Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:             

• Kudlow Says Phase One China Deal Down to the ‘Short Strokes’.

• U.S. Senate Readies Quick Vote on Trade Status: Hong Kong Update.  

• Justice Minister Hurt; Elderly Worker Dies: Hong Kong Update.

• Jack Ma Says U.S.-China Trade Tension Could Last 20 Years.

• Stocks, Yields Gain on Renewed Trade-Deal Hopes: Markets Wrap. Asian stocks and U.S. futures rose along with Treasury yields after a senior American official suggested progress on a trade deal with China. The yen dipped. Equities rose in Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said an agreement is “coming down to the short strokes.” Hong Kong shard propelled Treasuries earlier this week, and arrested a U.S. stock rally that took benchmarks to record highs. Japan’s Topix Index rose 0.9% as of 10:41 a.m. Shanghai Composite dipped 0.1%. Hang Seng index gained 0.8%. Korea’s Kospi gained 0.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.4%. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.1% Thursday. 

• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.  

• China Prize Irresistible, Global Debt Soars, Fed’s Star: Eco Day.

• Macro Risk Checks Which Hedges Actually Work and Which Are Duds .

• Aurora Becomes Latest Pot Firm to Miss Estimates.

• Goldman Names 465 New Managing Directors, Fewer Than Last Cycle.

Wall Street Journal:  

• Student Kills 2, Wounds 3 at California High School.

• Impeachment as Usual.

• Inside Under Armour’s Sales Scramble: ‘Pulling Forward Every Quarter’. 

• Walmart Shows Shoppers Are Still Spending.

• No More Easy Profits as China’s Venture-Capital Boom Fizzles.

Fox News:

• WATCH LIVE: Trump mocks witnesses in first public impeachment hearing, during packed Louisiana rally.

• House Republicans to sharpen focus on Ukraine meddling claims after hearing.

MarketWatch.com:       

• Applied Materials(AMAT) says earnings and sales are about to return to growth, sending stock higher

• Opinion: AMD(AMD), Amarin and Crispr are three stocks to watch for potentially higher prices  

• Nvidia(NVDA) earnings point to end of a year of revenue declines.

CNBC:

• Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reveals new stake in furniture retailer RH, shares surge.

• Nancy Pelosi says a USMCA trade deal breakthrough could be ‘imminent’.

• Attorney General Barr says Chinese companies ‘Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted’.

• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Farfetch, NVIDIA, Applied Materials & more.

Zero Hedge:

• Billionaires Savage Elizabeth Warren Over Virtue Smoke-Signaling Campaign Ad.

• Leaked Bank Records Confirm Burisma-Biden Payments To Morgan Stanley Account.

• South Korea Slaughters 380,000 Pigs After China's Pig Ebola Crosses Border.

• Amazon(AMZN) Lodges Formal Protest After Controversial 'JEDI' Contract Awarded To. Microsoft(MSFT).

• Millennial Suing His Pension Fund For Not Being "Green" Enough.

• Have You Noticed That The Crazy People Are Starting To Take Over Our Society?

• Fed Braces For Year End Repo Turmoil: Announces $55 Billion In 28, 42-Day Repos To Flood System With Cash.

• Google(GOOG) Slides After Antitrust Probe Expands Into Search And Android Businesses

• Bond Yields Tumble As Stocks Reach Longest (Best) Bull Market Ever.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.75% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 64.25 -1.0 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 38.5 -1.0 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index  65.43 +.06%.

• FTSE 100 futures +.34%.

• S&P 500 futures +.34%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.37%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (JCP)/-.54

• (JD)/1.20

After the Close:

• None of note

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

• Empire Manufacturing for Nov. is estimated to rise to 6.0 versus 4.0 in Oct.

• The Import Price Index MoM for Oct. is estimated to fall -.2% versus a +.2% gain in Sept.

• The Export Price Index MoM for Oct. is estimated to fall -.1% versus a -.2% decline in Sept.

• Retail Sales Advance MoM for Oct. is estimated to rise +.2% versus a -.3% decline in Sept.

• Retail Sales Ex Auto MoM for Oct. is estimated to rise +.4% versus a -.1% decline in Sept. 

• Retail Sales Ex Autos and Gas for Oct. is estimated to rise +.3% versus unch. in Sept.

9:15 am EST

• Industrial Production MoM for Oct. is estimated to fall -.4% versus a -.4% decline in Sept.

• Manufacturing Production for Oct. is estimated to fall -.7% versus a -.5% decline in Sept.

• Capacity Utilization is estimated to fall to 77.0% versus 77.5% in Sept.
  

10:00 am EST

• Business Inventories for Sept. is estimated to rise +.1% versus unch. in Aug.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone CPI report and the (VAR) investor day could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.