Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:              

• China’s Bond Traders Reprice a Future With Tighter Liquidity.  
• Japan Households Cut Spending in December Before Emergency.
  
• Asia Stocks Climb After U.S. Record; Bonds Steady: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Surges to One-Year High Fueled By OPEC+ Commitment on Supply.
• Unified Unilever Looks to Make Larger Deals in Break With Past.
• When Will Life Return to Normal? In 7 Years at Today's Vaccine Rates.
  
• Robinhood Traders Bash the App But Just Can’t Leave It.  
• Yellen Finds Market Infrastructure ‘Resilient’ Amid Frenzy.  
• A Battle for Control of WallStreetBets May Have Broken Out.  
• Brace Yourself: Long-Haul Travel May Not Get Going Until 2023.  
• Activision Soars on Upbeat Outlook for Video-Game Sales.  
• There Are Still 16 Meme Stocks With at Least 100% Gains in 2021.
• Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund Founder Admits to Massive Fraud.

Wall Street Journal:

• Toxic Metals Found in Some Baby Food, Congressional Report Says.
• The Biden Administration’s Elusive Stimulus Goal: Full Employment.

Fox News:   

• Psaki insists Biden wants schools open but dodges question on whether he'd stand up to unions.
• Indy journalists increasingly stifled under Big Tech restrictions.
• House votes to remove Taylor Greene from committees over past remarks.
  

CNBC.com:

• Johnson & Johnson requests emergency authorization from FDA for Covid vaccine.
• Ford boosts investment in electric and autonomous vehicles to $29 billion through 2025.
• Big Tech’s road to underperformance and why its dominance is waning.
• Peloton quarterly sales top $1 billion, but shares fall as cycle maker steps up investments.

MarketWatch.com: 

• Energy stocks and bonds shine after brutal slump, even as Biden moves to curb fossil fuels.

Zero Hedge:

• "Peaking" China Credit Impulse Suggests Copper Prices May Have Topped.
• Panasonic Is Quitting The Solar Panel Business.
• Biden's Energy Plan May Be Costly For Consumers.
• House Democrats And 11 Republicans Boot Greene From Committees Over QAnon.
• Imagine If The Virus Had Never Been Detected.
• Biden Vows To "Defend Democracy Globally", Says "Days Of Rolling Over" To Russia "Are Over".
• Alex Rodriguez' SPAC "Slam" Files For $500 Million IPO.
• From GOAT To Scapegoat: Redditor Who Made Millions During Gamestop Chaos Already Being Set Up To Take The Fall.
• Amazon Plans To Install AI Surveillance Cameras In Delivery Vans .
• The Stock Market Is Broken, Now For All To See.
• Mike Bloomberg Urges Biden To "Stand Up" To Teachers Unions Resisting Reopening, Tells Educators To "Suck It Up".
• Surging Dollar Could Be The Bull In Stock Rally's China Shop.
• Redditors Abandon Squeezes, Panic-Buy Penny-Stocks As USD Hits 2-Mo Highs.

Newsmax:

• Pompeo: China Sending 'Message' to Biden With Sanctions on Trump Officials.
• Biden Says US Set to Work With China When It Is in Our Interest.
• Sen. Hawley Has Received 'Tremendous Support' From Constituents Despite Calls to Resign.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• GOP Candidate Mellissa Carone Says Her Goal Is to Make Sure Dominion Voting Machines Are Removed from all Michigan Voting Stations.
• Newsom Recall Now “Unavoidable” – Newsom’s Poll Numbers Tank, More Than 1.4 Million Signatures Collected in Recall Effort.
• We Got It! TGP to Release SMOKING GUN Video from TCF Center in Detroit! …Update: OH BOY! Our Report WILL SHAKE the Political World!
• AOC Caught In Another Lie Lashes Out and Demands Social Media Giants Stop Users from Fact Checking What She Says.
• POLL: Who Has Done More Damage To The Republican Party – Mitch McConnell or Marjorie Taylor Greene?
• Biden to Sign Executive Order Restoring and Expanding “Refugee Program” Despite Ongoing Covid Pandemic (VIDEO).
• Psaki: “Even After You’re Vaccinated, Social Distancing and Wearing Masks Will be Essential” (VIDEO).

The Epoch Times: 

• Frontline Nurse: Problems Abound in China’s Pandemic Prevention Efforts.
• China Insider: Republican Senators Urge for Relocation of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

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 unch. to +.75% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 59.0 -.5 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 29.75 unch.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.22 -.04%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,259.0 +10.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 27.05 +1.15%.
• FTSE 100 futures -.15%.

• S&P 500 futures -.06%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.10%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (AON)/2.46
• (BERY)/.97
• (CAH)/1.45
• (CBOE)/1.23
• (EL)/1.69
• (ITW)/1.77
• (REGN)/8.29
• (SNY)/1.17
• (SPB)/.77
• (UI)/1.77
• (ZBH)/2.06
  

After the Close:

• None of note
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• The Change in Non-Farm Payrolls for Jan. is estimated to rise to 100K versus -140K in Dec.
• The Unemployment Rate for Jan. is estimated at 6.7% versus 6.7% in Dec.
• Average Hourly Earnings MoM for Jan. is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.8% gain in Dec. 
• The Trade Balance for Dec. is estimated to rise to -$65.7B versus -$68.1B in Nov.
  

3:00 pm EST

• Consumer Credit for Dec. is estimated to fall to $12.0B versus $15.274B in Nov.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The German Factory Orders report could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly higher, boosted by technology and industrial 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.