Wednesday Watch

Around X:

• @Business

• BREAKING: Trump says the US has reached a trade deal with Japan, setting a 15% tariff on Japanese goods. 
• Stocks are set to rise in Tokyo after Trump announced a trade deal with Japan imposing 15% tariffs on exports from the country.
• Japan’s 40-year government bond auction on Wednesday will be the first test of investor appetite for super-long debt following a historic election defeat for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. 
• Vietnam’s stock benchmark is closing in on a record high, fueled by optimism over sweeping political reforms and clarity on a trade deal with the US. 
• The Trump administration expects that Indonesia’s decision to bring down trade barriers will result in at least $50 billion in additional market access for US goods. 
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy approved legislation to strip the nation’s anti-corruption agencies of their independence, potentially hamstringing efforts to tackle high-level graft and shore up the rule of law. 
• Here’s the latest news and analysis on the oil market.
• Crypto companies and advocates of digital assets boosted their lobbying this year to ensure passage of landmark legislation, delivering the nascent industry its first major policy victory in Washington. 
• Business and households supplied by the largest US grid will pay $16.1 billion to ensure there is enough electricity supply to meet soaring power demand.
• Carlsmed, which uses AI to personalize spine surgery, raised $100.5 million in its IPO, pricing shares within a marketed range. 
• Opendoor was a poster child for the froth in SPACs when it went public in 2020. Now, after a blistering rally powered by retail traders that cooled Tuesday, some are wondering if the company is an emblem of the latest meme-stock craze.
• Texas Instruments declined in late trading after giving a revenue forecast that fell short of the most bullish estimates. 
• SAP reported quarterly cloud and software sales that fell just short of estimates as tariff insecurities weighed on Europe’s most valuable company. 
• Get up to speed on what's moving global markets.  
• Here's what you need to know to start your day. 

• @ZeroHedge 

• Protests Kick Off In Kiev After Zelensky Shuts Down US-Backed Anti-Corruption Agency.
• *JAPAN 2-YEAR BOND YIELD RISES 5 BASIS POINTS TO 0.8%. *JAPAN 10-YEAR BOND YIELD RISES 7 BASIS POINTS TO 1.585%.
• *US NUCLEAR WEAPONS AGENCY BREACHED IN MICROSOFT SHAREPOINT HACK.
• These Are The World's Most Critical Oil Chokepoints.  
• Behind The $215 Billion Data Center Boom: Here's Who Makes All The Key Components.
• Trump says completed trade deal with Japan: "will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15%", "will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things."  
• VDH: The War Between Trump's Chemotherapy & The Biden Cancer.
• BREAKING: Famous lawyer who represented Jeffrey Epstein is now DEAD. Roy Black was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal defense attorneys when he was charged with federal sex trafficking charges. Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer allowed the notorious sex trafficker to plead to misdemeanor charges after allegations of rape of underage girls surfaced. Black was critical in negotiations on the infamous 2008 non-prosecution agreement, which allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser state charges. The lawyer also filed a response to a case that the NPA was a violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. A Florida federal judge ruled that prosecutors had failed to consult victims while cutting the deal. Roy Black would certainly know a lot about Jeffrey Epstein's clients. The timing of his death is... unfortunate.
• Trump Considering Eliminating Capital Gains Tax On Houses.
• How Things Stand 6 Months After Palisades Fire.  
• Japan Votes Against Globalism And Multiculturalism In Latest National Election.
• $100 Million In Palisades Relief Disappears In Democratic Party's NGO Network.

• @TheTranscript 

• Intuitive Surgical double beat. "The higher Q2 25 revenue was driven by growth in da Vinci procedure volume, higher da Vinci system placements, and an increase in the installed base of systems." $ISRG: -2% AH.

• @MarioNawful 

• ELON: EUROPE IS ON TRACK FOR "WIDESPREAD SLAUGHTER".“Terrorist attacks in Europe are rising weekly, but legacy media downplays this. If current trends continue, the result will be widespread slaughter of innocent people—your friends, family, children. The numbers are clear.” (video)

• @elonmusk

• 230k GPUs, including 30k GB200s, are operational for training Grok @xAI in a single supercluster called Colossus 1 (inference is done by our cloud providers). At Colossus 2, the first batch of 550k GB200s & GB300s, also for training, start going online in a few weeks. As Jensen Huang has stated, @xAI is unmatched in speed. It’s not even close. (video)

