Tuesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:           

• China’s Economy Picks Up in January, Building on 2020’s Recovery.
• Tencent Shares Drop After Approaching $1 Trillion Valuation.
• WHO Warns on Vaccine; U.N. Issues Call for Equity: Virus Update.  
• Asian Stocks Slip on Stimulus Timing; Bonds Steady: Markets Wrap. 
• Oil Rises With Tighter Supply Outook Overshadowing Vaccine Woes.
• Treasury Market’s Grip on 1% Yields at Risk of Slipping Away  
• U.S. States Ease Covid Restrictions Even as Variants Take Hold.
• IAC’s Vimeo Raises New Funds at $6 Billion Valuation.
• National Guard Plans 5,000 Troops in Washington Until Mid-March.  
• Biden Open to Negotiate on Stimulus Talks, Seeks GOP Backing.  
• GameStop Short-Sellers Reload Bets After $6 Billion Loss.  
• Crypto Hedge Funds Underperformed Bitcoin During Rally Last Year.   
• A ‘Bear’ in This Market Is Someone Who Is Only 75% Long Stocks.

Wall Street Journal:

• Ricchetti Brothers Rise in D.C., One a Lobbyist, the Other in the White House.
• Moderna Developing Booster Shot Against South Africa Strain.
• U.S. Lifts Ban on Transgender Military Service Members.
• You Tested Positive for Covid-19. Now What?

Fox News:  

• As Americans await stimulus checks, Biden offers $4B to migrant countries.
• Welding foreman says he broke down as Biden order forced him to lay off team.
  

CNBC.com:

• Mania in stocks like GameStop, surging options activity suggest a market pullback is coming.
• Apollo’s Leon Black to retire as CEO but remain chairman after he is cleared in internal Epstein probe.
• GOP worried about raising money for midterm House races as corporations cut donations after riot.
• Exploring reparations for Black Americans is ‘necessary,’ says NAACP president.
• Minnesota confirms first known U.S. case of more contagious Covid variant originally found in Brazil.

MarketWatch.com: 

• Reddit moderator slams Wall Street ‘fat cats’ as GameStop’s wild ride continues.
  
• Life after the COVID-19 vaccine: Americans won’t rush back to restaurants, ball games — or public transportation.
  
• When the bull market breaks, it’s ‘likely to break hard,’ warns longtime bear who is wary of vaccine euphoria.  
• GameStop stock is just the latest sign of a speculative frenzy.  
• Robinhood day traders are squeezing the hedge funds — here’s why it may continue.

Zero Hedge:

• House Delivers Impeachment Article To Senate But Biden Doesn't Think Trump Will Be Convicted.
• Leon Black Steps Down As Apollo CEO After Review Finds He Paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 Million.
• Democrats Have Released A Roadmap To One-Party Rule.
• Janet Yellen Confirmed As US Treasury Secretary.
• Trump Campaign Disavows Link To 'Patriot Party' In Official Filing.
• Biden Signs Order Boosting Federal Spending On US Products.
• The First Casualty Of The Big Short Squeeze: Melvin Capital Gets $2.75BN Bailout From Citadel, Point72 After Its Shorts Explode.
• Godiva Closing All US Stores On Plunging Sales.
• Italian Premier To Resign As He Plots Latest Political Comeback.
• Is This The Reason Behind's Today's Surreal Market Action.
• "New McCarthyism Will Prove An Orwellian Mistake" Says US Historian.
• Twitter Unveils "Birdwatch," A New Platform Where Users Fact-Check Tweets.
• "Sell Mortimer": Short Squeeze Turmoil Triggers Market Rollercoaster.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• At Least One Third of the Nation Believes Joe Biden Stole the Election – Unchanged from December.
• Biden Admin Ramping Up Effort to Remove Andrew Jackson and Put Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill (VIDEO).
• RUDY BRINGS THE FIRE: Giuliani Responds to $1.3 Billion Dominion Lawsuit AND IT’S EPIC.
• Republican State Lawmakers to Introduce New Bills to Limit Vote-by-Mail, Require Photo ID to Vote, Clean Dirty Voter Rolls.
• President Trump Announces ‘Office of the Former President’ – Will Carry On the Agenda of the Trump Administration.
• Newsom Lifts Strict Stay-at-Home Order From All CA Regions Even Though Covid Cases Are Higher Than When Order Started in December.
• Democrats Announce Trump Impeachment Trial Will Start February 8th — GOP Senators May Ask for a Secret Ballot to Hide Their Vote from Constituents.
• Biden Proposes $200 Gun Tax and Firearm Buyback Program Along with 13 page Form that Asks for Fingerprints and Photograph.
• Good News! Three of Ten Pro-Impeachment Republicans Including Liz Cheney ALREADY Have Primary Opponents.

The Epoch Times:

• Conservatives Call on Ottawa to Declare Beijing’s Repression of Uyghurs a ‘Genocide’.
• Chinese City Facing Food Crisis After Authorities Impose Hard COVID-19 Lockdown.

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 -1.0% to unch. on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 61.25 unch.

• China Sovereign CDS 30.75 +.75 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.04 -.02%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,013.0 -16 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 26.1 +.37%.
• FTSE 100 futures +.24%.

• S&P 500 futures -.33%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.29%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (MMM)/2.17
• (ALK)/-2.93
• (AXP)/1.30
• (ADM)/1.09
• (ALV)/1.85
• (DHI)/1.72
• (FCX)/.40
• (JNJ)/1.83
• (LMT)/6.31
• (NEE)/.38
• (PCAR)/1.20
• (PII)/2.90
• (RTX)/.69
• (ROK)/1.87
• (VZ)/1.17
  

After the Close:

• (AMD)/.30
• (BXP)/1.59
• (CHRW)/.97
• (CNI)/1.42
• (COF)/2.77
• (FFIV)/2.46
• (MRTN)/.22
• (MXIM)/.63
• (MSFT)/1.41
• (SBUX)/.55
• (TXN)/1.35
• (VAR)/1.03
  

Economic Releases

9:00 am EST

• The FHFA House Price Index MoM for Nov. is estimated to rise +.8% versus a +1.5% gain in Oct.
• The S&P CoreLogic CS 20-City MoM for Nov. is estimated to rise +1.0% versus a +1.61% gain in Oct. 
  

10:00 am EST

• The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for Jan. is estimated to rise to 89.0 versus 88.6 in Dec. 
• The Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for Jan. is estimated at 19.0 versus 19.0 in Dec.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed Press Conference, UK Unemployment report, $61B 5Y T-Note auction, weekly retail sales report and the (PLUG) business update 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 industrial and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.