Thursday Watch

Around X:

• @Business  

• China’s robust stockpiling of crude is expected to continue next year, helping to cushion global markets from a swelling surplus, but masking a broader trend of slowing oil demand growth.
• BREAKING: Mexico approves wide-ranging tariffs of up to 50% on China and other Asian nations. 
• Butter, milk and cheese prices are falling as a surge in global milk production floods the market, prompting warnings of a looming period of weak prices.
• Batteries are getting cheaper and allowing solar power to be used beyond daylight hours, according to a new analysis from clean energy think tank Ember.
• Google DeepMind will open its first research lab for discovering new materials, like those used in batteries or semiconductors, as part of its push to apply AI to more scientific fields.
• The dollar logs its worst day in nearly three months after Fed Chair Jerome Powell highlighted labor market risks while downplaying inflation concerns.
• BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink is back in the conversation around rebuilding Ukraine — this time with the Trump administration.
• Get up to speed on what's moving global markets.
• Here's what you need to know to start your day. 

• @ZeroHedge

• UPDATE: The journal Nature has officially retracted the fake climate study that JP Morgan used in its ESG report. The Biden admin relied on this junk research as well. And numerous financial institutions and European central banks continue to employ it in policymaking.
• Republicans Taking Note After Miami Mayor's Office Flips Blue For First Time In Decades. 
• Musk Says DOGE Was "Somewhat Successful," But Wouldn't Do It Again After Swamp's Attack On Tesla
  . 
• Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX Is Going Public, Space-Based Data Centers Secured. 
• Letitia James Moves To Silence Debate Over Transgender Policies.
• 11 Signs That Our World Is Rapidly Becoming A Lot More Orwellian.
• Musk Reveals Life On "Hardcore Mode" As Serious Security Concerns Linger Amid Radical Left Threat.
• Russell breaking up big here. Upper part of the channel is way higher... 
• Bloomberg chief economist Anna Wong: "Even though the dot plot shows just one 25-bp cut in 2026 — markets are pricing two — our view is that the Fed will end up cutting by 100 bps next year... we anticipate weak payroll growth and scant signs of an inflation resurgence".
• Wall Street Reacts To Powell's "More Dovish Than Expected" Rate Cut.  
• Stocks, Bonds, Bullion, & Bitcoin Bid as Fed Cuts Rates, Launches 'Not QE'
  . 

• @CNBC

• CNBC Daily Open: Investors find cheer amid Fed's hawkish cut. 
• Thursday's big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session.
• Asia-Pacific markets set to climb after third Fed cut of the year.
• Stock futures are little changed after Dow rallies on Fed rate cut: Live updates.
• Here are the five big takeaways from Wednesday's Fed rate decision.
• GOP lawmakers seek Trump aid for agricultural equipment after tariff pressure.

• @WSJ  

• Wall Street cheered the Federal Reserve’s decisions to cut interest rates and keep the door open for more cuts, bringing the S&P 500 within striking distance of a record high. 
• More Republicans in the House and Senate are breaking with party leaders and saying the GOP should extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies to avert big cost increases for millions of U.S. households and buy time for a bigger overhaul
  . 
• Startups and venture capital are joining the nationwide push to develop new sources of metals the U.S. desperately needs.
• The Federal Reserve is ready to once more expand its balance sheet by buying short-term Treasury securities.
• The U.S. seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Trump said, marking a major escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign against the country’s leader Nicolás Maduro
  . 
• Here’s some surprising political news: A referendum campaign is gaining support in Massachusetts, of all places, to reverse the state’s 2016 legalization of recreational marijuana.
   
• If progressives want to know why so many Americans don’t believe claims of the climate apocalypse, it’s because so much of climate science has been shown to be unbelievable
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• @TheTranscript 

• $ORCL Oracle CFO: "Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) increased by $68B in Q2—up 15% sequentially to $523B—highlighted by new commitments from Meta, NVIDIA, and others". 
• Oracle CEO: "We are more than halfway through building 72 Oracle Multicloud datacenters to be embedded throughout the Amazon, Google and Microsoft clouds." $ORCL: -6% AH. 
• Adobe double beat. CFO: "Adobe delivered another outstanding year, fueled by strong global demand for our AI solutions..." $ADBE: -1% AH.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.5% to +.25% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 65.75 unch.
• China Sovereign CDS 43.5 -.25 basis points.
• China Iron Ore Spot 102.4 USD/Metric Tonne -.3%. 
• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.83 +.08%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.1 -.02%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 95.7 +.1%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.14% -1.0 basis point.
• Japan 30-Year Yield 3.39% -1.0 basis point. 
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 19.2 +1.8%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.16%. 
• S&P 500 futures -.6%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -1.0%.

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to maintain losses into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.