Tuesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:       

• China Plans to Send Team to U.S. for Jan. 15 Deal Signing.

• Hong Kong Landlords Face Tough Times as Shop, Office Rents Sink.  

• China Needs More Than Just Rules to Tackle Rising Bond Defaults.

• Why China Won’t Join Any Iran-Russia Coalition Against Trump.

• U.S. Adds to Mideast Forces, Denies Exit From Iraq After Errant Letter.

• Saudi Arabia Says ‘Very Keen’ to Avoid Regional Escalation.   

• Asia Stocks Rebound as Middle East Concerns Fade: Markets Wrap. Asian stocks rebounded as the risk-off mood sparked by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East ebbed. The yen held losses. Shares rose in Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul. Hong Kong futures tipped a firmer open. U.S. equity futures were flat after the S&P 500 Index rose for the third time in four sessions, erasing early losses, with heavyweight technology companies leading. Gold retreated from the highest in more than six years. Ten-year Treasury yields were around 1.80%. Crude oil fell below $63 a barrel in New York, after reaching the highest since April. Topix index rose 0.8% as of 9:03 a.m. in Tokyo. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.9%. South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures rose 0.6% earlier. S&P 500 futures were little changed. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.4% in New York.

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

• Boeing Reassigns 737 Max Workers With Factory Shutdown Looming.  

• Topgolf IPO Could Value Company at $4 Billion.  

• Oil Buyers Fear Iraqi Supply Hit in Spillover From Iran Crisis.

Wall Street Journal:

• Iranians Rally as Calls for Revenge on U.S. Deepen.

• Weinstein Faces Sex-Crime Charges in Los Angeles.

• Trump Administration to Roll Back Rules on Low-Income Housing.

• Schools Seek Ways to Curb Vaping Among Students,

Fox News:

• GOP senators move to dismiss articles of impeachment after Pelosi delays.

MarketWatch.com: 

• Opinion: 10 tech predictions for 2020: Apple, Tesla, Netflix and more.

CNBC:

• Dow recovers from 200-point drop to finish higher as investors shake off geopolitical concerns.

• American Airlines reaches deal with Boeing over 737 Max grounding compensation.

• Google(GOOG) hits an all-time high as investors shrug off antitrust investigations.

• Hyundai and Uber team up to debut new flying taxis at CES.

• AMD(AMD) claims new laptop chips outperform Intel(INTC).

• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: American Airlines, Microchip, Pier 1 & more.

• 
  

  Byron Wien makes some bold 2020 calls in his widely followed surprises list including 2 rate cuts.

Zero Hedge:

• Chaos: Pentagon Denies "Poorly Worded" Iraq Withdrawal Letter, Esper Says "No Decision To Leave Iraq, Period".

• Ghosn's 'Great Escape' Masterminded By Ex-Green Beret, Involved 300-Mile High-Speed Rail Sprint.

• 3 People Critical In Salt Lake City After Tesla Runs Red Light, Smashes Into Car At "High Rate Of Speed".

• Almost $300 Million Stolen From Crypto-Exchanges In 2019.

• NATO Chief Silent On Whether The Alliance Would Respond To Iranian Attack On US.

• Six B-52 Bombers Ordered To Indian Ocean Base To Be "Available" Against Iran.

• Amphibious Assault Ship Bataan With 2,000 Marines On Board Is Headed Toward Iraq.

• WSJ Editorial Slams Iowa State's "Orwellian" Free-Speech Policies.

• Ten Insane, Completely Irrational Things Millions Of Americans Believe As We Enter The 2020s.

• Gold Nears 7 Year Highs As Stocks, Bonds Shrug Off Soaring Geopolitical Risk.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are +.5% to +1.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 56.0 -.75 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 33.25  -1.0 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index  66.47 +.02%.

• FTSE 100 futures n/a.

• S&P 500 futures +.14%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.24%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (ANGO)/.02

After the Close:

• None of note

Economic Releases  
8:30 am EST

• The Trade Deficit for Nov. is estimated at -$43.7B versus -$47.2B in Oct.
  

10:00 am EST

• Factory Orders for Nov. is estimated to fall -.8% versus a +.3% gain in Oct.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone CPI report, $38B 3Y T-Note auction, weekly US retail sales reports, Goldman Energy Conference and CES 2020 could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

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