Friday Watch

Around X:

• @ElonMusk

• The @DOGE team is making a real difference fixing broken software, computer and communications systems in the government. It is difficult to convey with words just how messed up the systems are! Tech Support is sorely needed.
• BREAKING: Illegal migrant kiIIs Texas dad in front of his family. He was able to stay here despite 2 prior kiIIs + prior arrests. (video) 
• Democrats allowed 20 million illegal immigrants to walk into the country with NO process. Now, they want President Trump to give these people who broke the law YEARS of "due process" before he can send them back home. Americans are SICK of this. (video)

• @ZeroHedge

• 'Very, Very Wrong': Expert Warns China Showing Signs Of 'End-Of-Regime Conduct'.
• Hegseth Threatens Iran Over Houthi Support: 'You Will Pay'.
• US House Passes Resolution To Stop California From Banning Gas-Powered Cars. 
• Walmart Increases Support For USA-Made Products.
• Amazon Announces $4 Billion Rural Delivery Network, Estimates 100,000 New Jobs.
• May-Day, May-Day, May-Day For Bonds & Bullion; Yay-Day For Big-Tech & Bitcoin.

• @MarioNawful

• U.S. ARMY GOES FULL DRONE MODE AFTER WATCHING UKRAINE. The Army saw Ukraine’s war, said “Whoa,” and is now turning into a flying robot army with 1,000 drones per division. They’ve been testing swarms of buzzing drones that spy, deliver supplies, and blow stuff up—all while soldiers sit back and watch from a tablet like it’s Call of Duty: Real Life Edition. General Randy George says they’re not asking for more money—just tossing out ancient gear like Humvees, light tanks, and even some helicopters to pay for a $36 billion high-tech upgrade. They want zero parts from China, more lasers, better battlefield Wi-Fi, and fewer people getting blown up. Basically: fewer boots, more bots, no boomers.
• TRUMP: WE’RE SHUTTING DOWN IRAN’S OIL DEALS—STARTING NOW! "ALERT: All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW! Any Country or person who buys ANY AMOUNT of OIL or PETROCHEMICALS from Iran will be subject to, immediately, Secondary Sanctions. They will not be allowed to do business with the United States of America in any way, shape, or form. Thank you for your attention to this matter, PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP!"
• TECH STOCKS ROAR BACK ON AI HYPE. Microsoft’s AI is getting so good, it’s now doing more of the work than ever—16% of its cloud growth came from AI magic this quarter. Last time? Just 13%. Upgrade unlocked. Meta’s using AI to vacuum up ad cash like a Roomba on Red Bull, even while Trump’s trade tantrums keep messing with the global economy. Investors freaked out—in a good way—and went shopping. Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom? All up. Apple? Still grounded after a court said, “Nice try” on App Store changes. Microsoft soared 8.7%, Meta jumped 4.5%, and AI stocks partied like it’s 2029. 
• U.S. SAYS BIG INSURANCE RAN A MEDICARE BRIBE FEST. The Justice Department just dropped a bomb on the healthcare world—accusing top insurers of turning Medicare sign-ups into a dirty money game. CVS’s Aetna, Humana, and Elevance allegedly handed brokers hundreds of millions in shady kickbacks to push seniors into their Medicare Advantage plans. And it wasn’t just the insurers—brokers like eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote are also in the hot seat for playing middleman in the scheme. The feds say it’s all a massive fraud under the False Claims Act. Translation: this wasn’t “marketing”—it was a multi-million dollar hustle.
• UBER TO DEPLOY THOUSANDS OF ROBOTAXIS — BECAUSE HUMANS ARE OVERRATED. Uber’s teaming up with May Mobility to drop thousands of self-driving Toyota vans on U.S. streets, starting in Arlington, Texas, by late 2025. Think Uber but without the awkward small talk. These robotaxis will start with human safety drivers (because, ya know, “trust issues”) before going fully driverless. It’s Uber’s latest move to beat Tesla’s Cybercab and Lyft in the robotaxi race. Good luck with that. The U.S. government’s cool with it — as long as the bots play by the rules and report their whoopsies.
• JD VANCE: IF THE PRESIDENT CAN’T DEPORT ILLEGAL CRIMINALS, “HE’S NOT ALLOWED TO BE PRESIDENT”. "The judge doesn’t decide if the Alien Enemies Act applies—the President does. Biden let in millions, and now we’re being blocked from deporting them. If you tell the President he can’t deport illegal criminals, you’re saying he can’t be President. We reject that, and so will the Supreme Court. We were elected to fix this, and we will." (video)
• ELON: ONLY 10–15¢ ON THE DOLLAR REACHES RECIPIENTS—THE REST GETS STOLEN IN D.C. "Even if you agree with supporting alpaca farmers in Peru, most of the money never makes it there. It goes into the pockets of people in D.C. The GAO estimated only 10 to 15 cents on the dollar reaches the recipient. There's layer after layer of stealing—like peeling an onion." (video)
• ELON: FRAUD ALWAYS STARTS SMALL, THEN THEY RENT STADIUMS. “Generally, the fraud starts out small and they try to hide it. But then, year after year, if nobody stops the fraud, it gets more and more brazen. And every year it gets bigger—until they’re literally renting out stadiums, like in the millions, just to run the fraud.” (video)

