Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:           

• BOJ Should Avoid ETF Buys Fueling Stock Bubble, Ex-Official Says.
• Won Falls Prey to Outflows as Locals Join Foreigners’ Exodus.
• Japan Starts Vaccination; Melbourne Lifts Lockdown: Virus Update.  
• Treasury Yields Touch One-Year High; Stocks Slip: Markets Wrap.  
• Oil Holds Near $60 With a Third of U.S. Crude Output Shut In.
• U.S. Oil Output Slumps by Record One-Third as Permian Freezes.  
• Deep Freeze Upends U.S. Agriculture Markets From Grains to Beef.
• Freeze Could Keep Texans in the Dark for Days: Energy Update.
• Just Another SPAC Files for U.S. IPO (Really, That’s the Name).  
• Corporate CFOs Not Planning to Buy Bitcoin, Gartner Survey Shows.

Wall Street Journal: 

• Winter Storm Creates Havoc Across U.S.
• The Political Making of a Texas Power Outage.
• The Minimum Wage’s Racially Discriminatory Roots.
• Alden Global Capital Agrees to Buy Rest of Tribune Publishing.

Fox News:  

• Texas officials brace for more fatalities as deadly cold kills 10 people, leaves millions without power.
• 'This is unacceptable': Texas Gov. Abbott slams state electric company over blackouts amid frigid temps.
• READ IT: Trump trashes Mitch McConnell in searing new statement.

  CNBC.com:

• Energy prices surge as millions in Texas brave storm without power.
• Justice Department seeks more info on Salesforce’s $27 billion deal for Slack.
• Apple wins victory as North Dakota votes down bill that would regulate app stores.
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX raised $850 million, jumping valuation to about $74 billion.
• Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen ran dark money group as super PAC’s dealings face scrutiny.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Chevron, QuantumScape, Verizon & more.

MarketWatch.com:      

• Opinion: Lacking any intrinsic value, bitcoin’s price could be anything or nothing at all.  
  
• Big city flight led to surging suburban home prices — Will it outlast the pandemic?

Zero Hedge: 

• House Hearing On GameStop Fiasco Will Focus On "Short Selling And Stock Manipulation".
• Kraft Heinz, Conagra Will Start Passing On Soaring Food Costs To Consumers.
• Trump Declares War On Mitch McConnell, Calls Him "A Dour, Sullen, And Unsmiling Political Hack".
• Berkshire Reveals New Positions In Chevron, Verizon; Exits JPM; Trims Apple, Wells: Full 13F Summary.
• Hello Clean Energy Advocates, What Do We Do When The Wind Turbines Are All Frozen?
• Fed's Bullard Says Bitcoin At $50,000 Not A Threat To Dollar, Sees No Asset Bubbles Anywhere: "It's Just Normal Investing".
• Florida, California Took Opposite Approaches To COVID... With Virtually Same Result.
• Foreigners Bought A Record Amount Of US Stocks In 2020, Bond-Selling Continues.
• GBOAT: Is This The Greatest Bubble Of All Time?
• With Impeachment Over, Democrats Forge Ahead On $1.9 Trillion Stimulus.
• Bond Bloodbath Sparks Stock Slump; Dollar & Crypto Jump.

Newsmax:    

• VP Harris Taking Calls for Biden.
  

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Psaki: Gun Control a ‘Personal Priority’ For Joe Biden (VIDEO).
• Not Even An Ice Storm Can Stop Antifa From Rioting In Portland And Seattle (VIDEO).
• Fulton Country Director of Elections, Richard Barron, Is Removed From Office – Will They Now Ensure a Valid Audit on Their 2020 Results? Americans Want the Truth!
• US Service Member Injured after Bombs Dropped in Iraq – Iran Suspected – Biden Does Nothing.
• Why Is Dr. Fauci Receiving International Awards? Why is He Not Fired or Behind Bars?
• Pure Racism: New York City Principal Sends Home White Identities List to Parents to Convert Them to the “White Traitors” Stage of Whiteness.

The Epoch Times:

• O’Toole Calls for Relocation of Beijing Olympics Over CCP’s ‘Genocide’ Against Uyghurs, ‘Police State’ in Hong Kong.
  

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 57.5 unch.

• China Sovereign CDS 29.0 -.5 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.96 -.15%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,926.0 +3.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 26.50 +1.44%.
• FTSE 100 futures -.25%.

• S&P 500 futures -.28%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.44%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (ADI)/1.32
• (CHH)/.63
• (GPC)/1.34
• (HLT)/.03
• (OC)/1.37
• (SHOP)/1.21
• (SINA)/.86
• (SAH)/1.40
• (WING)/.23
  

After the Close:

• (ALB)/1.12
• (BIDU)/16.73
• (SAM)/2.84
• (CF)/.15
• (CAKE)/-.05
• (HLF)/.82
• (JACK)/1.77
• (MRO)/-.20
• (MOS)/.21
• (PAAS)/.43
• (STMP)/2.62
• (RGR)/1.19
• (SPWR)/.07
• (SNPS)/1.46
• (TWLO)/-.07
• (VMI)/1.79
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• PPI Final Demand MoM for Jan. is estimated to rise +.4% versus a +.3% gain in Dec.
• PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for Jan. is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.1% gain in Dec.
• Retail Sales Advance MoM for Jan. is estimated to rise +1.0% versus a -.7% decline in Dec.
• Retail Sales Ex Autos MoM for Jan. is estimated to rise +1.0% versus a -1.4% decline in Dec.
• Retail Sales Ex Autos and Gas for Jan. is estimated to rise +.9% versus a -2.1% decline in Dec.
  

9:15 am EST

• Industrial Production MoM for Jan. is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +1.6% gain in Dec.
• Capacity Utilization for Jan. is estimated to rise to 74.9% versus 74.5% in Dec.
• Manufacturing Production for Jan. is estimated to rise +.7% versus a +.9% gain in Dec.
  

10:00 am EST

• The NAHB Housing Market Index for Feb. is estimated tat 83.0 versus 83.0 in Jan.

2:00 pm EST

• The Jan. 27 FOMC Meeting Minutes.

Upcoming Splits

• (FIZZ) 2-for-1
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The $27B 20Y bond auction, weekly US retail sales reports, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report, UK inflation data report and the BTIG MedTech/Digital Health/Life Science/Diagnostic Tools Conference 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 consumer 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.