Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:   

• Marine Le Pen Crushes Macron — Again: Special Balance of Power.
• French Turnout Highest in Nearly 40 Years in Snap Election.
• China Factory Activity Shrinks Again in Warning to Economy. 
• Why China’s Central Bank Could Become More Like the Fed.
• Japan’s Solid Business Sentiment Keeps July Rate Hike on Table
• High-Speed Traders, Short Sellers Face Growing Asia Crackdown.
• Fed’s Rate-Cut Delay Won’t Hold Back the Tide of Global Easing. 
• Euro Gains on Le Pen Bets, China Eyed After PMI.
• CLOs Have Too Much Money and Are Running Out of Things to Buy.
• Apple’s Devices Are Lasting Longer, Making AI Strategy Even More Critical.
• Bitcoin Investors Begin to Ponder What’s Next After ETF Mania Cools.
• Where Stock Market Is Headed After Wild First Half: Five Charts. 
• 24-Hour Stock Trading Is Booming – and Wall Street Is Rattled.
• Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodity Markets This Week.

Zero Hedge: 

• Le Pen Is Mightier: Conservative National Rally Crushes Macron, Socialists In 1st Round Of French Election.
• Hartnett: The Experts Are All Wrong About Inflation Under A Trump Presidency.
• Can Democrats Replace Biden? It's Complicated...
• "The Ultimate Uncertainty": Nearly Half Of EV Owners Want To Go Back To Gas-Powered Cars.
• Price Action Indicates Lack Of Any True Conviction Or Depth Of Liquidity.
• Retiring Wealthy Now Means More Than $3 Million In Many U.S. States.
• California Has Seized Nearly 7 Million Fentanyl Pills Since January.
• Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• IRS, Treasury Announce New Crypto Tax Reporting Rule For Brokers.
• The Housing Tide Starts Turning: National Inventory Rose 4% In Q1 2024. 
• Watch: Just Another Night In Gavin Newsom's California.
• All Eyes On Kamala.
• France's High-Stakes Election Begins With Surge In Voter Turnout.
• The Fed-Induced Housing Crisis.
• The "EU Defense Line" Is The Latest Euphemism For The New Iron Curtain.
• The 10 charts that you might have missed over the weekend.
• Here's Why These Troubling Trends Mean Mass Chaos Is Likely Coming To The West...
• Ignore These Underweights At Your Own Risk.
• Bull Market In Everything.
• The "Just Fine" Bull Market.
• Don't Let The Elite Get Away With Gaslighting That They Didn't Know About Biden's Senility.
• Are MTA Subway Tracks In Queens Being Held Together By Zip Ties.
• Trump Sentencing Will Put Merchan's Bias In Crosshairs.
• Pentagon Exposes Biden Lie That Troop Deaths Haven't Occurred Under His Watch.
• Magical, Mysterious, And Sometimes Dangerous Food Ingredients That Are Impossible To Pronounce.
• Did Fauci Admit That School Closures Were A Mistake?
• The Art Of Being Eternally Shocked: How The Press And Pundits Are Again Mystified By The Obvious.
• Iran Threatens Israel With 'Obliterating War' If It Attacks Lebanon.
• CDC Recommends New COVID-19 Vaccines For Nearly All Americans.

Wall Street Journal:

• Democrats Fret Over Impact of Biden’s Debate Performance On House, Senate Races.
• Even a Cooling Labor Market Often Ends With a Recession.
• Behind Davos, Claims of a Toxic Workplace.
• The 51 Intel Know-Nothings. New revelations on the 2020 attempt to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story.
• Joe Biden and America’s Out-of-Control Spooks. The president should step aside rather than find out how the deep state would save his candidacy. 
• It’s Home-Building Season, but No One Is Buying Lumber.
• How Iran Defied the U.S. to Become an International Power.
• How Tractor Supply Decided to End DEI, and Fast.
• The Quarter That Split the Market, in Charts.
• Amazon, Built by Retail, Invests in AI Future.
• Would Gavin Newsom Beat Trump? Don’t Bet on It. Winning is easy in a one-party state. In a national race, he’d have to answer for his terrible record. 

CNBC:  

• ‘Inside Out 2’ tops $1 billion at the global box office.
• Move over, remote jobs. CEOs say borderless talent is the future of tech work.
• Failure to meet data center energy demand will jeopardize economic growth, utility executives warn.
• A key to Biden’s lagging wind energy goal will set sail after the election.
• Hurricane Beryl forecast to become a Category 4 storm as it nears southeast Caribbean. 
• France’s far-right National Rally seen leading in first round of snap election, exit polls show.

