Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• US Extends Lead Over China in Race for World’s Biggest Economy.
• Putin Sends US Signal on Ukraine Talks, Sensing Advantage in War.
• Singapore Home Rents Fall for First Time in Over Three Years.
• China Stock Rally at Risk as Asia to Open Lower: Markets Wrap.
• How a Lucky Break Fueled Eli Lilly’s $600 Billion Weight-Loss Empire.
• KKR-Backed BrightSpring Raises $693 Million in IPO Priced Below Range.
• AI Needs So Much Power That Old Coal Plants Are Sticking Around.
• Capital One Charge-Offs Jump on Auto, Credit Card Write-Downs.
• US Union Membership Dips to Record Low Despite High-Profile Wins.

Zero Hedge:

• War? 25 Red States Rally 'Round Texas As Battle Brews With Biden Over Border.
• 'The Entire Journalism Industry Is In Freefall': Taylor Lorenz Vlogs The Death Of MSM As BuzzFeed, Insider And Vice Jettison Assets.
• Government Suppressed, Censored Concerns Over Mail-In Voting In 2020: Documents.
• Sullivan Dispatched To Politely Ask China To Pressure Iran On Halting Houthi Attacks.
• Maryland Library Event Rolls Back Scheme Charging White People More.
• In The Biggest Cases, Big Law Tilts Decisively Left.
• Watchlisted: You're Probably Already On A Government Extremism List.
• Ahead Of 'Most Divisive' Election Ever, Here's The New Weapons-Tech Cops Could Use To Retake City Streets.
• US stocks gained amid lower yields after mixed data releases - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• Trump Paddles Fani Over Insertion Of 'Racial Animus' And Misconduct, Demands Dismissal Of Georgia Election Case.
• Pakistan Deports Half A Million Illegal Immigrants In Just 3 Months.
• Intel Tumbles After Guidance Misses Expectations Despite Strong Q4 Earnings.
• Bank Bailout Fund 'Arb' Usage Soars (Again) Amid Money-Market Fund Outflows, Large RRP Drain.
• Stocks and Bonds rise after strong GDP with soft inflation and rising claims - Newsquawk US Market Wrap.
• Nikki Haley Has Four Choices...
• FDA's New Rule Allows For Medical Research Without Informed Consent.
• Chasing tech, oil, China and cheap puts.
• Bonds & Black Gold Bid, Big-Tech Skids As 'No Landing' Narrative Gores Goldilocks.

Wall Street Journal:

• U.S. Secretly Alerted Iran Ahead of Islamic State Terror Attack.
• Jamie Dimon Shakes Up JPMorgan Leadership Again. 
• World Court Set to Decide in Genocide Case Against Israel.
• Israel Builds Buffer Zone Along Gaza Border, Risking New Rift With U.S.
• A British Businessman Worked in China for Decades. Then He Vanished.
• More Young People Are Getting Cancer, Leaving Doctors Alarmed and Baffled.

CNBC.com:

• Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta close at all-time highs ahead of earnings next week.
• Taiwan’s political disrupter may be kingmaker in a split parliament. Why it matters.
• Microsoft lays off 1,900 workers, nearly 9% of gaming division, after Activision Blizzard acquisition.
• AI hiring frenzy to fuel layoffs in other tech segments as firms strive to balance costs.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: T-Mobile, Intel, Levi Strauss and more.
• Probe into GM’s Cruise finds poor leadership, culture issues at center of accident response.

MarketWatch.com:

• Levi Strauss to lay off 10% to 15% of corporate workforce, stock slides as profit forecast disappoints.
• Visa posts earnings beat, but here’s why Wall Street says the stock is falling.
• Intel’s earnings forecast comes up well short, and the stock is tanking.
• This is why I’m not paying my student loans.
• KLA shares drop following second-quarter profit miss.
• Northrop Grumman stock tumbles as stealth-bomber program gets off to slow start.
• Retirees own more of the U.S. stock market than ever, threatening to exacerbate next selloff.

Newsmax:

• Scalise Aide: Senate's Border/Ukraine Aid Deal 'Dead on Arrival' in House.
• Florida CFO: No ESG Banks Here.

