Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:       

• Global Bond Tantrum Is a Wrenching and Worrisome Start to New Year
• China Boosts Yuan Support With Warning, Capital Control Tweaks.
• Zelenskiy Seeks to Exchange North Korean Soldiers for Ukrainians.
• Canada Has Counter-Tariffs Ready If Trump Launches Trade War, Trudeau Says. 
• Jamie Dimon Says Tariffs Can Help Resolve Competition, Security Issues.
• Asian Stocks Drop, Oil Rises on Russia Sanctions
• Gold Holds Gain as Traders Seek Safety From US Rate Uncertainty. 
• Oil Hits Four-Month High After Sweeping US Sanctions on Russia.
• Bezos Says Space Industry Has Room for ‘Multiple Winners’.
• J&J Is in Talks to Buy $10 Billion Biotech Intra-Cellular.
• The Hollywood Fires Will Cause Harm Long After They Burn Out.
• Everyone’s on Edge: Los Angeles Braces For New Week of Wildfire.
•   S&P’s $18 Trillion Rally Threatened by Psychology of 5% Yields.
• Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodity Markets This Week.

Global Research:

• Climate Instability Worldwide: Does the US Military “Own the Weather”? “Weaponizing the Weather” as an Instrument of Modern Warfare? In relation to the current context including the war in Ukraine, the Pentagon has formulated the contours of a global military agenda, a “long war”, a war without borders. “Weather warfare” is part of a diversified military arsenal of conventional and strategic weapons systems. ENMOD is potentially a weapon of mass destruction (WMD), with the capacity of destabilizing an enemy’s ecosystem, destroying its agriculture, disabling communications networks. Weather manipulation is the pre-emptive weapon par excellence. It can be directed against enemy countries or even “friendly nations”, without their knowledge.

Zero Hedge: 

• Palisades Fire Threatens New Upscale Communities As Santa Ana Winds Return.
• EU Globalist Explicitly Threatens To Cancel German Election Result If Right Wing AfD Wins.
• 'A Rocky Start' - Goldman's Top Tech Trader's 10 Questions Into TMT Earnings.
• US Lawmakers Call For Curbs On Clinical Trial Collaborations Linked To Chinese Military.
• Biden Calls Meta's Decision To End Fact-Checking Program "Really Shameful".
• Inflation Expectations Will Keep Rising In 2025, And It Matters Most In Japan.
• Megyn Kelly Mocks Dems: "Hitler's Quite Charming When You Spend Time With Him.
• Coffee Timing Linked To Health Outcomes.
• Goldman: This Is Now The Biggest Ever Move Higher In Yields After The First Rate Cut.
• Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• Residents Of Argentina's Crime-Ridden Cities Welcome Milei's Gun Reform.
• AP News Heavily Ratioed For Blaming Palisades Fire On Climate Change.
• How The 'Bridge That Couldn't Be Built' Was Built.
• A Message To All Americans From Storm-Ravaged Western North Carolina.
• Why Was Pacific Palisades Reservoir Empty? It Gets Worse...
• Jobs Report And AI: "Basically, It's Garbage In, Garbage Out".
• JPMorgan Chase Freezes Employee Comments Amid Return-To-Office Backlash.
• Hedge Fund CIO: Trump Has Blown The Overton Window So Wide Open, Anything Seems Possible.
• Europe Dominates Global Nuclear Energy Investment.
• Consolidation Continues: Technical Breakdown Levels To Watch.
• Trump Energizes Greenland Independence Movement, Divorce Agreement Coming Up.
• Hartnett Explains Why Greenland Is So Important: "The Race For The Arctic Is The Great Game Of The Next 10 Years".
• The Walls Close In On Zelensky.
• The Political Crisis In France Is About to Get Much Worse.
• Technocracy, Fear-Mongers, & The Conspiracy.
• Mainstream Media Ignoring Ethno-Religious Genocide Under Syria's New Rulers.
• FDA Mandates Nerve Damage Warnings For 2 RSV Vaccines.
• These Were The Most On-Time Airlines In 2024.
• Lawmakers Propose Amendment To Congressional Term Limits. 
• The Left's Ignoble Motives.
• The Rise Of News 'Influencers' And Where They Can Be Found.
• Thacker Crushes Krugman, Trounces Tufecki As NYT Keeps Peddling Lies.

Wall Street Journal:

• L.A. Wildfire Threat Remains ‘Very High’.
• A Bond Selloff Is Rocking the World. You Might Want to Take the Other Side. 
• Trump’s New Economist Makes the Case for 20% Tariffs.
• Why Using Seawater to Battle Fires Is a Last-Ditch Option.
• How the Left Turned California Into a Paradise Lost.
• The Palisades Residents Who Took Long Journeys to See What’s Left of Their Lives.
• Hollywood Stars in Its Own Disaster.
• Steve Cohen’s Hedge Fund Is Beating the Competition.
• Americans Are Tipping Less Than They Have in Years.
• Once Unwanted, Constellation Energy Is Now a Hot Stock.
• China’s Local Governments Settle Overdue Bills With Apartments, Not Cash.

