Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:               

• China Ties at ‘Lowest Moment’ Since 1972, US Ambassador Says.
• TSMC’s $100 Billion Wipeout Fails to Faze Bullish Analysts.  
• Europe’s Bonds Slump to Send Risk Gauge Surging on ECB Hike Bets.  
• BOJ to Stand Pat Unless Yen Breaches 140, Polled Economists Say.
• Yen Is a Whisker Away From Sliding to the Lowest in About 24 Years.
• ECB Calls Time on Era of Ultra-Low Rates With Big Hike Possible.
• US Selloff, Dollar Jump Set to Pressure Asian Open: Markets Wrap. 
• Oil Slips as Shanghai Lockdowns Potentially Curb China’s Demand.
• Inflation Tops 10% on Key Items That Americans Can’t Do Without.
• Janet Yellen Rejects Idea Corporate Greed Is to Blame for Inflation.
• It's Getting More Expensive to Have Your Period, Thanks to Inflation.
• El-Erian Warns Inflation Has Yet to Peak as Energy Prices Rise.  
• Austin Loses Pandemic-Boomtown Halo With Out-of-Town Homebuyers.

Wall Street Journal:

• The Uncredible Jan. 6 Committee. Americans needed a serious accounting. Democrats assured they won’t get one.
• The Boiling Over of America. Even California voters are fed up with progressives. And the Supreme Court faces a mounting crisis.
• How a D.C. Bureaucrat Amassed Power Over Businesses, Banks and Consumers.
• ECB Plans July Rate Increase as Inflation Problem Deepens.
• Record Gas Prices Upend Businesses, U.S. Economy.
• Which Retailers Have the Most Excess Inventory?
• Facebook Rethinks News Deals, Publishers Stand to Lose Millions.
• ‘Stagflation’: When Prices Soar and Growth Slumps.
• Chip Shortage Threatens Cutting-Edge Tech for Next-Gen Phones.
• U.S. Prepares to Distribute Covid Shots to Children Under 5.

CNBC.com:

• Bringing inflation down is going to take time, patience — and pain.
• Adobe CEO says e-commerce is seeing price decreases, expects strong future for online shopping.
• Disney fires TV content chief Peter Rice in abrupt shake-up as board backs CEO Bob Chapek.
• CFO survey: The recession will hit in the first half of 2023, Dow headed lower.
• Stick with profitable, recession-proof stocks to avoid a ‘crisis,’ Jim Cramer says.

MarketWatch:                  

• The national average gas price has hit $5 per gallon and there’s ‘a high probability that prices could go even higher,’ GasBuddy says.  
• Opinion: Inflation is making everything we buy more expensive, and once stagflation hits things could get even worse.
• AMD focuses on AI after data-center success, sees annual revenue growth of 20%.
  
• Stitch Fix stock sinks toward all-time low as revenue and users fall, layoffs confirmed.
  
• DocuSign shares plunges 16% on earnings miss.
  
• Strong dollar could spark repeat of 1990s ‘Asian Crisis’ if it crosses this threshold, former Goldman economist warns.

Zero Hedge

• Inflation Storm Devastates US Households As Fuel, Power, And Food "Become Unaffordable".
• Market Panics After JPM Predicts CPI Will Come Hotter Than Expected, White House Confirms. 
• State Farm Remains A 'Creepy Neighbor' After Transgender Book Backlash.
• Former House Rep Pleads Guilty To Ballot-Stuffing For Dems In Five Elections.
• Bye Felicia: WaPo Fires Triggered Reporter Over Public Spat.
• "The Demand For Random Crap Suddenly Vanished, Taking Everyone By Surprise".
• Democrats Ignore Their Own Role In Capitol Breach.
• Did you trade back in 2002?
• For The First Time Ever, The National Average Gas Price Is $5.
• Navarro: An Illegitimate Court Gets Ready To Convene.
• US stocks retreated after a hawkish ECB and fresh Beijing COVID restrictions stoked growth concerns - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• Rand Paul Slams Dems, Media For "Ginning-Up Violent Crazy People" In Wake Of Kavanaugh Assassination Attempt.
• Fed's Financial Accounts Report Unexpectedly Reveal Terrible News For Markets.
• Fresh COVID concerns & hawkish ECB add to growth concerns as attention shifts to US CPI - Newsquawk US Market Wrap.
• "I Can't Believe It's Come To This...".
• Stocks Slump, Dollar Jumps Ahead Of CPI 'Event Risk'.