Fox News:

• Trump urges states to take action as Texas battles Biden admin over border security.
• Popularity of McDonald’s spinoff restaurant CosMc’s is exploding: See the full menu.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Part 1: Full Scope of Dominion ICX Hack in Federal Court is FAR Worse than Just the BIC Pen Hack.
• Bridgeport Democrat Mayor Wins Race After His Associate Is Caught Stuffing the Local Ballot Drop Boxes with Bags of Ballots,
• Red State Alliance Grows: More Governors Stand with Texas in Standoff Against Biden Regime Over Escalating Border Crisis,
• Two Large Money Donors Ditch Neo-Con RINO Nikki Haley Despite Her Vow to Continue Presidential Race.
• Pop Star Speaks Out About Her Abortion Regret: ‘I Have a Grammy, But None of It Will Bring My Children Back’.
• BREAKING: Obama Judge Sentences Trump Aide Peter Navarro to Four Months in Prison For Defying Subpoena From Liz Cheney’s Sham J6 Committee.
• Italian PM Meloni’s Plan to Send Migrants to Albania for Asylum Processing Approved in Lower Parliament Chamber, Expected to Also Clear Senate Vote.
• Kamala Harris Says We Could “Lose This Democracy” if We Elect a President Who Would Weaponize the DOJ and “Go After Their Political Enemies” (VIDEO).
• SAVAGE: Tucker Carlson Tells Canadian Dictator Justin Trudeau to “Go Back to Cuba” (VIDEO).
• SICK: German Justice Minister Wants to Downgrade Possession and Distribution of Child P*rn From a Crime Into a Misdemeanor!
• Democrats Urge Joe Biden to Seize Control Over Texas National Guard Amid Border Dispute.
• Trucker Convoys to “Take our Border Back” Being Organized for February 3.
• Two Americas: One For U.S. Citizens Is Heavily Regulated And Monitored, The Other For Illegals Is Free Of Mandates, Regulations And Bureaucratic Harassment.

The Epoch Times:

• Investigation Reveals How CCP Interfered in US Election.
• No Help yet for China’s Sorry Economy.

X:

• @profstonge - Turns out the "Elite" really does hate you. New poll finds the globalist one percent have political views unrecognizable to regular Americans: They think people have too much freedom and the government too little power. They think teachers -- not parents -- should raise kids. They want to ration meat and electricity and ban air conditioning and gasoline cars. (video)
• @WallStreetApes - I’m Never Going To Stop Sharing This National News Segment Blaming BlackRock For The Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii Fires. There Was So Much Independent Journalist & First Hand Victim Evidence That Came Out All To Have Absolutely Nothing Followed Up On & No One Held Accountable. WE WILL NOT FORGET MAUI (video)
• @nicksortor - I have met with COUNTLESS residents here on Maui that are increasingly feeling helpless. People are literally being kicked to the STREETS or being forced out of Hawaii all together. More and more residents truly believe this is a LAND GRAB. And at this point, every sign seems to point to that being exactly the case. (pic)
• @Liz_churchill10 -  Bill Gates fully admitted he wanted to reduce the World’s Population by using ‘Vaccines’. These are his OWN WORDS that others in the audience of the Ted Talk heard as well. (video)
• @stkirsch - This is important. Vaccines are considered extremely safe. So they can now waive your informed consent!!! (document)
  
