Friday Watch

Around X:

• @ElonMusk

• NEW: Vice President JD Vance on Elon Musk & DOGE: "Elon is not disappearing. $160 billion in savings, that's a lot. Nobody said that the work of DOGE would only last 110 days. We think there's a lot more waste & fraud that we can find. We're going to save the American people a lot more money. But look, if we stopped at $160 billion of pure waste and fraud, that would be an unbelievable increase in government efficiency. That's something to be proud of, but we're gonna keep on working at it." (video)
• #BREAKING: Senate GOP leadership just CALLED OUT the House GOP — says they’re “not being NEARLY aggressive enough” on spending cuts, per Punchbowl. WTF ARE YOU DOING, @HouseGOP? We the people OVERWHELMING voted for DOGE cuts, and you’re not doing your jobs. (pic)
  

• @ZeroHedge

• Hyperbole, Lies, And Delusions.
• Trump Urges GOP To Raise Taxes On The Wealthy To Fund Economic Agenda: Report.
• What we learned this week thanks to GOOGL and AAPL is that all traffic and MAU numbers are completely made up.
• Vance: US-Iran Talks Are 'On the Right Pathway'.
• "If You're Bearish, You're Consensus...": Bitcoin & Big-Tech Surge As Trump Says "Buy Stocks Now".
• (None Dare Call It) Treason Of The Judiciary.
• Bitcoin & Big-Tech Soar As Beijing, Brits, & Better Data Spark Bond Bloodbath.

• @MarioNawful

• FBI WARNS PARENTS ABOUT NEO-NAZI "764" CULT TARGETING KIDS AS YOUNG AS 9 - HERE ARE THE RED FLAGS. The FBI has issued an urgent warning about "764"—a disturbing neo-Nazi sextortion network targeting children nationwide, with active cases in every FBI field office. Warning signs your child might be victimized include: 
• SEC LUTNICK: U.S.-CHINA TRADE TALKS HEADED TO SWITZERLAND—TRUMP WANTS DEALS, NOT TENSION. "There’s been back and forth, and now we’re meeting in Switzerland. Secretary Bessent and Ambassador Greer will lead it. The goal is to deescalate and trade—Trump wants deals, that’s who he is. I’m optimistic it’ll work out and we’ll pound forward." (video)
• BREAKING: AG BONDI BUSTED SPILLING EPSTEIN SECRETS TO RANDOM STRANGER. Explosive undercover footage obtained by O'Keefe Media Group shows Attorney General Pam Bondi telling a complete stranger at a DC restaurant on April 28 that the FBI possesses "tens of thousands of videos, and it's all with little kids" related to Jeffrey Epstein. The casual revelation—far more specific than anything previously acknowledged in official statements—came when a concerned citizen approached Bondi and asked about the timeline for releasing Epstein files. 
• SEC. KENNEDY: WE’RE CHALLENGING A SYSTEM THAT’S DESTROYING OUR HEALTH. “We all share a vision… to make our country healthy, to have evidence-based science, gold standard replicable science, and then use that to challenge the bedrock system that is destroying our health—a system built on complete misalignment.” (video)
  

• @TheTranscript

• Expedia CFO: "We also noticed softness in demand for inbound travel into the U.S., which was down 7%, as part of that inbound bookings from Canada fell nearly 30%."

• @WallStreetApes

• Everyone needs to fully understand what just happened. Rep Nancy Mace: - The guy is convicted pedophile. - He had over 1,000 photos and videos of kids, toddlers as young as 3. - There were animals raping the kids in some of the videos and photos and also adults. Attorney General Alan Wilson signed off on a 15-minute plea deal, protecting pedophiles instead of victims. “The guy had six indictments signed off by South Carolina attorney general, Alan Wilson, in a plea deal that took fifteen minutes. Guess what? Of the 6 indictments, 5 were dropped.

• @TheInsidePaper

• JUST IN - New Pope Leo XIV spent years retweeting criticism of Trump policies, NYP reports.

• @FXHedgers

• POPE LEO XIV IN HIS OWN WORDS: THE PONTIFF ON ABORTION, CLIMATE CHANGE, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (NYP).

• @PIQSuite

• Microsoft doesn't allow its employees to use China's Deepseek-President.

• @DC_Draino

• I’m old enough to remember when Chief Justice Roberts didn’t allow a senior Trump advisor @RealPNavarro to remain out of prison pending appeal of his political persecution, but when a an illegal alien MS-13 wife abuser gets sent home, suddenly due process is a huge concern.

• @bennyjohnson

• General Mike Flynn demands that anyone who destroyed Epstein evidence at the FBI be put in handcuffs and held fully accountable: “If the Epstein evidence has been destroyed… Whoever touched the evidence last, start with them… Bring them in handcuffs and question them.” (video)

• @StanfordReview

• INVESTIGATION: Uncovering Chinese Academic Espionage at Stanford. After interviewing multiple anonymous Stanford faculty, students, and China experts, the Review can confirm that the CCP is orchestrating a widespread intelligence-gathering campaign at Stanford. 1/8

• @EYakoby 

• Macron: “Netanyahu isn’t welcome in France.” Also Macron: “Al-Jolani, you just murdered hundreds of Druze and Christians in Syria, welcome to Paris.” (video)

• @NicoleShanahan

• Yes, it's very strange. Doesn't make any sense. I was promised that if I supported RFK Jr. in his Senate confirmation that neither of these siblings would be working under HHS or in an appointment (and that people much more qualified would be). I don't know if RFK very clearly lied to me, or what is going on. It has been clear in recent conversations that he is reporting to someone regularly who is controlling his decisions (and it isn't President Trump). With regards to the siblings, there is something very artificial and aggressive about them, almost like they were bred and raised Manchurian assets..

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are unch. to +1.0% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 89.25 -3.5 basis points. 
• China Sovereign CDS 56.5 -2.0 basis points.
• China Iron Ore Spot 96.9 USD/Metric Tonne +.34%
• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.71 +.07%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.9 -.2%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 62.9 +.2%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.37% -1.0 basis point.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 22.4 +.5%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.04%. 
• S&P 500 futures -.17%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.16%.

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly higher, boosted by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher.  The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.