Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:    

• Xi Jinping Hasn’t Set Foot Outside China for 600 Days.  
• It’s a Lehman Moment, Not Volcker, That China Should Fear.
• France Shuns Austerity With Plan to Cut Debt Burden With Growth.
• Brazil Assets Jump as Bolsonaro Signals Truce With Top Court.
• Asian Stocks Set for Steady Open on Growth Caution: Markets Wrap.
• Yellen Warns of Financial System Risk If Debt Ceiling Not Raised.  
• Goldman, Citi See Aluminum Rally Raging On as Bears Flag Caution.  
• U.S. Oil Output Drops by Most on Record After Hurricane Ida.
• Palladium Plunges to 12-Month Low on Automaker-Demand Concerns.  
• Home Nurses Caring for Fragile Children Must Now Be Vaccinated.  
• Apple’s Watch Software Chief Takes Over Self-Driving Car Project.  
• These Are the U.S. Companies Requiring Covid Vaccines for Employees.  
• Natural Gas Excluded in Democrats’ Budget Plan for Clean Energy.  
• Tougher SPAC Disclosure Rules Endorsed by SEC Advisory Group.

Wall Street Journal:  

• Star of the Munich Auto Show? The Push for Electrification.
• Transforming America in 17 Days.
• Biden’s Mandates Explained.
• ‘Moneyball’ Analytics Help Fight Wildfires. This Year’s Blazes Are Testing Their Limits.
• Taliban Allow Americans, Others to Fly Out of Kabul.
• Democrats Advance Proposal to Require Retirement Plans.
• Airlines Warn of Dimming Outlook Amid Delta Variant.
• Amazon to Pay for Bachelor’s Degrees for U.S. Workers.
  

Fox News:

• Lawmakers explode in fury as president declares war on unvaccinated, maskless.
• Top retailers to play role in Biden's sweeping COVID plan. 
• Biden ordering millions of Americans be vaccinated, but one group is off the hook.
  

CNBC.com: 

• Los Angeles to require vaccine for all students 12 and up.
• TSA to double minimum fines for air travelers who refuse to wear masks.
• New York law phases out most gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
• Natural gas prices are rising and could be the most expensive in 13 years this winter.  

MarketWatch.com:             

• Bitcoin could collapse and isn’t ‘a good safeguard of value,’ global central bankers warn.
  
• Here’s why Coinbase is in hot water over crypto lending — and how the SEC is sending a shot across the bow for DeFi.
  
• As Democrats push $3.5 trillion package, Republican lawmaker blasts ‘spending that drives up prices, kills jobs’.
  
• Affirm stock surges 20% after earnings beat and positive outlook.

Zero Hedge:

• Biden Unveils Most Severe COVID Actions Yet: Mandates Vax For All Federal Workers, Contractors, & Large Private Companies.
• Owner Of The Country's Most Expensive Mega-Mansion Has Defaulted On $165 Million In Debt. 
• Beijing Blinks: Will Allow Evergrande To Renegotiate Debt Terms.
• Merit System Is Unjust Because It Rewards Productive Individuals, Professors Argue.
• Walmart Is Ending Quarterly Bonuses For Store Workers After Decades.
• Following Mass Outrage, Fed Presidents Kaplan, Rosengren Will Sell All Their Stocks Due To "Ethics Concerns".
• Major US Cities Are Becoming Fentanyl-Infested Cesspools As Millions Plunge Into Hopelessness, Despair.
• Recall Election Could Reverse The California Ideology.
• "It Has Arrived": Uranium ETF Sees Record Inflows Amid Retail Buying Frenzy; Japan Hints At Restart Of Nuclear Power Plants.
• New Evidence Surfaces That The Biden Admin Committed To A Knowingly Unconstitutional Act.
• How Will The Debt Limit Drama Play Out: Here Are The Two Scenarios.
• As NFL Season Kicks Off, Fearmongering Fauci Frets Over Unvaxx'd Attending Games.
• Bonds, Bitcoin, & Bullion Bid; Big-Tech & Black Gold Skid.

Reuters:

• U.S.-bound migrants fill Colombia town as COVID-19 border closures lifted. (Aug. 11)
  
• Colombia has administered at least 35,750,492 doses of COVID vaccines so far. (graph) Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 35.5% of the country’s population.
• COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Colombia, with 1,959 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 6% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on June 27.

 Jerusalem Post:

• COVID-19: New 'Mu variant' from Colombia could be vaccine resistant - WHO.

Nature: 

• Why US coronavirus tracking can’t keep up with concerning variants. (April 7) Laboratories supported by the US government have doubled the rate at which they are sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genomes over the past two months. Still, the number of genomes that the country shared in the online genome repository GISAID in March represented only 1.6% of its positive COVID-19 cases that month.

Newsweek:

• Mu COVID Variant, Which Could Be Resistant to Vaccines, Now in Almost Every State.

Newsmax: 

• Vaccine Mandates Could Exacerbate Nursing Shortage, Experts Fear.
• Congress Republicans Quick to Assail Biden's Vaccination Mandates.
• Rep. Donalds to Newsmax: Biden Vaccine Mandate 'Gross,' 'Totalitarian'.
• Governors Take Issue With Biden Vaccine Order.
  

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• SAY WHAT??? COVID Positive Patients Are Told Type of Variant They’re Infected With Cannot Be Legally Disclosed.
• This Didn’t Age Well… CDC Chief Says There Will Be No Forced Federal Vaccine Mandates.
• Obama Judge Ignores and then Throws Out Attorney Sidney Powell’s Trump 2020 Election Case in Michigan – Now Assessing Powell Fine of $200,000 for Filing Case.
• Biden Slams Hand on Podium and Bolts as Reporter Asks if Vax Mandate is Constitutional (VIDEO).
• Federal Law Enforcement Association Representing 30,000 Officers and Agents Opposes Biden’s Covid Vax Mandate – Floats Lawsuit.

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 unch. to +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 66.0 +1.0 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 33.5 +.5 basis point.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 60.19 +.22%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,846.0 -225.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 21.12 +.9%.
• FTSE 100 futures -.11%.

• S&P 500 futures +.06%

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.11%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (KR)/.64
  

After the Close:

• None of note
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• PPI Final Demand MoM for August is estimated to rise +.6% versus a +1.0% gain in July.
• PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for August is estimated to rise +.6% versus a +1.0% gain in July.
  

10:00 am EST

• Wholesale Trade Sales MoM for July.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The UK Trade Data report, Bloomberg US Economic Survey for Sept., Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference and the (ALB) investor day  could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and consumer shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.