Wednesday Watch

Around X:

• @Business  

• Japan’s five-year government bond yield climbed to its highest since the tenor’s debut in 2000, as fiscal concerns deepened on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s reported plans for a snap election. 
• The yen’s relentless slide in recent days has increased the risks of intervention and a sharp correction, according to Eurizon and SocGen.
• The Venezuela government has started releasing prisoners with US citizenship, sources said. 
• Venezuela's acting president plans to send an envoy to Washington on the same day that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will be in town for her own talks.
• The US is studying ways to help fund the massive task of rebuilding Venezuela’s infrastructure, possibly including the use of government agencies like the DFC, according to a White House official. 
• A surprisingly sluggish market has pushed crypto companies to look for ways to de-risk their businesses. 
• Harvard University enrolled a record number of international students in the current academic year, even as the Trump administration sought repeatedly to curb student visas. Enrollment among Chinese students at Harvard grew 4.5%, 
• Traders focused on options are increasingly pricing out expectations for any Fed interest rate cuts in 2026, making wagers instead that would pay off if the central bank stays on hold all year. 
• Get up to speed on what's moving global markets
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• Here's what you need to know to start your day. 

• @ZeroHedge

• Waste Of The Day: Questions Arise Over $5.8 Billion In Rental Assistance.
• Newsom Scrambles To Keep Billionaires In California, Vows To Kill Wealth Tax.
• Michigan County Clerk Discovers 239 Non-Citizens Selected For Jury Duty Over 4-Month Period, With 14 Registered To Vote.
• Google's Vietnam Bet Highlights New Era In Electronics Manufacturing.
• Schools Increasingly Consider Rewarding Teachers For Results, Not Seniority.
• "Cisginger," I'm ded.   
• Fentanyl Deaths Fall As Evidence Points To China Crackdown Trump Long Advocated.
• 92% Of Employed Americans Have Cut Back On Spending As The Standard Of Living In The US Crumbles.
• U.S. Department of Energy and NASA to Develop Lunar Surface Reactor by 2030.  
• Musk Offers Free Starlink As Iran Protests Endure Internet, Comms Blackout.
• Fraud, Failure, & The Cost Of Not Demanding Assimilation
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• COMER INITIATING CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS PROCESS FOR CLINTONS
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• Bullion, Crude, & Crypto Jump Amid Geopolitical Chaos
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• @CNBC

• CNBC Daily Open: U.S. stocks dip and oil jumps as Iran, Fed independence concerns rise.
• Wednesday's big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session.
• Japan's Nikkei 225 set to hit another high as Asia markets look past geopolitical worries.
• Stock futures are flat as traders look ahead to more bank earnings: Live updates.
• Some traders say the market is way too calm given the risks out there. How to hedge for a volatility spike. 

• @RenzTom

• How is it that a lawyer with no medical training (me) could look at the science and know these jabs were unsafe and ineffective in 2021, but CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield couldn't? I even filed lawsuits on this that Redfield's CDC fought. I'm sorry, but this apology tour he's doing now isn't enough—it was gross negligence or intentional fraud that allowed him to look the other way while thousands of Americans were killed and injured by the mRNA shots. This is far too little, too late. (video)
• BREAKING: President Trump is blackpilling! According to the WSJ (which I admit is a terrible source), the President believes Susie Wiles' AG appointee, Pam Bondi, is weak and ineffective. I’m praying that @realDonaldTrump wakes up and fires the crooks around him—5,000 of the DOJ’s FBI agents were involved in J6 persecution, and fewer than 150 have been fired to date. The undermining of Trump is a combination of cowardice and corruption. This will destroy our chances in these critical midterms.
• The RINOs strike again - this time in Arizona. Rachel Keshel is a warrior and true MAGA. Here we see why we all need to speak out and put principles before anything - including party. If we don’t fight for the primaries it will be uniparty all the way… if you have Lindsey Graham and a Democrat it’s just two Dems. 
• Weaponized Justice Is Still Justice Denied We were told accountability was coming. We were told the Constitution mattered again. Yet here we are—watching critical cases fumbled through delay, incompetence, and silence as the statute of limitations quietly runs out. The Comey case. The Letitia James mess. Both should have been indicted in week one. Instead, we face legal landmines that never should have existed. Meanwhile, the DOJ turned January 6 into a constitutional mockery—twisting laws never meant for this purpose, charging people with nonexistent felonies, and ignoring equal protection under the law. 95% of George Floyd–era misdemeanor cases were dismissed. 98% of J6 cases were pursued full throttle. That is not justice. That is weaponization. With the clock ticking toward another election cycle, we’re still waiting—for indictments, for action, for someone in charge to remember their oath. When you weaponize the justice system, you attack the Constitution itself. The American people deserve better than delay, excuses, and silence. (video)

• @MJTruthUltra

• Heads need to roll.. The CDC Held a Secret Meeting, known as ‘Simpsonwood’, after a Study showed the Hepatitis B Vaccine was Causing Autism in Children • A study was conducted, comparing babies who got the Hepatitis B Vaccine (loaded with mercury, Thiomersal) within the first 30 days to babies who never got it at all.. WHAT THEY. FOUND WAS SHOCKING!

• @LaraLogan

• We have not seen a security breach like this from the Secret Service in our lifetimes. It shows we have a catastrophic counter-intelligence failure across the U.S. govt. Secret Service, along w the DOJ, FBI, CIA & so on are fatally compromised & working agst the President. This is why the CIA should be dismantled & replaced with a counter-intelligence agency that actually protects this nation from all enemies, both foreign & domestic. (video)
• “If you have a nation that can determine election outcomes in more than 70 countries up the ballot and down the ballot then you are not dealing with a normal government. You are dealing with the most powerful criminal organization in the world.” (video)

• @EricLDaugh

• HOLY SMOKES. SCOTUS Justice Sam Alito asks ACLU lawyer "what is a man and a woman?" and they DON'T HAVE A DEFINITION. Alito's response is perfect. ALITO: What does it mean to be a man or woman? ACLU: We do not have a definition for the Court. ALITO: How can a court determine whether there's discrimination on the basis of s*x, without KNOWING what s*x means?! Omg, you can't make this crap up. Seriously.

