Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:    

• Vietnam Offers to Remove Tariffs on US After Trump’s Action.
• China Investors Brace for ‘Ugly’ Monday on US Tariff Retaliation.
• China Says Rare Earth Export Curb Won’t Hurt Global Supply Chain. 
• China Floats Rate Cuts, Industry Aid to Counter Trump Tariff Hit.
• Taiwan Tightens Short-Selling Rules to Calm Market. 
• Saudis Slash Oil Prices to Asia After Surprise Output Hike. 
• France’s Le Pen Tells Supporters at Rally She’ll Keep Fighting. 
• Mideast Stocks, Aramco Sink on Twin Threat From Tariffs, Oil. 
• S&P 500 Futures Slump as Tariff Turmoil Deepens. 
• Oil Extends Slump as Saudis Slash Prices and Tariff Risks Mount.
• Gold and Copper Extend Declines as Trade War Selloff Continues.
• Apple Keeps TikTok on Its Store After Assurances from AG Bondi.
• Evercore ISI Is Latest Firm on Wall Street to Cut S&P 500 Target.
• Summers Warns of More Turbulence After $5.4 Trillion Rout.
• Barrick Gold Proposes Name Change to Reflect Its Copper Push.
• Bessent Defiant on Tariffs as He Rejects a US Recession.
• Wider Intraday Price Swings in Stocks Prompt Options Strategies.
• Meta Releases New Llama 4 AI Models With Multimodal Design.
• Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodity Markets This Week.

Zero Hedge: 

• Goldman Prime: Biggest Shorting On Record.
• "Fundamentally Fascist": Musk Schools Italian Lawmakers On Censorship, Mass Migration, And Regulatory Overreach.
• "It Would Be Easy To Keep Pumping Up The Economy, Borrowing A Lot Of Money, Creating A Lot Of Government Jobs".
• Morgan Stanley: A US Recession That Drags The Global Economy Down Is Increasingly A Realistic Bear Case.
• Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• Ahead Of China's Market Open.
• State Department Revokes, Halts Visas For South Sudan Over Refusal Of Deportees.
• Vietnam, Taiwan Capitulate: Offer To Remove All US Tariffs, Boost Investment.
• "Geofenced Every Event": Democrats Caught Staging Another 'Inorganic' Color Revolution Operation Against Trump.
• Oh, That Influence Peddling: Times Finds Evidence Suggesting Hunter Acted As Foreign Agent.
• Scott Bessent Exposes Zelensky's Lies In Dodging U.S. Minerals Deal.
• Attacking DoD's Data Problem.
• AOC Trounces Schumer In 2028 Senate Primary Poll.
• States Move To Protect Americans' DNA From China.
• CTA Selling Is Back With A Vengeance, And It's About To Get Very Ugly.
• "You Can't Just Live For Free Off Us": Trump Commerce Secretary.
• "Free Marine Le Pen!" — Trump Slams European 'Lawfare' Tactics In Fiery Defense Of French Nationalist Leader.
• Can We Fix Our Demographic Doom Loop?
• NSW Criminalizes LGBT Conversion Practices.
• House Fiscal Conservatives Blast "Unserious And Disappointing" Senate GOP Budget Blueprint.
• Obama-Appointed Judge Orders Trump Administration To Return Alleged MS-13 Gang Member Back To The US.

Wall Street Journal:

• Trade Broadside Puts Chinese Economy Under Heavy Pressure .
• Economic Outlook Shifts in Days From Solid Growth to Recession Risk.
• Nations Strategize Ahead of Week of Rising Trump Tariffs.
• In Vietnam’s Streets and Factories, Boom Built on U.S. Trade Suddenly Looks Fragile.
• Surging Costs Complicate Plans for New U.S. Factories. 
• Trump Is Going After Universities’ Federal Funding. Here’s What to Know.

CNBC:  

• For bitcoin bulls who self-custody crypto, the global risks are growing.
• Google, IBM are bullish on quantum computing chips. Is it for real?
• Trump’s tariffs were expected to boost the dollar, but recession fears are dragging it down.
• EU seeks unity in first strike back at Trump tariffs.
• U.S. crude oil falls below $60 a barrel to lowest since 2021.
• Bitcoin drops Sunday evening as cryptocurrencies join global market rout.
• Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller: ‘I do not support tariffs exceeding 10%’.
• Commerce Secretary Lutnick doesn’t back down in face of market sell-off: ‘The tariffs are coming’.

MarketWatch.com:  

• Trump’s economic team dismisses recession fears, says 50 countries are seeking tariff deals .

NewsMax:

• India, Major Nations Buckling, Seeking Deals on Trump Tariffs.
• Taiwan Pledges More Investment in US.
• Lutnick: Tariffs to Remain in Place for Days, Weeks.

