Tuesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:  

• Fear of Job Loss Haunts Half of World’s Workers as Crisis Rages.  
• India Infection Peak Seen; Green Lane Travel: Virus Update.
• U.S. Futures Tick Higher; Asian Stocks Drift: Markets Wrap.  U.S. futures rose Tuesday as investors held out some hope of a deal on stimulus talks. Asian stocks were little changed after a weak session on Wall Street overnight. S&P 500 Index futures climbed after a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said differences were narrowing in talks. Shares dipped in Japan and fluctuated in South Korea and Australia. The 10-year Treasury yield steadied around 0.77% and the dollar held losses versus major peers. Earlier, the S&P 500 Index fell to the lowest in almost two weeks as time draws short to reach agreement on a bill that could pass by Election Day on Nov. 3. Elsewhere, the Australian dollar slid after comments from the central bank’s assistant governor that short-term rates could fall below zero. Oil extended losses after an OPEC+ meeting made no mention of any changes to a plan to further ease output cuts from January. Global virus cases surpassed 40 million. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% as of 9:03 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 Index slipped 1.6%. Topix index fell 0.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed. South Korea’s Kospi index slipped 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures lost 0.6% earlier.
• Oil Edges Lower With OPEC+ Warning of Precarious Market Outlook.
• Intel Agrees to Sell Storage Unit to SK Hynix for $9 Billion.
• Piedmont Lithium to Issue U.S. Shares as Tesla Drives Interest.  
• California Sees Rise in Insurers Refusing Home-Policy Renewals.  
• Cut-Price Deals Show Shale’s Rapid Decline From Debt-Fueled Boom.

Wall Street Journal:

• The Myth of Moderate Democrats.
• Tax Raid in Arizona.
• Electric-Car Battery Fires Complicate Wider Rollout.
• Farmers Stick With Trump, Despite Trade-War Pain.
• Wisconsin Judge Restores Restrictions on Bars, Restaurants.
• CEOs of Moderna and Abbott Discuss Vaccines and Testing.
• France Vows to Root Out Islamist Extremism After Beheading of Teacher.
• Why Social Media Is So Good at Polarizing Us.

Fox News:

• Barr urged to investigate Biden's alleged ties to son Hunter's business dealings.
  

CNBC.com:

• Pelosi and Mnuchin make progress in stimulus talks, plan to speak again Tuesday.
• Biden’s tax plan could boost tax rates to 62% for some New Yorkers and Californians, studies show.
  

MarketWatch.com:      

• The ‘smart money’ just reversed its bets against tech stocks in a huge way.  
• 20 stocks to help you play a big ‘restocking’ of consumer goods, according to Jefferies.

Zero Hedge: 

• Hunter Biden Is Not The Problem, The Problem Is His Dad.
• Hunter Biden's Laptop "Is Not Some Russian Disinformation Campaign"; DNI Ratcliffe Slams Schiff.
• Streisand Effect: Twitter Ban On Biden Laptop Scandal Nearly Doubled Visibility According To MIT.
• TSA Passenger Traffic Tops One Million Sunday As Return To Normalcy Continues.
• "WHAT THE F*CK! IM OUT": Rapper 50 Cent Melts Down Over Biden-Harris Tax Plan, Endorses Trump.
• CNN, New Yorker Suspend Jeffrey Toobin For Masturbating During A Zoom Call.
• Bonuses For Wall Street Traders, Dealmakers Expected To Shrink In 2020 Despite Surge In IB Profits.
• Futures Rise After Pelosi, Mnuchin "Narrow Differences" On Stimulus.
• IBM Reports Lowest Revenue This Century, Slowdown In Cloud, And Another Grotesque EPS Fudge.
• Black-ish Monday: Stimulus Stumble Sparks Big-Tech's Worst Streak In 14 Months.

The Epoch Times:  

• As Xi Calls on Troops to Prepare for War, Chinese City Orders Residents To Prepare Emergency Supplies. 
• Hunter Biden’s Business Associates Helped Chinese Tycoons Meet With Obama White House Officials, Emails Show.
  

Digital Blackboard:

• Daily New Cases by Region.

Worldometer:

• New Cases/Deaths by state.

Rt Covid-19:

• How fast virus is growing by state.

KFF:

• State Data(Tests/Hospitalizations).

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.5% to unch. on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 65.75 -.25 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 39.5 +1.0 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 59.46 unch..
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 31.0 +13.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 29.75 -1.57%
• FTSE 100 futures -.1%.

• S&P 500 futures +.58%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.71%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (CP)/4.23
• (CMA)/.84
• (LMT)/6.10
• (MAN)/.65
• (NVR)/59.89
• (OMC)/1.05
• (PCAR)/.96
• (PM)/1.36
• (PG)/1.42
• (RF)/.33
• (TRV)/3.10
  

After the Close:

• (IBKR)/.55
• (IRBT)/.97
• (NFLX)/2.14
• (SNAP)/-.05
• (THC)/.24
• (TER)/1.12
• (TXN)/1.29
• (WDFC)/1.13
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Housing Starts for Sept. is estimated to rise to 1465K versus 1416K in Aug.
• Building Permits for Sept. is estimated to rise to 1520K versus 1470K in Aug.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Brainard speaking, Fed's Quarles speaking, Italy Industrial Output report and the US weekly retail sales reports could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

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, finished mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.