MarketWatch.com:  

• Student loan borrowers share their ‘roller-coaster’ year since the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s debt-forgiveness plan.
• Here’s what to watch in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections.
• As jobs get harder to find, stocks could be in trouble after best first half to an election year in half century.
• Boeing reportedly agrees to buy supplier Spirit Aerosystems for $4.3 billion.

NewsMax:

• Top Democrats Rule Out Replacing Biden.
• UN Starts to Move Tons of Aid From US-Built Pier. 
• Rep. D'Esposito: Debate Showed Biden Not Running Country.

Fox News:

• Climate change craziness has a new target and it's more shocking than ever.
• Illegal immigrant faces murder charges after disturbing video captures grim moment on tape.
• Astronaut who shared powerful pro-America speech before big launch now 'stuck' in space.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• 79,000 DACA Recipients Were Approved Despite Arrest Records, Some Arrested 10x or More.
• “We Are Good Men” Podcast Directly From Inside the DC Gulag Featuring J6 Political Prisoner (Video). 
• Germany: Violent Antifa Street Militia Try to Shut Down AfD Convention, 28 Police Officers Injured, One Critically. 
• REPORT: Joe Biden Set Up to Fail in Debate As Part of “Soft Coup” – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Makes “Secret” Move to Prepare for Possible Presidential Run
• Beautiful… Leftists Eating Their Own: Furious Keith Olbermann Calls for CNN Be Literally Burned Down for Not Assisting Biden During Disastrous Debate Performance (VIDEO).
• LOCAL ELECTION WARRIORS in Hawaii Continue to Fight Against Corrupt Elections System.
• RFK Jr. Leaves Dr. Phil Stunned As He Explains Huge Kickbacks Fauci and NIH Have Earned From Moderna Vaccines (VIDEO).
• Trouble in La La Land: ‘Freaked-Out’ Big-Money Hollywood Donors Threaten to Cut Off Democrat Party Unless Joe Biden is Replaced as Nominee.
• Tommy Tatum Arrested by Chris Wray’s FBI 3 Years After Jan. 6 – Police Pushed Him Down, Smothered Him, and Nearly Killed Him… THEN OMIT THIS IN THEIR REPORT! – They Were Angry He Called Out the Wickedness of the Police in Jesus’s Name… Please Donate!
• ‘Democrats Definitely Have a Problem’: Liberal Polish Allies Throw Biden Under the Bus – Indian PM Modi Said To Prefer Trump.
• New Poll Finds Trump With Slight Lead Over Biden in New Jersey.
• “Keep the Faith”: Bizarre Biden Campaign Email Sent to Buck Up “Bedwetting” Supporters Includes Poll Showing Trump Beating Biden and Every Other Democrat.
• Billionaire David Sacks Perfectly Describes What Democrats and the Biden Regime Have Become: ‘The Mask Has Come Off’ (VIDEO).
• Former Clinton Official Paul Begala Warns First Dem Politician Calling for Biden to Step Down Will ‘End Their Career’ (Video). 
• Steve Bannon Will Host War Room Outside Federal Prison on Monday – Calls On Merrick Garland to Tune in (VIDEO).

The Epoch Times:

• Taiwan Investigates Reports of Communist China’s Influence at Local TV Station.
• Germany Has Shifted China Strategy Amid Beijing’s Changing Behavior: German Diplomat.
• Who Will Rescue 1.4 Billion Hostages in Communist China?
• CCP Could Use South China Sea Tensions to Gauge US Response to Its Allies: Experts.

Around X:

• @libsoftiktok

• Woman whose husband died while he was deployed overseas blasts Biden for claiming at the debate that no service members died while he was president. Heartbreaking. (video)

• @CollinRugg

• NEW: Police cruiser appears to drive by at the exact moment an illegal immigrant from Ecuador carries the limp body of a woman out of an Airbnb in Syracuse. Jhon Moises Chacaguasay-Ilbis is accused of k*lling Joselyn Jhoana Toaquiza on her birthday. Footage shows the illegal hauling her body out of the house. As he carried her limp body on his back, a police cruiser drove by, appearing to not realize what was going on. (video)

• @EndWokeness 

• His GPA score is 97.3%, SAT score is 1560, enrolled in a top high school, does tons of extracurricular work. He was rejected by multiple colleges. They call this equity and inclusion. (video)

• @TheChiefNerd
  

• Chamath Palihapitiya & David Sacks on What the Biden Debate Revealed. "The mask has come off. The whole shell game has been revealed. It's obvious that Biden was always a puppet for these interests who were hiding behind him and now it's all being exposed." (video)

• @wideawake_media

• World Economic Forum managing director, Gim Huay Neo: "Beyond carbon [taxes], let's think about other aspects of nature that are easier to quantify... What about water?"
  

