Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:              

• Troubled Waters: Where The U.S. And China Could Clash In The South China Sea.
• Australia Jobs Jump as Victoria Opening Sparks Hiring Surge.
• Asia Stocks See Muted Start; N.Z. Bonds Retreat: Markets Wrap.
• Extra Doses in Pfizer Vaccine Vials Can Be Used, FDA Says.
  
• Georgia Senate Runoffs Fueled Mostly by Out-of-State Donors.
• Covid-Loss Case by Restaurant Is First U.S. Test for Insurers.  
• Robinhood Is Accused of ‘Gamification’ by Massachusetts.  
• Virus Aid Includes $17 Billion for Airlines: Congress Update.  
• California Crisis Deepens; U.S. Allergic Reaction: Virus Update.  
• Soaring Stock Valuations No Big Deal to Powell Next to Bonds.  
• Lennar Rides Housing Boom With Home Orders Beating Estimates.  
• Lumber Slides With Homebuilder Confidence Slipping From High.

Wall Street Journal:

• Google Is Accused of Enlisting Facebook to Aid in Ad-Rigging.
• Georgia’s Audit of Ballot Signatures.
• What Raphael Warnock Believes About Israel.
• Snowstorm Starts to Blanket Parts of East Coast.

Fox News:  

• Hunter Biden in 2017 sent 'best wishes' from 'entire Biden family' to China firm chairman, requested $10M wire.
• EXCLUSIVE: Report on foreign election influence will be delayed amid dispute.
• Chinese spy with Swalwell shows 'pervasive' threat of China today: Cotton.
• Laura Ingraham: Chinese officials know Biden win was ‘huge victory’ for Communist Party.

CNBC.com:

• California reports record virus death count as cases spiral.
• Fed raises its economic outlook slightly, sees 4.2% growth next year and 5% unemployment rate.
• Congress closes in on a $900 billion Covid relief deal as Americans await aid.
• SolarWinds hack has shaved 23% from software company’s stock this week.
• U.S. trade czar Lighthizer’s advice for Biden on China: ‘Hold their feet to the fire’.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: Roku, Amgen & more.

MarketWatch.com:       

• Americans are draining their checking accounts as stimulus talks drag on.

Zero Hedge:

• First Glitches Emerge In COVID-Vax Rollout; Alaska Health Worker Suffers 'Serious Allergic Reaction'.
• PBOC Has Explaining To Do With Mysterious Yuan Data.
• Report Alleges China's 'Mass Surveillance' Of Americans Using Caribbean Cell Networks.
• Twitter To Remove 'Harmful, Misleading Or False Information' On COVID-19 Vaccinations.
• Pritzker's $711 Million Spending Cuts For Illinois Are A "Sideshow".
• When "Smart" Homes Turn Stupid: Google Users Literally "Left In The Dark" During Monday Outage.
• 'Squad' Member Cori Bush Wants Biden To Grant Clemency To Everybody On Death Row.
• Texas AG Joins DOJ, Multiple Other States, Suing Google On Antitrust Claims.
• "Great Reset" - 61% Of Nations Have Decimated Liberty With COVID Restrictions.
• Dollar Drops As Gold & Crypto Pop On Fed Flop, Washington Slop.

Newsmax:

• Amid Probe and Dad's Rise to Office, Hunter Biden Leans Into ... Art?
• Grassley: Joe Biden 'Has a Lot of Explaining to Do' About Son.  
• Report: Zuckerberg Money Used in Violation of Federal Election Law.

@kylenabecker:

• American citizens literally have to fight the government in court to get transparency on *their* elections. 95% of the U.S. media is in favor of this burdensome process & declares pre-emptively *there is nothing to see* behind the veil of secrecy. It's a corrupt & unjust process.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• BOOM! Maria Bartiromo: “Intel Source” Told Me Trump Did in Fact Win the Election – It’s Up to Supreme Court to Take the Cases and Stop the Clock (VIDEO).
• BREAKING: Catherine Herridge Reports DNI John Ratcliffe Confirmed “There Was Foreign Election Interference by China, Iran, Russia in November” (VIDEO).
• President Trump Seeking Special Counsel to Investigate Hunter Biden’s Crimes.
• THERE IT IS: Fired Cyber “Expert” Chris Krebs Admits in Senate Hearing that Dominion Voting Machines Linked to the Internet.

The Epoch Times:

• 2020 Election Investigative Documentary: Who’s Stealing America? (video) 
• Beijing Latest Area to See COVID-19 Outbreak in China.
• Military-Linked Chinese Company Blacklisted by US Has Major Operations in Canada.

Geller Report: 

• LOOK Who Owns Dominion Voting Systems: Politically Motivated PRIVATE Equity NY Hedge Fund.

The Atlantic:

• The End of the Filibuster—No, Really. Many activists will not tolerate a Democratic-controlled Senate that allows Republicans to block legislation next year.

Politico:

• AOC Lays Out Progressive Wish List for Biden.

Glenn Beck:

• Elizabeth Warren’s ‘progressive wish list’ will destroy America. (video)

Daily Caller:

• Trump Urges Supporters Not To Boycott Georgia Senate Elections. President Donald Trump urged his supporters not to boycott the upcoming runoff Senate elections in Georgia on Friday, saying a boycott would be “playing right into the hands” of Democrats.
  

NTD News:

• "A lot of people, friends of mine, say, let's not vote... But if you do that, the radical left wins. ... You're angry because so many votes were stolen, it was taken away...If you don't vote, the socialists and the communists win"—Trump rallies for Perdue and Loeffler. (video) 

ProtectTheVote.com: 

• Serious allegations of misconduct in the 2020 elections have resulted in unprecedented legal action to ensure our elections are -- and remain -- free and fair. Find out where we’re exposing fraud and how you can help.

HereIsTheEvidence.com:

• This is for aggregating publicly available items of voter fraud evidence in the US election that would be admissible in court.
  

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 +.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 57.25 unch.

• China Sovereign CDS 28.0 unch.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.62 +.04%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 1,403.0 +38.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 24.15 +.21%
• FTSE 100 futures +.13%.

• S&P 500 futures +.06%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.08%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (ACN)/2.05
• (CCL)/-1.84
• (GIS)/.93
• (JBL)/1.15
• (NAV)/.31
• (RAD)/-.05
• (SAFM)/.23

After the Close:

• (AIR)/.18
• (BB)/-.01
• (FDX)/3.99 
• (SCHL)/1.38
• (SCS)/.03
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST:

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 815K versus 853K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 5700K versus 5757K prior.
• Housing Starts for Nov. are estimated to rise to 1535K versus 1530K in Oct.
• Building Permits for Nov. are estimated to rise to 1560K versus 1545K in Oct.
• The Philly Fed Business Outlook Index for Dec. is estimated to fall to 20.0 versus 26.3 in Nov.
  

11:00 am EST

• The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity for Dec. is estimated to fall to 9.0 versus 11.0 in Nov.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The BoE Rate Decision, Eurozone Inflation Data, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, Bloomberg weekly Consumer Comfort Index, Bloomberg Economic Expectations Index for Dec. and the Moderna FDA meeting for EUA covid-19 vaccine approval 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 industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.