• @VivekGRamaswamy - Don’t take it just from me. Here are direct quotes from WSJ editorial board tonight. It’s all hiding in plain sight: “If she can remain competitive, there’s an argument for Ms. Haley to stay in the race through the July convention. Mr. Trump faces a treacherous legal road…Ms. Haley could stay in the race, rack up delegates, and see what happens if he is found guilty. “Strange things can happen with candidates who are this old and this disliked by a majority of the public. The 2024 election may have more twists before the Trump vs. Biden die is cast.”
• @OreoExpress - Healthcare Sign Ups For Illegals - San Antonio Tx Outside the NGO processing center in San Antonio TX, Illegals that have only been in the United States for less than 48 hours were being signed up for health insurance. 
• @drawandstrike -  You need to FULLY UNDERSTAND THIS: Ken Paxton is the one making this border fight happen. Its not Gregg Abbott. If Gregg Abbott had gotten HIS way? Ken Paxton would've been REMOVED FROM OFFICE by now due to a FAKE BULLSHIT IMPEACHMENT. (video)
• @disclosetv - NEW - German chemistry professors call for "mRNA technology to be stopped" as "the problems of mRNA-based vaccines are becoming increasingly obvious." (video)
• @SpartaJustice - JUSTIN TRUDEAU EXPOSED: Brave Canadian woman publicly declares to Justin Trudeau that you've sold us out to Globalism. You are not working for Canada, you are working for your Globalist Partners, I wonder how much they are paying you to betray Canada. What do we do with traitors? We use to hang them for Treason. (video)
• @EmeraldRobinson - America's voting machines have remote Internet access which is ILLEGAL. (document)
• @robinmonotti - JOHN CLAUSER, 2022 PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZE WINNER: "I can very confidently assert, there is NO climate emergency." “As much as it may upset many people, my message is the planet is NOT in peril. … atmospheric CO2 and methane have negligible effect on the climate. The policies government have been implementing are total unnecessary and should be eliminated. (slides)
• @LauraLoomer - The LOOMERING continues. Abandon Nikki while you still can. I’m exposing all donors and staffers. NIKKI HALEY AND HILLARY CLINTON HAVE THE SAME DONORS!
• @babbkb - Australian Senator, Alex Antic warns Australians and the rest of the world about the planned tyranny against humanity: “Infrastructure for future pandemics is being set up right now!! Smart cities are being set up with face recognition, cameras and license plate readers - Then we have SMART cars, SMART appliances, SMART streetlights, SMART homes and SMART neighbourhoods - You’re literally being SET UP to be tracked through your movements and your digital wallet that’s coming up! And once the CBDC’s are in place, you won’t be able to spend your money without their approval!! Eventually, you won’t be able to use government/healthcare services, go on vacation or go on the internet!!!” (video)
• @BGatesIsaPsycho - Lithuania Are Go! Lithuanian Farmers are the latest to join the Anti-Globalist movement against their Tyrannical Government seeking to bankrupt them in order to capture their land. Mass revolts across the whole Europe - Government & Mainstream Media Silence - THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED….. (video)
• @EndWokeness - Philadelphia city leaders unveiled a new policy framework: Blueprint For A Safer Philadelphia. An entire section is dedicated to fighting Institutional White Racism. According to the plan, the crime rate will go down when there are less White teachers in Philly and every teacher takes DEI training. (video)
• @VigilantFox - “There were huge bonuses on what they [hospitals] were paid by the government if they used Remdesivir and if they ventilated—and both of those treatments are extremely dangerous,” medical writer Stella Paul said in an @EpochTimes interview. (video)
• @wideawake_media -  Globalist doublespeak translation: Due to our deliberate war on farmers, a lot of farmers aren't able to grow their crops, which is a blessing for us, because it allows us to replace traditional agriculture with insect farms and fake meat laboratories, and assume total control of the global food supply, under the pretext of tackling "climate change". (video) Award-winning journalist, Alex Newman: The "human-induced climate change" narrative is merely a pretext for unelected globalists to control every aspect of your life, under the guise of "saving the planet". (video) 
• @ImMeme0 - Tucker Carlson packs the house in Canada. (video)
• @JunkScience - The Biden regime is killing the green-hated US fishing industry with pointless offshore wind crap and then blames the climate hoax.
• @Real_RobN - And here is, Statistical Improbabilities, the Top 11 jurisdictions with the most fraudulent voting addresses are the same top 11 jurisdictions where Biden votes soared past Hillary Clinton’s 2016 vote count. (video)
  

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 1,000,725 Reports(+2,808 from prior report) Through December 29th, 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 equity indices are -.5% to +.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 98.75 +.25 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 64.0 +.25 basis point.
  
• China Iron Ore Spot 134.3 USD/Metric Tonne -.8%.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 40.8 -.08%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 62.9 -.8%.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 14.4 +1.2%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.17%.

• S&P 500 futures -.25%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.67%.  

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by technology 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 75% net long heading into the day.