• @WallStreetApes

• WOAH!!! James O’Keefe just got undercover footage of the Secret Service Agent assigned to JD Vance leaking sensitive security information. He openly gives away JD Vance’s shift schedules, travel plans and real-time locations. Literally Treason. (video)
• WOAH!! Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon says she went after ANTIFA rioters who beat journalists on camera at protests. “Each of them showed up in court after I sued them with their own lawyers PAID FOR BY (GEORGE) SOROS”. READ THAT AGAIN. (video) 

• @RWMaloneMD

• How the money flowed from USA to Wuhan, China, enabling SARS-CoV-2. Still no accountability, after all these years. Source: NY Post "Sen. Ernst, Rep. Gosar demand NIH halt $3M in funding for Anthony Fauci’s ‘bat facility’ in Colorado". (table)

• @LaurenLee

• WOAH! Senator Ron Johnson just said COVID was “preplanned by an elite group of people." “This needs to be exposed." "Event 201. It occurred in late 2019, prior to the rest of us knowing about the pandemic." Congress KNOWS. So when will we get accountability?? (video)

• @ScottPresler

• Hi, Senator Thune. I’ve visited your office, emailed your staff, & posted on social media for 12 days. If you’re asking for money without passing the SAVE Act, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Tomorrow is day 13 & I’ll be posting.

• @mattvanswol

• #BREAKING: It has been revealed that the man charged with murdering two teenagers in Charlotte NC... ...IS AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT!!!!! In the arrest records, he is labelled as a "WHITE MALE" with "Blond or Strawberry" hair... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!!!!
• Look, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m a scientist by training… But WHY ON EARTH would the Mecklenburg County Sheriffs Office completely scrub the arrest records and mugshot of the murderer of Iryna Zarutska? What could possibly be the explanation for this?!!! (video)

• @elonmusk

• Even though I knew his death was coming, as he told us it would, I still can’t believe he has died. Rest in peace, good and great man, rest in peace. (pic)
• Once the NGOs start receiving funding from the government, they are almost impossible to stop. You are funding your own destruction. It’s an outrage. (video)

• @Holden_Culotta

• Rand Paul just revealed he’s working with RFK Jr. to prosecute Fauci. But Trump’s DOJ is ignoring him and refusing to bring charges. “It doesn’t happen unless the Trump Justice Department will do something.” “I can’t get them to do anything.” “I’ve been working with Bobby Kennedy, he’s been very helpful.” “He’s given us a lot of information.” “In Anthony Fauci’s communications, we now have evidence that he was telling people like Francis Collins: read this and destroy it.” “You can’t do that.” “The executive branch [is] required to keep their communications.” “We have this evidence, and I’ve summarized it again in a criminal referral to Trump’s Attorney General.” “And I still haven’t gotten action.” “One, he shouldn’t get away with lying [and] destroying records.” “Two, we should check … is an auto-pen pardon valid?” “Can you give people a pardon for everything they did in a 10-year period?” (video)

• @TimBurchett

• Leader Thune was just on the Senate floor grandstanding about rooting out waste, fraud & abuse by passing the "Working Families Tax Cuts Legislation." So why is the Taliban still getting $40 million of our tax dollars every week? THIS IS EXACTLY WHY AMERICANS HATE D.C.!!! One of the reasons I hate it. (video)

• @amuse 

• WEAPONIZATION: Trump and Musk cut NED funding after exposing how the organization undermined America's interests, censured and supressed conservative journalists, and undermined democracy. Congress put the full $315M back anyway. Susan Collins and Tom Cole overruled the president and restored the cash. Rep Massie is trying to stop them.

• @AFPost

• Israel quietly paid influencers on the American right $900,000 to peddle pro-Israel talking points in 2025, and plans to increase spending to $250,000 a month, or $3 million annually. The money comes from an initiative called “Project Esther” that has the aim of swaying public opinion to a more pro-Israel position with the help of American influencers. “We have to fight back. How do we fight back? Our influencers,” Netanyahu said, in a recent video.

• @CharlieK_news

• SHE SAID IT! Anna Paulina Luna just did what almost nobody in Congress has the guts to do — she called out BOTH parties. “I’d like the Speaker of the House to explain why leadership on BOTH SIDES keeps cutting backroom deals to COVER UP public corruption!” READ THAT AGAIN. Yeah… WE ALL want that answer. Do you support Luna exposing this? YES or NO? (video)

• @MikeZaccardi

• Eggs getting very close to free (wholesale) @teconomics $0.33/dozen. (graph)

• @WallStreetMav

• BETRAYAL: The Republican majority passed 3 Dem bills tonight for more than $1 billion in spending, most of it on foreign countries. Tim Burchett was 1 of only about 20 Republicans that voted no on all 3. Republicans have to purge the party in primaries. (video)

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.75% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 64.75 unch.
• China Sovereign CDS 42.0 +1.0 basis point.
• China Iron Ore Spot 108.6 USD/Metric Tonne +.24%. 
• Gold 4,627.3 USD/t oz. +.61%. 
• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.71 -.05%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.12 +.03%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 102.6 +.2%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.17% -1.0 basis point.
• Japan 30-Year Yield 3.51% +1.0 basis point. 
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 18.4 -.2%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.17%. 
• S&P 500 futures -.05%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.03%.

Morning Preview Links

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