Tuesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:                

• Asian Shoppers Snap Up Gold Bangles to Bars Amid Price Slump.
• EU Seeks Vaccine Detente; Variants Spread in U.S.: Virus Update.  
• Asia Stocks Set for Gains as Treasury Yields Dip: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Edges Lower Near $61 With Near-Term Demand Concerns in Focus.
• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.  
• Powell Patient, Housing Assault, Digital Dollar Debate: Eco Day.
• Variants Rise in Some States, Adding Urgency to Vaccine Push.  
• First Class Mail to Take Extra Day Under Postal Service Plan.  
• Powell Says Recovery Far From Complete, Fed Support to Continue.

Wall Street Journal:

• U.S., Allies Sanction China Over Treatment of Uyghurs.
• Filibuster Debate Tears at Biden and Senate.
• Hospitals Hide Pricing Data From Search Results.
• Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Environment?

Fox News:   

• Chilling photos paint picture of overcrowded tent packed with illegals.
  

CNBC.com:

• Upstart shares are up 171% in three days, as momentum pours into fintech company.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: ViacomCBS, QuantumScape & more.
• Powell calls cryptocurrencies ‘not really useful stores of value’ and says Fed will move slowly.

Zero Hedge:

• Japanese Semi Plant Fire To Have "Major Impact" On Already-Bottlenecked Auto Industry.
• Border Facility Photos Leak Revealing Hundreds Of Children Huddled In "Terrible Conditions"
• Want A Job? Get A Shot!
• JPM Makes A Surprising Discovery: Daytraders Are Evolving, And Starting To Hedge Their Massive Gains.
• Former Trump Intel Chief Reveals "Quite A Few More UFOs Detected Than Public Knows".
• New COVID Cases Jump In 27 States As Fauci Urges Them To "Take It Easy" On Reopening.
• Mass Federalization: How Washington Is Bailing Out Failed States, Decapitating Competitive Ones, & Ending America As You Knew It.
• Locked-Down Americans Fatter-Than-Ever As Krispy Kreme Unveils 'Free-Donuts-For-The-Vaxxed' Promo. 
• Bonds & Big-Tech Bid, Banks & Bitcoin Break As Dollar Dumps.

Newsmax: 

• Dark Money Being Used to Fund Push on Filibuster: Report.
  

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Newsmax Reporter Emerald Robinson Grills Psaki: ‘Why Are Illegal Aliens Getting Hotel Rooms When National Guard Were Left to Sleep in Parking Garages and Given Contaminated Food?’ (VIDEO).
• BREAKING: More Evidence Suggests China Coronavirus (COVID) Outbreak May Have Come from Military Bioweapons Research Accident.
• Biden WH Preparing $3 Trillion Spending Package to Tackle Climate Change, Infrastructure, Provide “Free” Community College and “Reduce Inequality”.
• Former Rep. Michele Bachmann Joins Steve Bannon on The War Room to Promote Election Integrity Conference Tuesday with Ben Carson, Mark Steyn, Eric Metaxas, Jim and Joe Hoft, etc. (VIDEO).
• Price of Gas Is Up Over a Dollar Per Gallon Already Thanks to Joe Biden’s Actions to Stop Pipelines and Curtail Production.

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 +.75% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 66.75 n/a.

• China Sovereign CDS 32.75 +2.0 basis points.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 61.17 -.08%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,944.0 +34.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 21.9 +.78%.
• FTSE 100 futures unch.

• S&P 500 futures +.10%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.03%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• None of note
  

After the Close:

• None of note
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• The 4Q Current Account Deficit is estimated to widen to -$188.0B versus -$178.5B in 3Q.

10:00 am EST

• New Home Sales for Feb. is estimated to fall to 870K versus 923K in Jan.
• The Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for March is estimated to rise to 16.0 versus 14.0 in February.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Powell/Treasury's Yellen testimonies to House, Fed's Brainard speaking, UK unemployment rate, weekly US retail sales reports, $60B 2Y T-Note auction, (BWA) investor day, Sidoti investor conference, Credit Suissee Digital Consumer Retail Conference 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 consumer shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.