Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Germany’s Scholz Plans to Pass New Security Strategy This Week.
• Taiwan Extends Two-Year Rise in US Chip Exports Despite Downturn.
• Cautious Open in Asia as Traders Eye Rate Meetings: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Holds Losses Amid Demand Woes as Goldman Cuts Outlook Again.
• Saudi Oil Minister Says OPEC+ Is Tackling Market ‘Uncertainties’.
• Fed Is First to Reach Crucial Junction in Global Inflation Fight.
• As Fed Signals Rate Pause, Powell Will Have to Placate Hawks.
• Fed Seen Ending Its 15-Month Hiking Campaign in Economist Survey.
• Goldman’s Low US Recession Odds Get It Wrong, Bond Investors Say.
• Soros Hands Control of Open Society Foundations to His Son.
• Crop Trader Bunge Is Said to Near Deal to Buy Glencore’s Viterra.
• There’s More Trouble Coming for Regional Banks. 
• Odey Sacked From His Hedge Fund Firm After Assault Allegations.
• Oil Traders Are Daring to Defy Market Kingpin Saudi Arabia. 
• Stock Rally That Keeps Going Could Be ‘Dangerous’ Right Now: Q&A. 
• US Acknowledges China Has Spy Base in Cuba, Expanded It in 2019.
• Retail CEOs Signal Rising Alarm as Theft Eats Away Billions in Sales.
• NYC, Washington Air Degrades to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. 
• Fed Will Keep Rates High Thanks to Inflation Fueled by Corporate Greed, Investors Say.
• Tesla's Shrewdest Product Is Proving to Be Its Charging Network.

Zero Hedge: 

• George Soros Skips Former 'Heir Apparent' -- Hands Reins Of Empire To 'More Political' Son Alex.
• "Roadway Is Gone": Tanker Explosion Destroys I-95 Bridge In Philadelphia
• California Bill Would Punish Parents For Misgendering Children
• Some Dems Uneasy About Cornel West's Third Party Presidential Run.
• The Censorship Hegemon Must Be Stopped.
• Why Mike Wilson Remains Bearish: "Investors Are Making Two Key Assumptions That Are Wrong".
• Baby Boomers Are Moving To Vegas And Tampa, Millennials Prefer Austin: America's Great Migration In Real-Time.
• Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• Give War A Chance – A 'War That Even Pacifists Can Get Behind'.
• Turley: Trying Trump - Scandal May Be His Element... But This Time May Be Different.
• West Coast Port Paralysis Returns, But This Time It's Not Covid's Fault.
• Sherlock Holmes On The Jobs Report.
• Republican Senators Introduce 'End Endless Wars Act'.
• Commodity Prices Debunk The "Blame Ukraine" Excuse For Inflation.
• California Advances Bill To Help Shoplifters Steal.
• Hartnett: "We Still Remain Bearish Because The Math Does Not Add Up".
• Germany's Regulator Warns The Energy Crisis Is Far From Over.
• Europe's Digital Services Act Puts Free Speech At The Mercy Of Eurocrats.
• ESG Dystopia: Why Corporations Are Doubling Down On Woke Even As They Lose Billions.
• Visualizing The State Of Economic Freedom Around The World In 2023.
• In Which Industries Could AI Do Most Of The Heavy Lifting?
• The Boys Of America Are Suffering - How Can We Help Them?
• Bears Capitulate: Goldman Joins Bull Parade, Raises S&P Price Target To 4,500 From 4,000.
• New '0% Handgun' Shows Biden's ATF Losing Control Over Regulating 2nd Amendment.
• Half Of Americans Disapprove Of Affirmative Action In College Admissions; New Survey Finds.
• CEO Talk Of "Shrink" Hits Record On Earnings Calls Amid Nationwide Shoplifting Crisis.
• Academic Journal Editor Faces Cancel Attempt For Allowing Debate On Transgenderism.
• Trump Indictment Fails Crucial Test: Dershowitz.
• Newsom Launches Drive For 28th Amendment Focused On Gun Control.
• Top Biden Administration Official Admits To Lying To Congress.
• TME Saturday: Disco 2000.
• US Homeowner Equity Drops For First Time Since 2012.
• Mr. Bean Actor Says The Electric Car 'Honeymoon' Is Over.
• Majority Of US Cities With Most Murders Are Governed By Democrats.
• Software VP Fired For Using 'Assigned By God' As Preferred Pronoun Sues Employer.
• ChatGPT: Students And The Wealthy Lead The Way.
• US Announces New $2.1 Billion Weapons Package For Ukraine. 
• Leaked Video Shows D.C. Cops Were 'Rioters' And Instigators At J-6 Protest.
• David Stockman On The Phony Climate Change Catastrophe... And Why Americans Will Foot The Bill.
• EU NatGas Soars Most In Year As Traders On Edge About 'Possibility Of Tightening Supplies'.