• @LauraLoomer

• EXCLUSIVE. Alex Wong, the Chinese Deputy National Security Advisor appointed by President Trump, who is at the center of the Signalgate scandal, is married to U.S. Attorney Candice Chiu Wong, a Chinese Woman who was one of the key attorneys involved in PROSECUTING J6ers. Alex Wong was appointed by President Trump on 11/22/24 to serve as the Assistant to the President and the Principal Deputy National Security Advisor under @MikeWaltz47 Mike Waltz, the newly appointed US National Security Advisor. SCALP.

• @TheTranscript

• $AAPL CEO @tim_cook: "For the June quarter, we do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. will have India as their country of origin. Vietnam to be the country of origin for almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods products sold in the U.S. China would continue to be the country of origin for the vast majority of total product sales outside the U.S."
• $AAPL CEO: "Today we are reporting $95.4 billion in revenue, up 5% from a year ago, and at the high end of the range we provided last quarter...Services revenue was $26.6 billion, up 12% year-over-year". 
• $AAPL Apple Inc. Q1 25 Segment & Regional Sales: By Category:  • iPhone: +1.9% to $46.8B  • Mac: +6.7% to $7.9B  • iPad: +15.1% to $6.4B  • Wearables, Home & Accessories: –4.9% to $7.5B  • Services: +11.6% to $26.6B By Geography:  • Americas: +8.2% to $40.3B  • Europe: +1.4% to $24.5B  • Greater China: –2.3% to $16.0B  • Japan: +16.6% to $7.3B  • Rest of Asia Pacific: +8.4% to $7.3B
  
• $AMZN CEO: "Moving next to our AWS segment, revenue was $29.3 billion in Q1, an increase of 17% year over year. AWS now has an annualized revenue run rate of more than $117 billion". (graph) 
• $AMZN Amazon Q1 25 Segment Highlights: Net sales growth: —North America: +8 % —International: +5% —AWS: +17% —Consolidated: +9%.
• Amazon double beat. CEO @ajassy: "We’re pleased with the start to 2025". $AMZN: -4% AH. (details)

• @bennyjohnson

• BREAKING: DNI Tulsi Gabbard is investigating Dr. Fauci for perjury and his role in funding Wuhan gain-of-function research tied to COVID-19. Justice is coming. (video)

• @DC_Draino 

• Holy crap. The Biden-appointed judge who ruled Border Patrol needs a warrant to arrest illegal aliens makes millions of dollars from illegal aliens living in her husband’s real estate projects. You can’t make this up! Investigate this woman for making $$ off her insane rulings. (video)

• @JimFerguson

• UKCATHERINE AUSTIN FITTS EXPOSES THE GLOBALIST PLAN: “THIS ISN’T A RESET — IT’S A TAKEOVER”. Former Bush administration official Catherine Austin Fitts isn’t staying silent. “The Great Reset is NOT about helping you — it’s about controlling you.” As former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, she’s seen the machinery of power up close — and now she’s warning the world. THIS ISN’T A THEORY — IT’S A BLUEPRINT FOR GLOBAL TYRANNY. WHAT THIS MEANS:

• @MJTruthUltra 

• I can’t believe Texas is actually debating on whether or not to Jail Americans for Posting Political memes. Democrats allowed millions of illegal alien criminal cartels into the US, and now they’re afraid to be criticized for doing it… listen. (video)Quot@DerrickEvans4WVBREAKING: Former Georgia Democratic House candidate Carl Sprayberry, who publicly called for the assass!nation of President Trump has been arrested as part of a sweeping, multi-agency child s3x trafficking operation.

• @sheislaurenlee

• BREAKING: HHS will require that ALL new vaccines be tested in placebo-controlled trials before they’re licensed for use. “Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, all new vaccines will undergo safety testing in placebo-controlled trials prior to licensure — a radical departure from past practices,” HHS said in a statement. This is a MASSIVE step forward for ensuring our vaccines are TRULY “safe and effective.”

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are unch. to +1.0% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 95.0 -2.0 basis points. 
• China Sovereign CDS 60.0 -1.5 basis points.
• China Iron Ore Spot 95.3 USD/Metric Tonne +.2%
• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.75 -.37%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.9 -.12%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 59.4 +1.0%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.24% +2.0 basis points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 23.1 -.7%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +1.2%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.56%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.26%.

Morning Preview Links

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