Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:        

• Beijing Hopes U.S. Companies Will Push to Scrap China Tariffs.  
• Chinese Firms Are Listing in the U.S. at a Record-Breaking Pace.
• Vaccine Travel Rules Widen the Rift Between China and the West.  
• China’s Economy Continues Booming After Record First Quarter.
• Iran Says U.S. Must Lift Sanctions From 1,500 People to Fix Deal.
  
• India Asks Twitter to Block Posts Critical of Virus Handling.  
• India’s Double-Digit Growth Forecast in Peril as Virus Hits Hard. 
• EU May Allow Vaccinated U.S. Tourists This Summer, NYT Says.
• Vaccine Shortage Holds Emerging Markets Back from Global Rally.    
• Stocks in Asia Start Week Mixed With Fed in Focus: Markets Wrap.
• Most Mideast Shares Climb With Oil, Earnings Eyed: Inside EM.  
• Oil Edges Lower Near $62 With Investors Assessing Demand Outlook.
• China Boom Persists, Fed Meeting, Bail Out or Bail In?: Eco Day.
• World Pledges Aid for India as Cases Surge: Virus Update.
• Treasuries Reprieve Buoys Emerging Markets, but Buyers Are Picky.
• Behold the U.S. Economy’s Recovery as Fed Stays Course: Eco Week.
• The End of U.S. Mass Vaccination Is Coming Sooner Than Later.
  
• Stop the Vaccine ‘Finger Wagging,’ Says Top U.S. Health Official.
• Tesla’s Stock-Market Devotees Might Get an Earnings Jolt.
• GOP Senator Floats $900 Billion Trimmed Infrastructure Spending.  
• Sell Signals All but Useless in Unchartable 2021 Stock Market.   
• Exxon Investors Warned of Risk From Emissions Goals, FT Reports.  
• U.S. Wages Are About to Sink in an Odd Sign of Economic Strength.

Wall Street Journal:

• Wild Market Ride Lifts Assets From Lumber to Stocks.
• Maxine Waters’s Long History of Reckless Rhetoric.
• A Covid-19 Vaccine’s 1,500-Mile Journey Through India.
• Jack and the Bean Counters: A Woke Children’s Story.
• Restaurants Serve Up Signing Bonuses, Higher Pay to Win Back Workers.
• GameStop’s CEO Is Getting Millions on His Way Out.
• SPAC Insiders Can Make Millions as Investors Take Losses.
• ‘Donor Disclosure’ Chills Free Speech.
• The Dumbest Tax Increase.

Fox News:

• State to investigate Chauvin trial witness after controversial testimony.
• Clinton hosted Epstein, Maxwell as VIPs, new photos prove. 
• Apparently the doctor is ready to rely on ‘common sense’.

CNBC:  

• PM Modi says India shaken by coronavirus ‘storm’, U.S. readies help.
• Wall Street’s top analysts see gains in store for these stocks.
• Rent out your pool and swim in profits? Check your insurance before diving in.
• Attention shoppers: Price hikes are ahead, but consumer companies hope you won’t notice.

Zero Hedge: 

• "Biden Is An Idiot" - Fmr Police Officer Blasts Democrats For "Riding The Wave Of Dead Black People". 
• "This Is Massive": Shadowy DARPA-Linked Company Took Over 'Chunk' Of Pentagon's Internet In Inauguration Day Mystery. 
• QQQ ETF Sees Biggest Outflows Since Bursting Of Dot Com Bubble.
• Home Prices Soar 18% To An All Time High; A Record 58% Of Houses Sell Within Two Weeks Of Listing.
• MIT Study Suggests Six Foot Social Distancing, Limited Occupancy Rules Are Completely Pointless.
• "I'm Not A Roadblock" Says Moderate Dem Blocking Road To Socialist 'Utopia'.
• "The Problem Is That Your Ideas Are Stupid" - Bill Maher Blasts "Gullible" Millennials.
• 12 Myths Fueling Government Overreach In Times Of Crisis.
• Fire At Baghdad COVID Hospital Sparked By Oxygen Explosion Kills 82 People.
• Harvard Admits 1,968 To Class Of 2025 Amidst 43% Surge In Applications.
• Gold & The Coming Oil Shortage - Part II.
• Who Benefitted From The Euro And Who Pays The Piper Now?
• Scientists Are Now Growing Human-Monkey Chimeric Embryos.
• Turkey Summons US Ambassador, Says Armenian Genocide Statement "Alienating" A NATO Ally.
• These Are The Most Polluted Cities In America.
• The United States Has Declared Defeat In Two More Wars.
• Jim Bovard: The Feds Are Coming For Libertarians.
• Dozens Arrested After CEO Of Turkish Crypto Exchange Flees With $2 Billion.
• NJ Deli With $100 Million Market Cap Linked To Shell Company Whose Stock Also Recently Exploded.
  

NewsMax:    

• Poll: Majority Disapprove of Biden's Border Crisis Handling.
• Wuhan Lab Helped Chinese Army in Secret Project to Find Animal Viruses. 
• Newt Gingrich: Biden Administration Most Anti-American Presidency in History.
  

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Senator Rand Paul: Dr. Fauci Must Answer Questions on Why He Continued to Fund Dangerous Human-Virus Studies after they were Banned in US (VIDEO).
• Big Tech Giants From Twitter, Facebook and Netflix Donated $7.5 Million to BLM Cofounder — Then Censored Stories About Her Real Estate Spree. 
• REPORT: California National Guard Put Fighter Jet on Alert For ‘Possible Domestic Mission’ to Terrify and Disperse Anti-Lockdown Protesters.
• Biden Admin Stops Fining Illegal Aliens Who Refuse to Leave America and Cancels Their Debts.
• Former Virginia Tech Women’s Soccer Player Sues Coach After She Was Forced Off College Soccer Team For Refusing to Kneel.
• AZ Election Worker: “I Was on the List for the AZGOP and They Just Told Me Google Eliminated the List – They’re Trying to Keep the Public Out” (VIDEO).
• Joe Biden Hops on Marine One to Spend Another Weekend at His Delaware Home After Lecturing Americans on Carbon Emissions (VIDEO). 
• The Number of State Employees in Illinois Who Were Paid More than $100,000 Increased to All-Time High in 2020.

The Epoch Times:

• Hundreds of Taxpayer-Funded US Scientists Likely Compromised by China: NIH.
• EU Says Communist Party of China Endangering Peace in South China Sea.

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 indices are -.25% to +.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 83.25 +.75 basis points.
• China Sovereign CDS 38.25 unch.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 60.81 +.02%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,165.0 +26.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 20.45 +.09%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.15%.
• S&P 500 futures -.03%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.02%

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (AMG)/4.21
• (ACI)/.46
• (OTIS)/.63
• (CHKP)/1.50
  

After the Close:

• (BRO)/.56
• (CNI)/1.26
• (NXPI)/2.21
• (TSLA)/.73
• (UHS)/2.26
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Durable Goods Orders for March is estimated to rise +2.3% versus a -1.2$ decline in Feb.
• Durables Ex Transports for March is estimated to rise +1.6% versus a -.9% decline in Feb.
• Cap Goods Orders Non-Defense Ex Air for March is estimated to rise +1.5% versus a -.9% decline in Feb.

10:30 am EST

• Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity for April is estimated to rise to 30.0 versus 28.9 in March.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The BoJ interest rate decision, German IFO Climate Index, $60B 2Y T-Note auction and the $61B 5Y T-Note auction could also impact trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 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 mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher.  The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.