AP News:

• Cyber agency: Voting software vulnerable in some states. Electronic voting machines from a leading vendor used in at least 16 states have software vulnerabilities that leave them susceptible to hacking if unaddressed, the nation’s leading cybersecurity agency says in an advisory sent to state election officials. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, or CISA, said there is no evidence the flaws in the Dominion Voting Systems’ equipment have been exploited to alter election results.
  

Reuters:

• No Respite From Fed Rate Hikes This Year, Chances Rising of Four 50 Bps in a Row - Reuters Poll. "The bad news for the Fed is that inflation is now so far above target that it has little choice but to tighten aggressively," said Ethan Harris, global economist at Bank of America Securities.

Newsmax:  

• Sen. Marshall: Jan. 6 Hearings a 'Political Smokescreen'.
• Sen. Lankford to Newsmax: Jan. 6 Panel Wants to 'Script' History in Hearing.
• Rep. Zeldin: WH Subtly Encouraged Violence on Justices.
• Rep. Jim Jordan: Jan. 6 Panel Wants to Bar Trump From 2024 Run.

Rebel News:

• Introducing The Reset: The Great Reset Docuseries. (video)

TheGatewayPundit.com: 

• TONIGHT ONLY — WATCH “THE TRUTH ABOUT JANUARY 6th” Documentary: Narrated by Political Prisoner Jake Lang from Inside Solitary Confinement! MUST WATCH!
• BREAKING HUGE: Otero County New Mexico Votes to Remove Dominion Voting Systems, Zuckerberg Drop Boxes, and Other Election Machines!
• Pfizer Quietly Admits it Will NEVER Manufacture the Vaccine that was FDA Approved – Will Produce New “Tris-Sucrose Formulation” mRNA Vaccine Instead.
• Trump-Endorsed Mark Finchem And Kari Lake File Motion To Ban The Use Of “Black Box Electronic Voting Machines” In Midterm Election & Future Elections.
• BREAKING: Rep. Troy Nehls Calls Out The J6 Committee For Failing To Hold Capitol Police Accountable For The Infamous Riots.
• Progressive Policing Policies IMPLODE in Seattle – As Crime Rampages, City Faces Hundreds of Lawsuits, Forced to Pay Back $5 Million in Parking Tickets Given Without Authority by ‘Citizen Enforcers’.
• Biden’s America: One Michigan County’s Police Dept. Has “Blown Through Their Fuel Budget” and will No Longer Respond to Every 911 Call In-Person.
• Joe Biden Jokes About Sending Political Opponents to Jail Less than 12 Hours before His FBI Raids Home of Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate for Attending Jan. 6 Rally.
• BIDEN ECONOMY: Recession on the Way – US GDP Down Six Months in a Row – October 2021 Was Last High.
• BREAKING VoterGA REPORT: Evidence Shows Georgia Voting System May Have Added 15% to Raffensperger Totals.

The Epoch Times:  

• LIVE: Round Table Discussion on Forced Organ Harvesting From Living People—Past, Present, Future.

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 825,453 Reports(+4,666 from prior week) Through May 27th, 2022.

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 -1.25% to -.75% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 109.75 +1.75 basis points. 

• China Sovereign CDS  70.0 +.5 basis point.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 51.47 -.25%.  
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 5,048.0 +71.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 27.5 unch.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures n/a.

• S&P 500 futures +.12%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.11%. 

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 CPI MoM for May is estimated to rise +.7% versus a +.3% gain in April.   
• The CPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for May is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +.6% gain in April.
• The CPI YoY for May is estimated at +8.2% versus +8.3% in April. 
• Real Avg. Weekly Earnings YoY  for May.
  

10:00 am EST

• Preliminary Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence for June is estimated to fall to 58.2 versus 58.4 in May.
• Preliminary Univ. of Mich. 1Y Inflation Expectations Index for June is estimated at +5.3% versus +5.3% in May. 
  

2:00 pm EST

• The Monthly Budget Deficit for May is estimated at -$136.5B versus -$132.0B in April.

Upcoming Splits

• (DXCM) 4-for-1
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The China CPI report and the (PCG) investor day could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly lower, weighed down by commodity and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.