Fox News:

• Anti-Trump protesters ditch the 'jammies' — asked what they're so mad about .
• Elon Musk floats a fix — and it could rewrite the rules between America and Europe.
• Another world leader winces as Trump demands America’s fair share.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Elon Musk Fires Back After SNL Mocks Tesla and Musk’s Autism in Tasteless Sketch.
• RINO Congressman Announces He Will Be Introducing Legislation to Sabotage President Trump’s Tariff Authority (VIDEO).
• BOOM: Julie Kelly Catches Radical Pro-Illegal Alien Obama Judge in a Big Setup Against Trump After Uncovering a Bombshell Revelation in Court Transcript.
• NYU Divides By Race Calls On White Students to ‘Use White Privilege To Protect Others.
• Senator Markwayne Mullin on Fox News Sunday Discusses Tariffs – “This Isn’t a Trade War. This is Balancing Our Economy with Countries That Have Taken Advantage of Us” (VIDEO).
• Peter Navarro Defends Trump’s Tariffs – “We’ve Given Away Our Houses, Our Office Buildings, Our Food Supply, Our Farmland” (VIDEO).
• GOTCHA: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins Laughs at Jake Tapper When She Catches Him in a Major Whopper While Embarrassing Him on the Subject of Tariffs (VIDEO).
• Trump Was Right: More than 50 Countries Have Already Contacted White House to Negotiate Trade and Tariffs.
• Woke ‘Snow White’ Remake Underperforms in Third Week — Disney Bracing For Massive Losses.
• Retired Police Lieutenant Drops Major Bombshells About Planned ‘Islamic Mega-City’ Near Dallas, Texas (VIDEO).
• Obama Bashes Trump Saying ‘What if I had Done Any of This?’ – Gets Major Reminders From Twitter/X Users.
• REPORT: George Clooney Exploded on MSNBC Producer After Being Exposed as Useful Idiot for Getting Biden Out of 2024 Race.
• WOKE SCANDAL IN COLORADO: Democrats Attack Families, and Parents Could Lose Custody for Calling Their Child by Their Birth Name.
• Rising Superstar White House Correspondent Natalie Winters Barred From National Press Club — Winters Exposes Press Club’s CCP Affiliation and Withdraws Her Application.
• Montana GOP Purges 9 Turncoat Republican Senators for Backing Democrats, Says They Are No Longer Recognized as Republicans.
• Democrat Strategist James Carville Spirals, Fantasizes About Treating Those Working With President Trump Like Nazi Collaborators (Video).

The Epoch Times:

• Trump’s China Tariffs Aim to Tackle Decades of Trade Imbalance, National Security Threats.
• CCP Greatest Threat to US National Security.
• US Geopolitical Chess: Strategies Against China, Russia, and Iran.

Around X:

• @elonmusk

• EXPOSED: ANTI-ELON PROTESTS ARE STAGED & PAID—BUSSED-IN, SCRIPTED, CLOCKED-OUT. The anti-Elon, anti-DOGE, anti-Trump protests in D.C.? They aren’t grassroots. They are payroll-driven theater. - Buses rolled in packed with hired protesters. - Pre-made signs handed out assembly-line style. - Scripts distributed to keep messaging “on brand.” - Protesters all left at once—just like a shift change. The protests are organized astroturf—NGO-backed, donor-funded, and as fake as their outrage. It's a union of grifters and bureaucrats trying to stop Elon from cutting off their taxpayer-funded gravy train. (video)
• He had to read the paper he was given to understand the sign he was holding. (video)
  

• @LauraLoomer

• EXCLUSIVE: I have exclusively confirmed that one of the busses used today to bus Muslim and radicals leftist protesters into Washington DC to protest President Trump is called SUMMER BUS TOUR INC! See video below. The registered agent for the bus is CHINESE. The bus is registered out of Massachusetts and the Chinese registered agents’ name is Yuxiu Wang! It appears that Chinese individuals and radical Muslims are now working together to march in support of HAMAS and ANTIFA on Capitol Hill. America is under attack! (pic)
• @LoomerUnleashed just captured video footage of Islamist protesters dressed in full Islamic garb being bussed into Washington DC for the massive anti-Trump and anti-
  @elonmusk protests that are happening today. We caught them on camera getting off the busses with their Islamic protest gear, with Keffiyehs and Palestinian flash. This is video evidence of a coordinated red-green alliance. The protesters are being bussed in from New York and New Jersey. (video)
• BREAKING: Jihadist @lsarsour Linda Sarsour, who once called for JIHAD against President Trump and whose mentor, Siraj Wahhaj was listed as one of the alleged co-conspirators to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is attending the anti-Trump protests in DC today where protesters are waving the HAMAS flag. It’s time to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The Muslim Brotherhood finances the Palestinian movement in America. That’s how we can shut down every single Islamic terror org designated as a 501c3 in America.
  

