Tuesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:             

• Bombing in Kabul Stokes Fear of Jihadi Revival.  
• Calls for a Covid Probe Plunged Australia Into a Hacking Nightmare.  
• U.K. Companies Boost Wages and Prices Amid Reopening Boom.
  
• UN Votes to Demand Continued Safe Passage: Afghanistan Update.
• Asian Stocks Dip as Traders Mull U.S. Rally, China: Markets Wrap.
  
• Oil Poised for Monthly Loss on Eve of OPEC+ Production Meeting.
• Powell’s Tough Spot, World-Beating Growth, China Skills: Eco Day.
• New Orleans Escapes Floods But Faces Days Without Power.  
• Progressives Urge Biden Not to Nominate Powell as Fed Chair.  
• Apple Plans to Add Satellite Features to iPhones for Emergencies. 
• Ethereum Weathers Bug That Underlines Possible Blockchain Risks.  
• Cracks Are Emerging in the Fed’s Floor as Key Target Rate Slides.  
• Rails Brace for Gridlock After Ida Hammers New Orleans Hub.

Wall Street Journal:

• Kids Head Back to School—and Bring Covid-19’s Mental-Health Scars With Them.
• You Are Living in the Golden Age of Stupidity.
• Louisiana Assesses Storm Damage After Ida Slams State.
• EU Recommends Halting Nonessential Travel From U.S. Over Covid-19.
• U.S. Investigates Airstrike; Family Members Say 10 Civilians Killed.
• Latest Afghanistan Updates.  
• The Covid Civil-Rights Mask.  
• Joe Biden Bets on Cynicism.
• Oil Industry Surveys Damage.
• Aluminum Hits Decade Highs on Soaring Demand, Snarled Supply.

Fox News:

• How Biden refers to Black adviser raises eyebrows for wrong reasons.
• House-to-house executions begin after Biden leaves stranded Americans in hands of killers, source.
• US Gen. McKenzie says Taliban were 'helpful and useful' in final hours of evacuation.
• Biden national security adviser reveals stunning claim about US terror attacks.
• How billions of American dollars could get into Taliban’s hands.
  

CNBC.com: 

• CDC scientist says there’s limited data to evaluate Covid booster doses for general population.
• These overlooked, ‘Fed-proof’ August laggards could be due for a bounce. 
  

MarketWatch.com:             

• FTC to investigate retail gas market for ‘collusive’ schemes to raise prices.
• The S&P 500 hasn’t seen a year-to-date rally this strong since 1997. What’s next?   
• Zoom Video logs first billion-dollar quarter, but the stock is still falling.
• If you’ve got the stock market jitters, here are 20 companies in two defensive sectors.

Zero Hedge:

• Wait! The Taliban Offered Control Of Kabul To US Forces... And We Turned Them Down?
• Beijing's Big Tech Crackdown Causes Private Deal Flow To Dry Up In August.
• Chase Bank Cancels General Mike Flynn's Credit Cards.
• Our Afghan Nightmare: Tanks For Nothin'.
• China Introduces "Xi Jinping Thought" Into School Curriculum For All Age Groups.
• Justified Shooting Or Fair Game? Shooter Of Ashli Babbitt Makes Shocking Admission.
• The FDA's Credibility Problem.
• Why So Many Americans Reject Legal Due Process In The Age Of COVID.
• School Board Members Quitting Over "Toxic" Parents Who Oppose Mask Mandates, Vaccines, And CRT.
• Robinhood Tumbles As SEC's Gensler Says Payment-For-Order Flow Ban Is "On The Table".
• San Diego Proposal On Combatting COVID "Misinformation" Triggers Free Speech Concerns.
• Crypto & Tech Stocks Soar As 'Soft' Data Slumps To 18-Month Lows.

Newsmax:  

• Ida Damages Louisiana Grain Terminal, Disrupts Exports.
  

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• 84% of Americans Say Wait to Leave Kabul Until All Americans Are Evacuated — Biden Regime Disagrees and Will Leave Hundreds of Americans Behind.
• They Openly Mock Us Now: Taliban Hangs “Traitor” by the Throat From US Helicopter in Kandahar Left Behind by Joe Biden (VIDEO).
• US Contract Working Dogs Abandoned at Kabul Airport After Last Plane Left.
• It Begins. Al-Qaeda Leader Reemerges in Afghanistan Surrounded by Taliban Security as US Military Abandons the Country.
• Retired US Soldiers Attempted to Save Americans in Afghanistan But the US State Department Stopped Them.
• U.S. Truckers Plan Nationwide Protest Against Mandatory Vaccines: “On August 31st, On Tuesday, We’re Asking That Everybody Not Go To Work… This Truck Is Shut Down Officially” (VIDEO).
• BREAKING: 43,000 Dekalb County, Georgia Absentee Ballots Violated Chain of Custody Rule.

The Epoch Times:

• Beijing Says Sino–US Cooperation on Afghanistan Conditional on Washington’s ‘Attitude Toward China’.

Covid-19(Data, Maps, Graphs):

• Our World in Data:  New Global Covid-19 Cases(7-day rolling average graphs). New US Covid Hospital Admissions/ICU Admissions/Deaths
  
• FT.com:  Fully Vaccinated by Country(graph). Global Lockdown Stringency Index(map).
• Bloomberg.com:  International Travel Restrictions.  Case Graphs by State.
  
• NYTimes.com:  County Trends and Clusters. Local ICU Occupancy.
  
• Brown School of Public Health:  Covid Severity by State/County(map).  US Hospital Capacity(region).
  
• CovidActNow:  Covid Severity/Infection Rate by Metro Area.
  
• KFF:  US Vaccinations by Race/Ethnicity.
  
• Carnegie Mellon: Covid-Like Symptoms in Community. Covid Symptom Searches on Google. Covid-Related Dr.Visits.  Restaurant Visits. Wearing Masks. (graphs)
  
• Safegraph.com:  Commerce Patterns(graphs).

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.5% to +.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 67.50 -3.25 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 32.5 -.75 basis point.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 60.16 +.02%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,828.0 -16.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 18.8 +.3%.
• FTSE 100 futures -.07%.

• S&P 500 futures+.03%

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.01%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (AMWD)/1.55
• (NTES)/6.11
  

After the Close:

• (AMBA)/.25
• (PLAN)/-.13
• (CAL)/.54
• (CRWD)/.09
• (HRB)/-.37
• (PVH)/1.20
  

Economic Releases

9:00 am EST

• The FHFA House Price Index MoM for June is estimated to rise +1.9% versus a +1.7% gain in May.
• S&P CoreLogic CS 20-City MoM for June is estimated to rise +1.8% versus a +1.81% gain in May.
  

9:45 am EST

• The MNI Chicago PMI for August is estimated to fall to 68.0 versus 73.4 in July.

10:00 am EST

• The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for August is estimated to fall to 123.0 versus 129.1 in July.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The German Import/Export report, weekly US retail sales reports, Stifel Transport Conference and the Jefferies Semi/IT Hardware/Communications Infra Conference could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by energy and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.