Wall Street Journal:

• George Soros Hands Control to His 37-Year-Old Son: ‘I’m More Political’.
• Companies, Big Investors Sell Shares at Fastest Rate in Years.
• A Destructive Trump Indictment. Do prosecutors understand the forces they are unleashing? A Destructive Trump Indictment. Do prosecutors understand the forces they are unleashing?
• North Korea’s Hacker Army Stole $3 Billion in Crypto, Funding Nuclear Program.
• SPLC Puts Moms on Its ‘Hate Map’. The outfit likens us to the KKK for asking questions about what our kids are taught.
• The Truth About ‘Puberty Blockers’. The FDA hasn’t approved them for gender dysphoria, and their effects are serious and permanent. 
• Glencore Approaches Teck Over Its Coal Business.
• Tech, an Early Booster of Remote Work, Wants People Back in the Office.
• Recovering From Drug Addiction Was Hard. Tranq Made It Worse.
• Why 16 Should Be the Minimum Age for Social Media.
• When Employees Leave a Company, Others Often Follow.
• Times Square Is a Tourist Hot Spot. Its Small Businesses Are Flailing.

Barron's:

• Had bullish commentary on (THS) and (NPWR).

CNBC:

• Illumina announces CEO transition plan as Francis deSouza resigns
• Why the new bull market is headed for more Fed stress after rate hike pause
• Port of Seattle closed due to ILWU labor strife
• Ukraine’s dam collapse is both a fast-moving disaster and a slow-moving ecological catastrophe.

MarketWatch.com:

• How a hawkish Fed could kill a baby bull-market rally in U.S. stocks.
• Executives are talking less about their environmental and social-justice goals — and more about AI.

NewsMax:

• Trump: 'I Will Never Yield,' 'Will Never Stop Fighting for You'.
• Jim Jordan: Trump Indictment Fails SCOTUS Standard.
• Lindsey Graham: Indictment Will Make Trump 'Stronger'.
• Trump Evokes Jon Lovitz's 'The Liar' to Mock Georgia Investigators.

Fox News:

• Bartending company spills on how much demand for 'once-popular' Bud Light has sunk.
• George Soros' son gives first interview since taking over father's $25 billion empire.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Joe Rogan Defends The Gateway Pundit – Discusses Our Report on Cleveland Clinic Peer-Reviewed Study on COVID Vaccines vs. Infection Rate (VIDEO).
• Fake News Freak-Out! Jim Jordan’s Truth Bombs Forces CNN’s Dana Bash to Cut Him Off.
• Asian-American Student Has Near-Perfect SAT Score and a 4.65 GPA, Gets Ugly Shock After Applications to Elite Universities.
• “This is the Final Battle. With You at My Side…” – Donald Trump Declares Final Battle Against Deep State, Globalists, Warmongers, and Communists at North Carolina GOP Convention (VIDEO).
• “He’s Not a Victim Here” FOX News Invites Bill Barr on to Smear Trump Following DOJ Indictment.
• TRUMP Soars in Latest Poll – Up 38 Points on DeSantis – Most Republicans View Indictment a Political Hit.
• Biden’s Radical Leftist Ideology Is Creating More Conservatives in Every Age Group Except 1 (Hint: It’s Not Young People).
• What We Know About the DOJ Special Counsel Is Terrifying.
• Denver City Council Member Who Wanted to Tax White Owned Businesses and Give Money to Minority Owned Businesses Loses Reelection in Blowout.
• MUST SEE VIDEO: Kari Lake’s FIRST Music Video “81 Million Votes My Ass” CONFIRMED to Hit Two Billboard Charts and Possibly a Third! – WATCH HERE.
• Josh Hawley: If the People in Power Can Jail Their Political Opponents ‘We Don’t Have a Republic Anymore’ (VIDEO).
• Tennessee Election Integrity Group Hopes to Block Funding for ES&S Voting Machines.
• FOX News Continues Its Decline – Skips President Trump’s Speech at Georgia GOP Convention.

The Epoch Times:

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Dismissal of China Military Threat ‘Dangerously Naive’: Retired Colonel
• CCP Includes Xi’s Quotes in National College Entrance Exam Again to Tighten Political Control

Twitter:

• @The_Real_Fly - THIS IS AMERICA. (video)
• @Breaking911 - TRUMP: "Either the communists destroy America or we destroy the communists." (video)
• @VigilantFox - Steve Kirsch Testifies the Truth About All Vaccines to Pennsylvania State Senate. (video)
• @BernieSpofforth - BLACKROCK - The ultimate nudge is through money! Larry Fink, Blackrock CEO “Behaviours are going to have to change …. at Blackrock we are forcing behaviours” Stakeholder capitalism, the capture of government by corporates through financial force. (video)
• @elonmusk - The problem is that the passive/index funds outsource voting to shareholder services companies, which are controlled by activists who act in a manner contrary to the interests of shareholders. This is probably the biggest class-action opportunity in history.
• @NewDiscourses - "This is a catastrophe in the making. Medical Lysenkoism has come to the United States under the guise of 'health equity.'"

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 964,389 Reports(+1,106 from prior week) Through June 2nd, 2023.
  

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.

Night Trading

• Asian indices are -.25% to +.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 114.0 -1.0 basis point.
  
• China Sovereign CDS 61.25 -.75 basis point.
• China Iron Ore Spot 109.2 USD/Metric Tonne -3.0%.
  
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 45.3 unch.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 61.3 +1.1%.
• Bloomberg US Financial Conditions Index .03 -10.0 basis points. 
  
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 17.0 -.5%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.37%.
• S&P 500 futures +.18%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.24%.

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the week.