Google Patents:

• Hurricane and tornado control device.
• Patents for A01G 15 - Devices or methods for influencing weather conditions (687).

CNBC:  

• Good news need not always be bad news for markets.
• Behind the stock sell-off and whether the bull market is at risk.
• Zuckerberg derides Apple on its lack of innovation and ‘random rules’.
• U.S. bank regulator reportedly gives BlackRock a February deadline on bank stakes.
• Apple’s board recommends shareholders vote against proposal to eliminate diversity programs.
• Companies from Coca-Cola to Anheuser-Busch are getting in on the canned cocktail market. Here’s why.
• Biden delays enforcement of order blocking Nippon Steel, U.S. Steel deal, companies say.

LA Times:

• 'Incredibly dangerous': More unauthorized drones fly above Palisades fire.

MarketWatch.com:  

• Stock-market investors are getting nervous about this bond-market move that’s only happened twice in over 40 years.

NewsMax:

• Sen. Lankford: Trump Using Negotiating Tactics for Greenland.

Fox News:

• LA County deploys cadaver dogs to search for wildfire victims as sheriff delivers grim message.
• Actress slams Prince Harry, Meghan Markle for 'photo op' amid California fires.
• California wildfires threaten oil and gas supplies nationwide.
• Former child star killed in Palisades Fire after his mother couldn't get through to 911.
• Trump trolls Harris with spoof of his conversation with former President Obama.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Meet the Man Who Waited OVER SIX HOURS to Issue a Local State Of Emergency While Entire Neighborhoods Burned in the LA Wildfires – Life-Saving Federal Aid Also Denied Thanks to Him.
• Kachelman: Democrat Reaction to Historic LA Fires Is Just as Saul Alinsky Ordered.
• WATCH: Joe Rogan Demolishes Mark Zuckerberg When the Facebook CEO Makes an Outrageous COVID-19 Censorship Claim and Shows His Democrat Colors.
• Daniel Penny’s Attorney Reveals Life-Altering Trauma: ‘The Hell That My Client Went Through …’.
• Obama Judge Holds Rudy in Contempt For Violating Court Order in Case Related to Georgia Election Workers – Fines Giuliani $200 Per Day, Threatens Prison Time.
• LA County Sheriff Drops Alarming News: Looters Are Dressing up as Firefighters to Rob Homes as Wildfires Continue to Rage (VIDEO).
• Stephen A. Smith: Bass and Newsom ‘Got to Go’ (Video).
• War Room Founder Steve Bannon Talks with Tej Gill About California Fires – “With So Many Coincidences, Is It Intentional?” (VIDEO).
• Democrat Former New York State Senator Lectures Residents Struggling to Afford New Congestion Pricing: “Get Over it”.
• Trump’s “Manhattan Project” to Create Investing Frenzy?
• Major Escalation in Slovakia’s Conflict With Kiev Regime Over Russian Gas Transit, as PM Fico Calls Ukrainian President Zelensky a ‘Beggar’ and a ‘Blackmailer’.
• How Trump Plans To Take On Censors — and They Plan To Take On Trump.
• BACKFIRE: Gavin Newsom’s Meet the Press Interview Turns into a Major Disaster – Wild Gestures, Word Salads, and More (VIDEO).
• China’s Control Over Electric Vehicle Batteries and the Threat to the European Automotive Industry.
• Gavin Newsom Gives an Appalling Answer When Asked About Public’s Anger Regarding the State Wildfires – Team Trump Delivers Explosive Reply to Newsom.
• The Infamous Delta Smelt Fish Has Not Been Seen in Nearly a Decade – California Allowed Its Cities to Burn to the Ground Over a Fish That They Can’t Even Find Anymore.

The Epoch Times:

• Get Tough on China-Linked Sabotage of Subsea Infrastructure.

4th PSYOP Group:

• Ghosts in the Machine. (video)
  
• Ghosts in the Machine 2. (video)

DailyMail.com:

• Inside US Army's PSYOP unit that has uncomfortable ties to Cybertruck bomber and New Orleans terrorist.

Psywarrior.com

• The 4th Psychological Operations Group (POG) (Airborne), or 8th PSYOP (A), at Fort Bragg, NC, is one of only two active Army Psychological Operations Groups. The mission of the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) is to deploy anywhere in the world on short notice, and plan, develop, and conduct Civil Affairs and Psychological operations in support of Unified Commanders, coalition forces, or other government agencies as directed by the National Command Authority. Psychological operations are a vital part of the broad range of U.S. political, military, economic and ideological activities used by the U.S. government to secure national objectives.
  

