Friday Watch

Around X:

• @Business  

• After accusations that a Chinese fighter jet used weapons-targeting radar on fighters in Japan, the Japanese defense minister and US defense secretary agree China isn’t contributing to the peace of the Asia-Pacific region.
• The seizure of an enormous oil supertanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday is just the beginning of a new phase in the Trump administration’s ramped-up pressure campaign against Nicolas Maduro, according to people familiar with the operation.
• China’s exports are putting it on a collision course with Europe.
• President Trump issued an executive order seeking to limit the influence of proxy advisory firms, part of a push to curtail how third-party firms attempt to sway the direction of public companies.
• Uber expects to offer robotaxi services in more than 10 markets by the end of next year as the company discusses rules for the autonomous rides with regulators.
• Coinbase plans to announce next week that it will launch prediction markets and tokenized equities, two of the hottest products in the financial markets, according to a person familiar with the matter
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• Luxury furniture retailer RH soared after it reported higher growth than rivals as the industry contends with pressure from tariffs and a sluggish housing market.
• Get up to speed on what's moving global markets.
• Here's what you need to know to start your day. 
     

• @ZeroHedge

• Jordan Peterson Out Of Hospital But Still "Very Unwell", Daughter Says.
• US Solar Installations Soar As Developers Rush To Secure Tax Credits.
• Israel Used Palantir Technology In Its 2024 Lebanon Pager Attack.
• Top Democrat: Murder Of DC National Guard Just An 'Unfortunate Accident'.
• BREAKING - Oklahoma City BLM leader Tashella Dickerson has been federally indicted on 25 counts after prosecutors say she stole more than $3.15 million in donor and bail-fund money intended to free George Floyd protesters she instead bought six houses with. 
• Blue State Governors Are Refusing To Implement Trump's 'No Tax On Tips'
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• What Is Really Happening With Vaccination Policy?
• Letitia James Off The Hook Again As 2nd Grand Jury Refuses To Indict.
• EXPLOSIVE: Biden’s deep state PROVOKED a PREVENTABLE war in Ukraine. In a prank call, Biden’s Europe chief Sloat admits: 1) US knew just a “no NATO” statement from Ukraine would prevent war 2) US blocked it to avoid “rewarding” Russia & bet on Ukraine retaking territory by force. 
• Trust the science. (pic)
• Prepare For Coming World War, NATO Chief Says.
• *BROADCOM EXPECTS 'MINIMUM' $73B AI CHIP SALES OVER 6 QTRS.
• Pritzker Signs Law Limiting Federal Immigration Enforcement In Illinois.
• Prepare For The Unexpected: These Are Deutsche Bank's 2026 Curveballs.
• 2.5 Million Illegal Immigrants Deported Under Trump Admin: DHS.
• "You don’t get moves like this unless the market is starting to lean into a better growth outlook." (GS)  
• Asset Purchases Begin: Fed To Buy $8.2BN In Bills Friday; Full Monthly Schedule Released.
• Gold & Silver Jump, Bitcoin & Big-Tech Dump As ORCL's Grinch Slams Santa Powell.  

• @CNBC

• CNBC Daily Open: U.S. stocks hit records despite AI-led tech slide.
• Broadcom reveals its mystery $10 billion customer is Anthropic.
• Friday's big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session.
• Asia-Pacific markets set to climb after Wall Street notches fresh record.
• $LULU stock pops on earnings beat, CEO Calvin McDonald stepping down.
• S&P, Dow futures are higher after indexes notch record closes: Live updates.  

• @WSJ  

• What critics of AI overlook is the enduring lesson that when tools change, human creativity doesn’t shrink. It expands, writes Brian J. Gross.

• @TheTranscript 

• $COST CFO: No major signs of trade-down or weakening. “Net sales for Q1 FY 26 were $65.98B, an increase of 8.2%...Comparable sales were 6.4%..We’re seeing relative consistency in how our members are shopping… Nothing we call out as a change. 
• $AVGO Broadcom CEO downplays fears of widespread shift to in-house AI chips, citing rapid merchant GPU innovation. "So I see that as this concept of customer tooling is an overblown hypothesis, which frankly, I don't think will happen." 
• Broadcom CFO: "For Q1 2026, we expect consolidated revenue of ~$19.1B, up 28% year on year… We forecast semiconductor revenue of~$12.3B… Within this, we expect Q1 AI semiconductor revenue of $8.2B, up approximately 100% YoY." $AVGO: -5% AH. 

