Tuesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:         

• Japan Wages Fall Most Since 2015 as Winter Bonuses Slide.
• WHO Backs Astra Vaccine; Thailand Chooses Sinovac: Virus Update.
• Stocks Steady Near Record Highs; Oil Extends Gains: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Holds Near Pre-Virus High After Rallying on Tighter Market.  
• N.Z. Bubble Trouble, Inflation Returns, China Challenge: Eco Day.  
• Dire Bond Returns Have 60/40 Managers Juicing Portfolios With FX.  
• U.S. Junk-Bond Yields Drop Below 4% for the First Time.  
• New Jersey Property-Tax Average Rises to Record High of $9,112.

Wall Street Journal: 

• How to Keep America Polarized. 
  
• Hacker Changed Chemical Level in Florida City’s Water.
• Reality Check for a $15 Minimum Wage.
• Malls Spent Billions on Theme Parks to Woo Shoppers. It Made Matters Worse.

CNBC.com:

• Raising minimum wage to $15 would cost 1.4 million jobs, CBO says.
• Democrats press ahead on $15 an hour minimum wage despite deficit worries.
• Democrats to unveil plan to send up to $3,600 per child to households.
• A ‘full-fledged assault’ by regulators will hit Facebook and Twitter: Paul Meeks.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Take-Two, Electronic Arts, Chegg and more.

MarketWatch.com:    

• ‘Overconfidence’: Why it’s mostly men under 30 trading bitcoin.  
• Watch: Norway and Ford respond to Will Ferrell’s GM Super Bowl ad.  
• DoorDash buys Chowbotics, maker of food-preparing robots.
  

Zero Hedge:

• Government Fail: "We've Turned Teens Into Lockdown Lab Rats".
• Manhattan Office Supply Soars To Record As Remote-Working Dominates.
• China Arrests High Profile Australian Journalist On Spy Charges.
• Biden Appears To Be Expanding The US Occupation Of Syria.
• With Scorching Economy Set To Overheat, Goldman Brings Forward First Rate Hike Estimate.
• Montana Aims To "Save Women's Sports" From Biden's Executive Order.
• Glenn Greenwald Obliterates "Tattling, Hall Monitoring, Speech Policing" Journalists After Taylor Lorenz Self-Owns Into Oblivion.
• Deepfake Detectors Can Be Defeated, Computer Scientists Show For The First Time.
• Majority Of GOP Voters Would Join A New Trump-Led Political Party, Poll Shows.
• Bitcoin, Bonds, Bullion, Biotech, & Big-Shorts Bid As Buck Breaks-Down.

Newsmax:

• Sen. Tim Scott: Violent Rioters, Not Trump, Guilty of Stoking Capitol Mayhem.  
• Wyoming Gov: Oil, Gas Lease Ban 'Bipartisan in Its Destruction'. 
• Sheriff Warns Biden's Immigration Actions Very Dangerous. 
• Rep. French Hill: 'Enormous Debt' From COVID Bills Will Spike Taxes.
• AP Poll: Just 16 Percent Say US Democracy Is Thriving.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• “When Do They Get Their Green Jobs?” – Fox News’ Peter Doocy Presses Jen Psaki About Thousands of Laid Off Energy Workers Thanks to Biden’s EOs (VIDEO).
• EXCLUSIVE: Suspicious Vehicle Seen Escorting Late Night Biden Ballot Van at TCF Center on Election Night (VIDEO).
• Corrupt Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger Launches Investigation Into Trump’s Phone Calls to State Election Officials.
• White House Confirms Illegal Aliens Who are Convicted of DUI, Rape and Drug-Related Crimes Will NOT be Deported (VIDEO).
• Liz Cheney is Doing EVERYTHING She Can to Damage President Trump Before Senate Impeachment Just Like She Did Before House Impeachment.
• “You Can’t Just Criminalize Republican Speech and Ignore All the Democrats Who Have Incited Violence” – Rand Paul Blasts Schumer for Inciting Hate and Violence (VIDEO).
• Neo-Nazi Ukrainians, and Forefathers of Antifa, Instigated and Participated in the Capitol Hill Riot Alongside Antifa.
• Larry Johnson: Here Is What I See as The Strengths and Weaknesses of Mike Lindell’s Movie “Absolute Proof”.

The Epoch Times:

• Chinese Ambassador Repeats Conspiracy Theory That Pandemic May Have Originated in the United States.
• ‘Very Credible Case’ Chinese Regime Carried out Genocide Against Uyghurs: UK Lawyers.

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 -.25% to +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 57.75 -.75 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 29.5 +.5 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.67 +.02%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,416.0 +7.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 26.7 +.5%.
• FTSE 100 futures unch.

• S&P 500 futures -.06%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.16%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (DD)/.85
• (FOXA)/-.06
• (IT)/.82
• (GT)/.16
• (HAIN)/.30
• (IIVI)/.90
• (INCY)/.77
• (JLL)/3.93
• (MLM)/2.25
• (MAS)/.74
• (MYGN)/-.12
• (RCL)/-5.19
• (SEE)/.79
• (VSH)/.29
  

After the Close:

• (AKAM)/1.31
• (CSCO)/.75
• (LYFT)/-.68
• (MAT)/.23
• (NCR)/.62
• (OI)/.34
• (PAA)/.34
• (THC)/1.75
• (TWTR)/.31
• (YELP)/.32
  

Economic Releases

6:00 am EST

• The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for Jan. is estimated to rise to 96.8 versus 95.9 in Dec.
  

10:00 am EST

• JOLTS Job Openings for Dec. is estimated to fall to 6400 versus 6527 in Nov.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The $58B 3Y T-Note auction, weekly US retail sales reports, Stifel Transport/Logistics Conference, Cowen Aerospace/Defense/Industrials Conference,  could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly 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.