• @toobaffled
  

• Again & again from Professional Athletes in their peak to the groundsmen who monitor the Games. As a flagsman "Suddenly" Collapses on the pitch during Match: Peru - Canada June 2024. (video)

• @JamesMelville 

• “British cows could be given methane blockers to cut climate emissions.” And guess who is investing in methane blockers for cows. Yes, it’s him again - Bill Gates. (pic)

• @JohnRuddick2

• Hi Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla. This is the wife of the former boss of the Australian Medical Association: ‘It’s been three years since I had that Pfizer shot. It has ruined my life.’ (video)

• @newstart_2024

• Welcome to the world's first meat tax. 1. Farmers will be charged up to £200 per cow as a "flatulence tax" 2. Price of beef mince will rise by 23p per kilo 3. Danish government wants it rolled out across Europe. (video)
• McDonald’s has decided to scrap selling Bill Gates’ synthetic meat burgers after millions of customers complained that the fake meat product tasted disgusting and made them feel ill. Joe Erlinger, McDonald’s U.S. president, told the Wall Street Journal Global Food Forum that the burger was a huge flop with customers. Greatgameindia reports: Following the failure of a test of its McPlant burger in San Francisco and Dallas, a top executive at McDonald’s has stated that the company has no intentions to reinstate plant-based choices. “It was not successful in either market,” said Joe Erlinger, McDonald’s U.S. president, during the Wall Street Journal Global Food Forum in Chicago on Wednesday.

• @Artemisfornow

• WEF - Humans should be charged for the air we breathe. For a couple of years now the UN has muted the power grab of all natural assets, as the WHO seeks to control all biodiversity, under Agenda 30. This includes the ‘ Corporatisation’ of all food systems, water and oxygen. Lindsay Hooper of the WEF, has blasted humans for expecting water and oxygen to be “unlimited” and “free.” And that Global elites must put them on the “balance sheet”. (video)

• @ChuckCallesto

• BREAKING REPORT: Forgiato Blow’s new song TRUMP TRUMP BABY featuring model Amber Rose climbs to #4 on the charts, 3 days after initial release.. (video)

• @WallStreetApes
  

• You Literally Can’t Make This Stuff Up. The "Green" Environmental Laws being passed by Liberals have prevented sound forest management. As a result of these regulations, 25% of our national forests have burned down. (video)

• @Sav_says_
  

• WARNING EXTREMELY GRAPHIC: SF PRIDE- A man lies in an inflatable pool of urine in The Fetish Zone where attendees are encouraged to pee on him. Other booths featured participants getting spanked, whipped and imitating sex acts on each other, all in public. (video)

• @gregkellyusa
  

• Did @joebiden CHEAT at the debate? We all saw Joe’s “face” get Contorted as a Jack-O-Lantern. BUT WAS HE GETTING TIPS RADIOED TO HIM BY SOMEONE BACKSTAGE? WATCH: Joe briefly becomes Focused on something and ignores Trump, adusts his EAR and starts writing stuff down. CHEATING?! (video)

• @goddeketal

• HOW THE GLOBALISTS HIJACKED SCIENCE. In this post, as a canceled scientist, I'll expose how the ruling elite hijacked science for their pseudotheories: First, they ensured that scientists at universities are no longer permanently employed but are hired on a precarious project basis for 3-4 years. Second, a scientist only gets a grant for a project if it fits within the rigid and ideological framework of the funding organization. These almost always mandate gender, equality, inclusion, and climate change. Third, if you don’t comply and integrate these politically charged issues into your funding application, you will not get a job. This system ensures that only sycophantic, uncritical scientists receive funding grants.
  

OpenVAERS: 

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 1,011,672 Reports(+1,127 from prior report) Through May 31st, 2024.

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 -.5% to +.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 98.5 -.5 basis point.
  
• China Sovereign CDS 66.25 -.25 basis point.
• China Iron Ore Spot 106.7 USD/Metric Tonne -.02%.
  
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 39.1 -.01%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 59.4 +2.8%.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 14.9 -.6%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +1.0%.
• S&P 500 futures +.22%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.23%.

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.