• @MarioNawfal

• NEW POLL: AMERICANS SEE MASSIVE TURNAROUND UNDER TRUMP. New data shows Americans' outlook has completely reversed in just three months under President Trump. For the first time in three years, more Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction (40%) than wrong (50%) - a stunning 30-point swing from previous polls. Trump's approval ratings show majority support for his handling of inflation, illegal immigration, and border security. This dramatic shift directly contradicts legacy media narratives about Trump's policies being unpopular with voters. (graph)

• @GenFlynn

• Death to Australia. Death to America. Death to Europe. Death to Israel. Death to Christian’s. Death to me. Death to you. But Islam is a religion of peace and I get called an extreme right wing Christian nationalist who is a fascist communist anti-Semite racist (I’ve been called all of these and many more and I’m none of them). I like to think of myself as a common sense patriotic American who understands service and sacrifice for one’s nation. Get with it folks, this is a war between two completely different ideologies. We haven’t collided yet, but when these world collide, it is going to be high adventure for sure. (video)

• @Inevitablewest

• BREAKING: It’s happening: More than 100,000 French patriots just conquered Paris in support of Le Pen. France have made a massive mistake. (video)

• @amuse

• CHINA: Why does the US allow a Chinese state-owned retailer to operate stores on 85 US military bases? Their GNC stores give them unprecedented access to the personal information of hundreds of thousands of US soldiers and troop movements. This is downright stupid.

• @WallStreetApes

• Elon Musk CONFIRMS with Jesse Watters Democrats are laundering money through a network of NGO’s, the money is coming back to them, and that’s how they’ve gotten so rich. Elon Musk also confirms Democrats need to start being arrested for the fake NGO money laundering scam. “With respect to the non-governmental organizations, these sort of fake NGOs, I think there needs to be a number of arrests in that regard as well. Because these are fake charities where mostly Democrats and what's it called, and I want to be clear, there's sometimes a little bit of Republican in there — So that's where you start getting the uniparty thing going on. But it is overwhelmingly to Democrats and they give these billions of dollars to NGOs run by Democrats that then go through a whole network of additional NGOs. It's a giant money laundering scheme. Really at this point, I think the word NGO and money laundering are almost synonymous.”
• CBS News 6 months ago: Pretended there was no illegal migrant gang activity in Aurora, Colorado. CBS News Today: “This now shut down apartment complex was one of the most dangerous areas in Aurora, Colorado”. Where was this reporting during the election? (video)
• This is why Democrats are outraged over tariffs. Donald Trump revealed the only reason we’re still paying an income tax in America is because US Politicians are paid off by foreign countries to not mandate tariffs. Anyone complaining about tariffs is selling you out. (video) 
• EXPOSED: Protests against Elon Musk, DOGE and Donald Trump are PAID. “$7,800 for 8 hours of organizing a protest, PER WEEK”. “Organizers are cashing in a nice paycheck to organize — FUNDED BY George Soros”. George Soros needs to be thrown in prison. (video)

• @amuse

• TERROR: Soros-funded Indivisible is openly admitting they are behind the 1300 paid protests happening today in all 50 states. Democrat billionaires are funding these uprisings and they should held legally accountable for the violence and vandalism. (video)

• @TonySeruga

• This summer there will be massive riots, anarchy, looting, burning and violent attacks. They are communicating on Telegram, Discord, Signal, Threema, WickrMe, WhatsApp, Element, Wire, iMessage, NetSfere, Status, Messagenius. I told you the deep state and globalists were not going down without a huge fight. It’s coming. And to think it isn’t going to go kinetic is pretty naive. The Chinese Communist Party, Persia, Radical Islamists and NeoNazis the U.S. government funded in Ukraine, are each involved. 
• Absolutely Must Watch - Rick Santelli brilliantly argues with his hosts the factual necessity of tariffs and how Globalism is in decline! CNBC's Liesman vs. Santelli: Tariffs Confront "The Dark Side" Of "Everyday K-Mart Low Prices". Santelli says the post-war economic order has "outlived its usefulness," and Trump is "lighting the firecracker that will finally end it with a big pop." By bringing in cheap Chinese products, America’s Main Street, USA was gutted. The goal is for American families to live the American dream with that house, white picket fence, 2-3 children, two cars, all with one person working. (video)
  

• @MarioNawful

• FLASHBACK: BERNIE SANDERS CALLED OPEN BORDERS A "RIGHT-WING PROPOSAL" BEFORE BIDEN ERA. In a resurfaced 2015 interview, Sanders fiercely opposed unrestricted immigration - the exact policy he later supported under Biden. The Vermont Senator didn't mince words: "Open borders? That's a Koch brothers proposal... It would make everybody in America poorer". Sanders specifically highlighted how such policies would devastate American workers, noting youth unemployment was already at 33% for white teens, 36% for Hispanic youth, and 51% for African-Americans. His blunt conclusion: "You don't address international poverty by making people in this country even poorer". (video)

