Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:           

• Didi Prepares U.S. Delisting, Hong Kong Share Debut.  
• Asia Stocks Mixed, Treasuries Pare Drop; Oil Rises: Markets Wrap.
  
• Oil Extends Gains After OPEC+ Takes Flexible Stance on Supply.
• N.Y. Hospitals Fill as State Sees Most Covid Cases Since January.
  
• Suburban NYC Home Sales Plunge Because There’s Nothing to Buy.
  
• Apollo’s Top Brass to Get Massive Stock Awards in Pay Shake-Up.  
• Home Depot Is Spending Big to Keep Lucrative Contractors Happy.  
• Epstein Mansion Caretaker Says Maxwell Was ‘Lady of the House’.
• Stock Market Struggles to Reprice Risks That Credit Traders Saw in September.
• When Everything Is a Growth Stock And All Money Is Venture Funds.

Wall Street Journal:

• Big Tech Privacy Moves Spur Companies to Amass Customer Data
• NFL Suspends Antonio Brown, 2 Others for Misrepresenting Vaccine Status.
•  U.S. to Lead Effort to Curb Authoritarians’ Access to Surveillance Tools.
• In Ghislaine Maxwell Trial, Epstein House Manager Gives Glimpse of Life on Estate4 min read.
• BuzzFeed Suffers Wave of SPAC Investor Withdrawals Before Going Public.

Fox News:  

• Republican takes action after FDA asks to withhold COVID vax data for 55 years.
• Biden's story about meeting former prime minister during armed conflict seems to have some problems.

NY Post:

• Ghislaine Maxwell Trial: Live Updates from Day 4.
  

CNBC.com:

• House passes bill that would prevent government shutdown — but roadblocks remain in the Senate.
• Google workers in U.S. won’t return to office as expected on Jan. 10.
• Biden says he doesn’t want lockdowns and won’t expand vaccine mandates to fight Covid this winter. 
• DocuSign plunges almost 30% after e-signature company issues weak fourth-quarter guidance.
• Tesla says it needs graphite from China for batteries, requests tariff waiver.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Ulta, Marvell, DocuSign and more.

MarketWatch               

• Investors eagerly buy the dip — here are the losing stocks that became winners Thursday.
  
• Tesla’s $1,900 ‘Cyberquad’ EV for kids has already sold out, restocked and sold out again.
  
• U.S. sues to block Nvidia merger with Arm, the largest semiconductor deal in history.

Zero Hedge:

• Over 42,000 Adverse Reaction Reports Revealed In First Batch Of Pfizer Vax Docs. More than 25,000 of the events were classified as "Nervous system disorders."
• Twitter Slaps 'Unsafe' Label On American Heart Association mRNA Vaccine Warning.
• Democrats Blocking Senate Bill That Bans Imports Made With Uyghur Slave Labor.
• Today's Inflation Trivia: Carbon Offsets.
• Futures Slide After Five "Mild" Cases Of Omicron Variant Detected In New York.
• Our $29 Trillion Deficit, Interest Rates, Inflation, And Debt.
• CIA Pedos Walk Free After DOJ Refuses To Prosecute: FOIA.
• US "Deeply Concerned" Over Reports Taliban "Disappearing" Ex-Afghan Officials.
• Cuomo Faces Federal Investigation Over Sexual Harassment Claims.
• Why Is Omicron Being Treated Like Ebola?
• OPEC's "Genius Move" Will Send Oil Much Higher As JPMorgan Sees Surge To $150.
• "Staggering 1-Day Moves": Nomura Warns The Market "Remains Shockingly Dysfunctional".
• Markets Turmoil As Easing Omicron Anxiety Battles Surge In 'Technical Default' Fear.

Reuters:

• Moderna exec says company could have Omicron booster ready in March. Moderna President Stephen Hoge said he believes booster shots carrying genes specifically targeting mutations in the newly-discovered Omicron variant would be the quickest way to address any anticipated reductions in vaccine efficacy it may cause. The company is also working on a multi-valent vaccine that would include up to four different coronavirus variants including Omicron. That could take several more months, he said.

TheGatewayPundit.com:  

• Court Orders FDA To Comply With FOIA and Release Information On Pfizer Vaccine – First Batch of Documents Shows Over 1,200 Vaccine Deaths WITHIN FIRST 90 DAYS.
• BREAKING: Nigerian Osundairo Brothers Testify Against Jussie Smollett for Orchestrating Hate Hoax Attack (Video).
• Ruby Freeman and Daughter Sue Gateway Pundit for Posting Video of Her Shoving Ballots Through Voting Machines Numerous Times – PLEASE HELP US Fight This Latest Lawsuit..
• Forbes Admits mRNA Vaccines Alter DNA Then Changes the Headline.
• New York City Imposes Covid Vaccine Mandate For Employees of Private, Religious Schools.
• 9,000 Haitians Expected to Reach Mexico in a Few Days on Their Way to US as Omicron Cases Continue to Surge in US.
• Rand Paul Demands Fauci Be Held Accountable For His COVID Lies That Have “Cost People Lives” – Says Fauci “SHOULD Go To Prison FOR 5 YEARS” (Video).
• Germany Imposes Nationwide Lockdown For the Unvaxxed.
• Psaki Says Gangs of ‘Smash-and-Grab’ Thieves Are Looting Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta Stores in Democrat-Run Cities Because of Covid (VIDEO). 
• TRAIN WRECK: Despite Constant Media Backing – Biden Approval Down to 36% – More than Half of Americans Now ‘Strongly Disapprove’.
• Scottish Rugby Player Siobhan Cattigan Dies Suddenly at the Age of 26.

The Epoch Times:

• Communist China Declared War on the US Long Ago: Part 3.

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 654,412 (US) Reports Through November 12, 2021.
  

SKirsch.com:

• Using the MGH numbers with our own VAERS queries, we have 247 cases per million doses from the MGH study divided by 5.97 cases per million doses from VAERS. 247/5.97 = 41. This suggests that the VAERS under-reporting factor (URF) is 41X.

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 93.0 -2.25 basis points. 

• China Sovereign CDS 52.75 -2.75 basis points.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 53.47 -.13%. 
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 1,904.0 -26.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 27.3 +1.3%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.12%.

• S&P 500 futures -.37%

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.42%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (BMO)/3.22
• (BIG)/-.16
• (GCO)/1.29
• (HIBB)/1.61
  

After the Close:

• None of note
  

Economic Releases 

8:30 am EST

• The Change in Non-Farm Payrolls for Nov. is estimated to rise to 548K versus 531K the prior week.
• The Unemployment Rate for Nov. is estimated to fall to 4.5% versus 4.6% in Oct.
• Average Hourly Earnings MoM for Nov. is estimated to rise +.4% versus a +.4% gain in Oct.
  

10:00 am EST

• The ISM Services Index for Nov. is estimated to fall to 65.0 versus 66.7 in Oct.
• Factory Orders for Oct. is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +.2% gain in Sept.
• Factory Orders Ex Transports for Oct. is estimated to rise +.6% versus a +.7% gain in Sept.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The US government funding deadline, Eurozone Services PMI report and the Capital One Energy Conference could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 1:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by financial 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 50% net long heading into the day.