for a holiday. Oil slid below $74 a barrel in New York after U.S. President Donald Trump called for higher production. Crude surged more than 8 percent last week. Futures on the S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 percent as of 7:05 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge closed up 0.1 percent on Friday. Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average were little changed. Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.4 percent.

Wall Street Journal:

• Businesses Blast California’s New Data-Privacy Law.

• Mexicans Say They Will Vote for Change.

• How to Teach Legal Rights to Migrant Children: Games and Coloring.

• Amazon’s(AMZN) PillPack Deal Gives It Access to Sensitive Health Data.

• Facebook(FB) Gave Firms Special Access to Users’ Personal Data.

• Skip the Seasickness: How Boats Are Getting Tech-Savvy.

• Merkel’s Coalition in Jeopardy Over EU Migration.

• Taiwan’s Technology Secrets Come Under Assault From China.

• Dollar Rally Ripples Globally, Leading Investors to Reverse Course.

MarketWatch.com:

• Investors look to the second half of 2018 expecting growth—amid rising uncertainties.

Fox News:

• Top Democrat bucks far left’s calls to abolish agency, demands policy changes instead.

CNBC:

• Iran urges OPEC members to refrain from unilateral actions.

• Retaliation for US tariffs begins with Canada on Sunday--and take aim at ketchup, whiskey and soup.

• Why RBC's top strategist thinks there's 'no way around' tighter oil supply with even higher prices. 

• Trump 'not happy' with NAFTA, says he wants to wait until after the midterms to sign a new deal.

• Dell to acquire tracking stock, leave VMware alone for the time being, sources say.

• A robot cooks and assembles burgers in 5 minutes at this new San Francisco restaurant.

Zero Hedge:     

• Germany's Interior Minister Seehofer To Resign After Clash With Merkel Over Migrants.

• Last-Minute New Jersey Budget Compromise Reached Thanks To More Tax Hikes For The Rich.

• The "Doom Loop" Makes A Thunderous Return: Guess Who Just Bought A Record Amount Of Italian Bonds.

• Goldman Closes Out "Top Trade" To Short Treasuries.

• Italy's Salvini Vows To Create Pan-European Association Of Nationalist Parties

• Trump Talks Trade, Borders, SCOTUS, And Warns Enemies "They Better Just Take It Easy".

• TechCrunch: Over 1000 Crypto Projects Are Considered 'Dead' Now.

• Riot Breaks Out In Portland As Antifa Activists Clash With Conservative Marchers.

• The Venus Flytrap Of Western Civilization: Entitlements.

• "It's Real, It's Coming, It's A Matter Of Time" - US General Warns Of Hypersonic Attack.

• White House, Saudi Arabia Pour Cold Water On Trump's "Saudi Deal".

• "2018 Is Looking Increasingly Like 2015": Why JPMorgan Expects Even More Pain From China.

• In San Francisco, Families Making $117,000 Qualify For Low-Income Housing.

Business Insider:

• Here's what the typical American worker earns at every age. 

• Tesla(TSLA) reportedly hit its Model 3 manufacturing milestone, hours after the deadline.

• How various industries are taking advantage of drones to increase efficiency and cut costs.

Night Trading

• Asian indices are -.25% to +.245% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 94.0 -1.5 basis points.

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 15.0 +.25 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 69.51 +.04%.

• FTSE 100 futures -.55%

• S&P 500 futures -.04%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.03%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate
Before the Open:

• None of note

After the Close:

• (MLHR)/.58 

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

• Construction Spending MoM for May is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +1.8% gain in April.

• ISM Manufacturing for June is estimated to fall to 58.2 versus 58.7 in May.

• ISM Prices Paid for June is estimated to fall to 74.3 versus 79.5 in May..

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The China Manufacturing PMI report, Eurozone PMI report and the Eurozone PPI report could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by financial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed.  The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the week.