• @IanJaeger29 

• WOW. Stephen Miller calls out South Korea, Japan, Canada and all of Europe. This man gets it! (video)

• @catturd2

• Chuck Schumer’s annual salary $193,400. His net worth: $85 Million. DOGE, start here. Corrupt AF.
• She knocked it out the ballpark. WTF…..@GOP??? Yep. (pic)
  Quote

• @TaraBull808

• Woke-Left protester stumped on why Trump’s a fascist, pulls out a cheat sheet that he was given along with the free sign. You can't make this up. (video)
• Kawasaki unveils CORLEO: a motorcycle-AI powered "iron horse" that runs, jumps, and climbs, powered by hydrogen. Who wants one? (video)
  

• @BrilynHollyhand

• BREAKING: JD Vance says, "We must take back every piece of U.S. land controlled by China. Not a single blade of grass should be theirs."
  

• @EndWokeness

• Here's the list of organizations behind the "Hands Off" protests across the country yesterday: (video)

• @CollinRugg

• NEW: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to declare that globalization has failed, plans to show that he understands President Trump’s tariff decision. The announcement is set for Monday, according to The Times. “Globalisation doesn’t work for a lot of working people. We don’t believe trade wars are the answer. This is a chance to show that there’s a different path,” Starmer said, according to the Times. “Trump has done something that we don’t agree with, but there’s a reason why people are behind him on this. The world has changed, globalisation is over and we are now in a new era,” a Downing Street official said, according to the outlet. (video)
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the U.S. was headed towards a “financial calamity,” says the Trump admin is trying to help Americans getting demolished by debt. Ignore the noise. Listen to this. “I'm not happy with what's going on in the market today, but the distribution of equities across households…” “The top 10% of Americans own 88% of equities.” “The next 40% owns 12% of the stock market.” “The bottom 50% has debt. They have credit card bills, they rent their homes, they have auto loans.” “We've got to give them some relief.” (video)

• @HealthRanger

• The single most infuriating “feature” added to automobiles since the crank start. It’s not only annoying as hell it’s dangerous. Do away with this garbage. I second this. WTF is wrong with automobile makers who think I automatically want the engine to turn itself off EVERY TIME I'm at a traffic light? Car makers should get a clue and eliminate this stupid "feature."

• @robinmonotti

• ROME: ITALY. Students burn the EU flag. The anti-EU revolution may not be televised but it will be broadcast here on X. (video)

• @UltraFrog17

• Conspiracy no more: Nicole Shanahan says that Robert Kennedy JR's HHS is putting together a team to investigate chemtrails. She says that the Overton window has blown wide open on the geoengineering of weather and that this is the beginning of the global conversation on this topic as people come forward with more evidence. The Gates Foundation and the World Economic Forum have both been involved in pushing for this but then they have called anyone who wants to know exactly what they are doing a conspiracy theorist just as they did with the Covid Vaccines. Why? "It appears that the Overton window has been blown wide open on the issue of geoengineering atmospheric weather modification… And I do know that HHS is in the process of putting together a team to investigate this. (video)

• @RenzTom

• Is this a joke? Why is the AG of the United States crowing about arresting 3 gang members instead of focusing on Soros, the Epstein crew, corrupt politicians or judges, or the leftist conspirators behind taking Trump out in 2020 and waging unethical lawfare on him ever since? A random DA should be taking care of this and she needs to be focused on issues that are at her pay grade… this isn’t it. I really am uninterested in seeing anymore news or press conferences from her until she does something that will impact the nation… not a neighborhood. (video)

• @DisrespectedThe

• If Canada loses Alberta, Canada is finished. (video)

• @OcrazioCornPop

• CORRUPTION: Chief Justice Roberts is responsible for appointing all FISA court judges, and these appointments do not require confirmation by Congress or any other body. Roberts personally selected ALL of the FISA court judges who played a key role in approving the illegal surveillance of Trump during the "Crossfire Hurricane" operation. Roberts’ corrupt management of the FISA court directly contributed to this targeted attack on Trump, further revealing Roberts' anti-Trump bias.

Night Trading

• Asian indices are -6.0% to -4.0% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 97.25 +6.0 basis points.
  
• China Sovereign CDS 69.0 +9.75 basis points.
• China Iron Ore Spot 96.9 USD/Metric Tonne -3.7%.
  
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.6 -.13%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 42.7 -3.0%.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 31.5 +10.3%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -4.3%.
• S&P 500 futures -4.0%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -4.9%.

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are sharply lower, weighed down by technology and commodity shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open sharply lower and to maintain losses into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is market neutral heading into the week.