Around X:

• @elonmusk

• REP TONY GONZALES: IT’S NO LONGER JUST WORKERS CROSSING — IT'S CAUSING HAVOC IN OUR COMMUNITY. "The type of people coming over is way different than it's ever been before. It is no longer the case of someone quietly trying to get somewhere or coming here for work. It’s different. You’re seeing it with the TDA, the Tene Agua folks that are coming over, staying in our communities, and causing havoc." (video)
• CENSORSHIP: You know you've got a problem when the CEO of your nation's largest state-funded media outlet is ALSO on the board of directors for the world's largest censorship organization. 
• This guy was sentenced to 7 years in prison for social media posts. The other guy was sentenced to a mere 6 months for raping a 9-year-old child! British “justice” system is deeply broken. (pic)
  

• @NicoleShanahan
  

• For all you climate change doomsayers: California has been OUT of a drought since 2022. We’ve seen record rainfall, yet the CA Dept of Water Resources, big city mayors, and the governor have failed to use that water to increase ground hydration and strengthen emergency fire services. They looked the other way despite warnings from universities, fire departments, farmers, and consultants offering actionable plans. It’s mind-boggling negligence. The government in California has been taking orders from the wrong people for too long. It’s time they wake up, grow a pair, and get to work for the people.

• @Breaking911

• FBI DIRECTOR WRAY: “The Chinese government is prepositioning on American civilian critical infrastructure to lie in wait on those networks to be in a position to wreak havoc & inflict real world harm at a time & place of their choosing.” (video)

• @WallStreetApes

• Actress Whitney Cummings is getting text messages saying there are people “trying to put gasoline in sewers. It's happening all over”. Her “neighbors caught a guy setting more fires on the back of our hill” “It's happening all over”. The Los Angeles fires are not climate change. (video)
  
• This video is from today of the Los Angeles Pacific Palisades Fire. LA resident shows you the direction its burning, “If this fire gets any further east right now, it's gonna blow past the 405, it's gonna hit The Getty Center, Hollywood, Griffith Park, that's downtown LA right there. And LA will be done”. (video)
• WOW IT’S BEGUN. Democrats are once again using a disaster to line their pockets. (pic) 
• WOW IT’S BEGUN! Democrats are once again using a disaster to line their pockets. (pic)
• Are we seriously calling this a coincidence? “San Francisco Chronicle launched an investigation — Its investigation finding that Pacific Palisades was the hardest hit community, suffering more policy non-renewals than anywhere else in California” The exact area that gets hit… (video)
• The Pacific Palisades fire has animals fleeing the mountains and hills and relocating to residents lawns. This is on Pico Boulevard & La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, California which is very inland, this is close to Beverly Hills. The animals seem completely exhausted. (video)
• The Los Angeles Pacific Palisades fires have turned one of the most expensive, beautiful and iconic cities in the world into an apocalypse zone. Somehow, Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass still have jobs. (video)
  

• @JustineBateman
  

• Alert for people in the Hollywood Hills, from a neighbor: “They have video of two people on a scooter (masked of course) riding into lower Runyon Cyn Park and coming out 3 mins later, fire was first spotted 12 mins after that. The same two scooter guys, were actually seen by a resident, taking a small blow torch to hill side brush @ the top of Runyon Cyn Park, near Solar Dr, 15 mins later, so there were at least two ignition points, which is why it spread so quickly. The same two “scooter guys” were spotted (and chased) by a Laurel Cyn Neighborhood Watch Group last night.” 
• This is unbelievable. Maxine Waters just blamed “rich people” for the failings of
  @GavinNewsom and @KarenBass. She says the problem is that the rich in Pacific Palisades didn’t pay the taxes necessary to “provide the services.” The truth is that the wealthy of Los Angeles pay so much in taxes that Newsom and Bass had enough to lose billions of dollars every year due to fraud and ineptitude, and yet the state still functioned. How dare you, @RepMaxineWaters. What a repulsive and irresponsible statement. (video)
  

• @TheTankGuns

• Gets caught starting a fire in California, smiles when he’s told he’s going to jail. (video)
  

• @Sassafrass_84

• Listen to this.. I truly feel that every social media account should be screaming from the rooftops about the way our people have been treated in Western North Carolina, Tennessee, Maui, and Ohio. In 4 years, we have had massive issues happening and not addressed. Yet California burns where the wealthy live and Biden promises to assist. It's infuriating, and it's crimes against humanity. Our people are being left to die. We owe them to keep preaching from the roof tops. This is not ok. (video)