• @MarioNawful 

• NATURE JOURNAL RETRACTS MAJOR CLIMATE STUDY THAT CLAIMED $38 TRILLION IN ANNUAL DAMAGE BY 2049. The "science" strikes again. Nature has retracted a highly publicized 2024 climate study from Germany's Potsdam Institute that projected climate change would cause $38 trillion in economic damage annually by 2049 and a 62% reduction in global GDP by 2100. Progressives hyped it relentlessly. Axios called it a study that "shines a new light on the patterns and severity of climate change's economic impacts." It was used to justify electric vehicle mandates and other costly government interventions. One problem: the study was garbage.

• @EricLDaugh

• JUST IN: Sen. John Thune tells President Trump NO, the blue slip tradition is HERE TO STAY - which lets Democrats unilaterally block Trump's judicial and US attorney nominees. "This has been in place for a long time...both Republicans and Democrats support." "We've moved his nominees at a record rate. By the end of the year, we'll have a record number of his nominees approved." (video)
• BREAKING: U.S. House ADVANCES bill to OVERTURN a President Trump executive order after 13 Republicans voted with Democrats. In a 222-200 vote, the House moved forward with ending Trump's crackdown on federal worker unions. Utterly ridiculous. The 13 Republicans are: Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., Don Bacon, R-Neb., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Tom Kean, R-N.J., Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, Chris Smith, R-N.J., Pete Stauber, R-Minn., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio. Full passage vote could happen Thursday. (video) 

• @Wallstengine

• $AVGO CEO ON AI NETWORKING DEMAND AND BACKLOG: “AI networking demand here has even been stronger as we see customers build out their data center infrastructure ahead of deploying AI accelerators. Our current order backlog for AI switches exceeds $10 billion as our latest 102 terabits per second Tomahawk 6 switch… continues to book at record rates.” “All this components combined with our exposures bring our total order on hand in excess of $73 billion today, which is almost half Broadcom's consolidated backlog of 162 billion. We expect this $73 billion in AI backlog to be delivered over the next 18 months.”

• @TheSCIF

• We are being governed by a bunch of CRIMINALS. ALL FOOTAGE of pipe bomber allegedly DELETED. By law, there has to be a chain of command log of that video evidence so that information, MUST now be subpoenaed, unless that was destroyed as well. It just never ends ladies and gentlemen. (video)

• @KobeissiLetter

• Institutional demand for AI-related stocks is surging: US insurers purchased +$2.4 million of Nvidia, $NVDA, Microsoft, $MSFT, Alphabet, $GOOGL, and Meta, $META, on average per day over the 90 days ending November 30th. Insurers have been net buyers of these names over the last 12 months. In October, the 90-day moving average of net purchases rose to a record +$8.0 million. This is a sharp contrast to 2023 and 2024 when insurers were net sellers of these stocks. Institutional demand for AI stocks is incredibly strong.

• @disclosetv

• NEW - BlackRock CEO Fink is "suddenly" sitting beside Witkoff and Kushner at the Ukraine negotiating table.

• @OcrazioCornPop

• BREAKING: U.S. House PASSES $900 BILLION "military" spending bill. - Ukraine gets $800M. - Israel gets $692.5M. DID YOU VOTE FOR THIS?

• @bennyjohnson

• BREAKING: MS-13 terrorist Kilmar Abrego-Garcia has been released following rogue judge’s ruling. Completely insane.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are +.5% to +1.25% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 64.5 -1.25 basis points.
• China Sovereign CDS 42.75 -.75 basis points.
• China Iron Ore Spot 102.0 USD/Metric Tonne +.5%. 
• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.87 +.1%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.15 -.11%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 95.9 +.3%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.15% unch.
• Japan 30-Year Yield 3.36% -3.0 basis points. 
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 18.5 -.3%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.42%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.02%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.1%.

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 100% net long heading into the day.