• @LauraLoomer 

• ALERT. VINAY PRASAD, THE LEFTIST SABOTEUR UNDERMINING TRUMP’S
  @US_FDA, MUST BE FIRED NOW! We have a crisis at the FDA! A wolf in sheep’s clothing is sabotaging President Trump’s bold “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda! Dr. Vinay Prasad @VPrasadMDMPH, a self-proclaimed progressive liberal and Bernie Sanders fanboy, has wormed his way into a top FDA role as Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) after he was appointed by RFK Jr @RobertKennedyJr.
• Because the entire US government cyber infrastructure is on Microsoft Government Azure, which as I have been exposing for the last week, hires Chinese nationals in China to handle all of their tech support. @Microsoft allowed the enemy to have access to our classified information. Their contracts with the US Federal Government should be canceled immediately. 
• WATCH: @Microsoft FOUNDER BILL GATES @BillGates CONFRONTED ON VIDEO BY @LoomerUnleashed OVER MICROSOFT CLASSIFIED INFO LEAKS TO THE CCP Today, @LoomerUnleashed @TheCharlesDowns confronted Microsoft Founder and Jeffrey Epstein associate Bill Gates about whether he would condemn Microsoft for giving Chinese foreign nationals located in China access to US Classified information via the Microsoft Government Azure program. Last week, I secured the exclusive interview with Navy Whistleblower @TomSchiller__ to expose this national security threat and massive breach of US DOD cyber systems. It’s now under review by Defense Secretary @PeteHegseth! There needs to be a criminal investigation into Microsoft for this Espionage. (video)
• Navy Whistleblower Tom Schiller says it wasn't some mid-level bureaucrat who approved giving foreign Chinese nationals access to U.S. government cyber systems via the Microsoft Government Azure platform. It was @BarackObama himself. (video)

• @WallStreetApes

• ABSOLUTELY INSANE! The Biden Admin setup a hotline so that unaccompanied minors could call if they had trouble with the strangers they were being placed with. 65,000 calls to this hotline WENT UNANSWERED ... (video)

• @seanmdav

• John Thune is deliberately slow-walking Trump’s nominations to obstruct Trump’s policy agenda. Thune knows he can’t vote against nominees, because then Trump would end his career, so instead he’s only processing a few each week and pretending that’s all he can do. (pic)

• @ShadowofEzra 

• Tulsi Gabbard just announced she’s dropping bombshell evidence tomorrow that will make Barack Obama’s denial of treason “look ridiculous.” She says Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the media will all end up exposing themselves—with their own words—as fools. (video)

• @daveasprey

• JUST IN: RFK Jr. has officially REMOVED the COVID shot from the childhood vaccine schedule! (video)

• @JimFergusonUK

• BILL GATES CONTROLS THE WHO? “This is not public health. This is a global coup.” — RFK Jr. Gates funnels billions into the WHO. The WHO then mandates vaccines. Gates profits from the very pharma companies he invests in. No elections. No accountability. Just control. WHAT THIS MEANS: (video)

• @GubbaHomestead

• Did you know that Organipeel, Bill Gates' organic version of Apeel, is registered as a pesticide with the EPA and a fungicide with OMRI? The definition of “organic” is shifting right before our eyes. To most consumers, organic means no spraying, just clean, chemical-free food. But now, something can still carry the organic label even if it’s sprayed with a pesticide. Even more concerning, the registration for Organipeel doesn’t provide a full breakdown of its ingredients. (pic)

• @runews

• NATO imposes a total ban on all mainstream media, including the BBC and CNN, from covering the anti-Zelensky protests in Ukraine: drawing comparisons to the Tiananmen Square massacre in China. (video)

• @Clay4MainStreet

• What DNI Tulsi Gabbard has uncovered is bigger than Watergate. As a career Prosecutor and elected District Attorney, here are my thoughts. (video)

• @wideawake_media 

• "If you've ever wondered why all the most powerful people in the world seem to bow at the same altars, there's a reason." "The real world is not run by voters, it's run by... blackmail." "Epstein's island was not a playground, it was a trap. The most powerful people in Hollywood, business and politics were flown out to his island, whined, dined, and filmed. Every sin, every weakness, every moment was recorded." "And that's why you see unshakable obedience to certain agendas. Why politicians on both sides of the aisle suddenly fall silent... Because the strings are being pulled by people who were never elected." "So when you wonder why your leaders are selling you out... why your streets fall apart, it's not incompetence, it's not bad policy—it's blackmail." (video)

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.75% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 70.25 -.5 basis point.
• China Sovereign CDS 42.5 unch.
• China Iron Ore Spot 104.4 USD/Metric Tonne -.9%. 
• Polymarket:  Which Countries Will the US Agree to Tariff Agreements with Before August?

• EU 38.0% +9.0 percentage points.
• India 9.0% -7.0 percentage points.
• Japan 100.0% +85.0 percentage points. 
• South Korea  51.0% +27.0 percentage points.

• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 9.03 -.18%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.8 -.03%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 76.8 +1.6%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.35% +1.0 basis point.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 18.6 -1.6%.  
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.81%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.17%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.04%.

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by consumer discretionary and industrial 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.