• @persianjewess
  

• The current state of affairs in Los Angeles. (pic)

• @kylenabecker

• NEW: Two masked suspects on a scooter are suspected of committing arson in Runyon Cyn Park. Local residents report two incidents involving the suspects. One witness reports the suspects took a blow torch to brush at the top of Runyon Cyn Park. (video)

• @MJTruthUltra

• UPDATE: CA Fires. I just read a few interesting facts regarding recent law changes and how they could connect to Smart Cities. I didn’t like what I found…
• California offers Free Healthcare and Covers 700k Illegal Aliens, and Costs Tax-Payers $2.6 Billion Dollars per Year Annually. But no water in the reservoirs… (video)
  

• @amuse

• Climate change arrested AGAIN! (video)

• @Stillgray

• Karen Bass is loving the fact that Los Angeles is burning. Just look at her mischievous grin, the knowing smirk on her face, the duper's delight. (video)
  

• @listen_2learn

• The 1512 law that they’ve used against J6ers is from ENRON. Who was involved in ENRON? Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Chris Wray, and others. 1512 is being abused so republicans need to pass a law that clarifies or rewrites it. (video)

• @TonySeruga

• Labcorp has ramped up FAKE fraudulent Bird Flu tests in the U.S. Once again, we are literally using PCR process to create pandemics on demand. PCR is not a diagnostic test, it is a DNA amplification PROCESS. Nothing more.

• @BGatesIsaPsycho

• The LA fires melted metal into liquid but the lushest green grass right out front is totally fine. Got it! (pic)

• @ElectionWiz
  

• Newsom just got cooked by the Community Notes…. and it ain't pretty to read. (pic)
  

• @SteveLovesAmmo
  

• Regardless of how you feel about this situation politically, these firefighters in California are putting their lives on the line daily for everyone. Heroes! (video)
  

• @ShadowofEzra

• In June 1970, the U.S. Forest Service, under the sponsorship of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), published a report titled "Forest Fire as a Military Weapon." This study was initiated in 1965 at the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who sought to explore the use of using forest fires as a tactical weapon in military operations. The research aimed to determine whether intentionally set forest fires could be used to destroy enemy resources, create barriers, or force movement by making large areas impassable.
• California Governor Gavin Newsom cut $100 million in fire prevention spending this year while allocating $3 billion for free healthcare for illegal immigrants, funded by U.S. taxpayers. (video)
  

• @InvestigateJ6.

• This should be the most trending video in America. Tucker said our J6 film should be the most famous film in America. See why: (video)
• BREAKING!!! NEW J6 FOOTAGE RELEASED OF FIRST SHOTS FIRED AT PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE CAPITOL. NO ONE IS RIOTING YET CAPITOL POLICE OFFICERS ARE FIRING AT THEIR HEADS. DC DOJ AND THE J6 SELECT COMMITTEE HID ALL OF THIS FOOTAGE FROM DEFENDANTS AND THE PUBLIC. (video)

• @Nancy023922191
  

• Smart meters have lithium ion batteries... (pic)

• @LibsofTikTok
  

• "The #1 thing that attracted me to this role... It’s important for me that everything we do is with an equity lens and social justice." - Chief of LA Dept of Water & Power. (video)

• @Wendy4545
  

• Did you know that Congress approved $1 billion per month every month to UKRAINE on top of all of the other money they give them? Senator's are using the Salt Tax as an excuse to hold up Trump's policies. The same Senate that gave Ukraine $225 Billion Dollars.

• @TaraBull808
  

• So they're 3d printing Direct Energy Weapons now?. (video)

• @Bo_French_TX

• China is Buying Texas Oil (and our politicians). Chinese Communist-backed companies, with lobbyists in our Texas Capitol, are drilling under our feet in Tarrant County. They're not just after our land; they're buying influence in our state legislature. If you’ve been tracking the Chinese land grab in America, you know Texas has been a battleground. Remember Sun Guangxin (1)? The former Chinese military man and Communist Party insider who bought up 7% of Val Verde County for a "wind farm" near our military bases? That's just the tip of the iceberg.

• @CreasonJana

• PFIZER JUST RELEASED ITS LIST OF SIDE EFFECTS OF ITS "Covid-Shot". (list)
  

OpenVAERS: 

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 1,022,221 Reports(+1,091 from prior report) Through December 27th, 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 -1.5% to -.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 81.75 +1.25 basis points.
  
• China Sovereign CDS 61.75 -.25 basis point.
• China Iron Ore Spot 98.8 USD/Metric Tonne +1.7%.
  
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.8 -.01%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 71.6 -.1%.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 19.6 +1.4%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.22%.
• S&P 500 futures -.38%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.46%.

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly lower, weighed down by industrial and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to maintain losses into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the week.