Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- High Taxes and Regulations Mean UK Can’t Grow, Economist Warns.
- Don’t Bother Investing in China Unless You’re Chinese.
- Asia Stocks Face Pressure After Fed, Yen to Rally: Strategists.
- Oil’s Chaotic Selloff Worsens With 7.2% Tumble at Asia Open.
- Fed’s Powell Opens Door to June Rate Pause, Stresses Inflation Job Not Done.
- Recession Odds Are ‘Pretty Darn High’ Right Now, Gundlach Says.
- What Wall Street Is Saying About the Fed Rate Decision.
- PacWest Is Weighing Strategic Options, Including Possible Sale.
- Regional Banks Sink as PacWest Weighs Strategic Options.
- Icahn Short Sellers Reap Only a Fraction of Billionaire’s $6 Billion Stock Drop.
- Milken Attendees Obesses Over Recession and What’s Next.
- Doing, Not Just Chatting, Is the Next Stage of the AI Hype Cycle.
- Microsoft Economist Warns Bad Actors Will Use AI to Cause Damage.
- Bill Ackman Warns US Regional Banking System Is at Risk.
- Sovereign Debt Costs to Double by 2025 as Rates Rise, Says Janus.
- The Iconic American School Bus Is Going Electric.
- US Turns to Familiar Name to Clean Up $114 Billion Banking Mess: BlackRock.
- Big Hedge Funds Face New 72-Hour Deadline to Report Losses.
Zero Hedge:
- Here We Go Again: Troubled California Bank PacWest Craters 60% On Report It Is Seeking Buyers Or Capital Raise.
- Joe Biden 'Engaged In A Bribery Scheme With A Foreign National': FBI Internal Document Alleges.
- No, Washington Post, The Experts Were The Whole Problem.
- Bolsonaro Raided, Aide Arrested Amid Fake Covid-19 Vaccination Records Scandal.
- A Record Low 13% Of Eighth Grade Students Are Proficient In History.
- Nordstrom Closing San Francisco Stores, Citing "Deteriorating Situation" Amid Crime Crisis.
- Watchdog: IRS Has Spent $10M On Weapons, Ammo, & Combat Gear Since 2020.
- Pow(OI)elld.
- Gov. Newsom Activates National Guard And Highway Patrol To Combat San Francisco's Drug Crisis.
- Fed hiked rates by 25bps but laid the groundwork for a pause, while Powell pushed back on rate cuts - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
- Tucker Carlson Gets $100 Million Offer As MSNBC Dominates Fox In His Absence.
- Confirmed: Jeffrey Epstein’s History As An FBI Source.
- Stocks & Bond Yields Tumble On 'Hawkish Pause'; Gold Gains As Crude Collapses.
- Wall Street Reacts To Powell's Hawkish Pause.
- FTC Says "Facebook Repeatedly Violated Its Privacy Promises," Puts "Young Users At Risk".
Wall Street Journal:
- Workers Have High Hopes for Pay Raises, Companies Less So.
- Dinners With Lawrence Summers and Movie Screenings With Woody Allen.
- TikTok Launches Ad Product for Publishers, Giving 50% Cut.
- FTC Proposes Barring Meta From Monetizing Young Users’ Data.
- San Francisco’s Dying Downtown. Major retailers continue to flee the culture of lawlessness.
- New York’s Migrant Crisis Is About to Get Worse. Covid-era restrictions on entry expire May 11. Mayor Adams says Washington ‘has turned its back.’
CNBC.com:
- Apple expected to announce $90 billion in buybacks and dividends when it reports earnings.
- Google employees complain about CEO Sundar Pichai’s pay raise as company faces cost cuts.
- FDA commissioner praises Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s treatment results.
- Fed recap: Here are Chair Powell’s market-moving comments after the latest rate hike.
- PacWest falls more than 50% after hours on report bank is considering strategic options.
- The market is looking for the next ‘domino’ to fall, keeping banks under pressure.
- House China committee targets top clothing brands in forced labor inquiry.
- ‘Deposits are going to keep drifting out,’ says DoubleLine’s Gundlach, warning of echoes of S&L crisis at banks.
- Qualcomm stock falls as CEO says inventory problems will last ‘at least the next couple quarters’.
- Johnson & Johnson’s Kenvue IPO to command valuation of more than $40 billion in biggest public debut since 2021.
- 4 things we learned from Powell’s press conference after latest Fed rate hike.
- Zillow’s revenue falls nearly 90%, but the stock is still headed higher after earnings — here’s why.
Newsmax:
Fox News:
- Biden administration's latest Navy recruiting effort draws sharp criticism.
- Bud Light's Dylan Mulvaney debacle only getting worse for embattled beer company, Clay Travis says.
- Another Dem-run city to set up reparations commission, seek payments for Black residents.
TheGatewayPundit.com:
- MI Democrats Get Last Laugh As Republican Leadership Helps Them Pass Radical Leftist Agenda After Taking Control of MI Legislature For First Time in 40 Years.
- BREAKING: GOP Sen. Grassley and Oversight Chair Comer Subpoena Chris Wray and FBI to Produce Damning Unclassified Record Showing Criminal Scheme Between Joe Biden and Foreign National.
- O’Keefe: DOJ Prison Official Says Merrick Garland “Rolling Over” On Trans Men Impregnating Women in Prison – Paying Transgender Rapists Millions in Lawsuit Settlements (VIDEO).
- JUST IN: Owner of MI Horse Farm, Who Refused to Sell Property to CCP-Tied Battery Plant, is Notified She’s Under Investigation by Gov. Agency Tied to Dirty Dem AG Dana Nessel.
- Kari Lake Announces Her First Book! “Unafraid: Just Getting Started” – PRE-ORDER TODAY.
- Dr. McCullough Discovers Alarming Study Out Of China: “mRNA Technology Has Just Entered a Whole New, Much Darker Phase”.
- Karine Jean-Pierre Proudly Announces Trilateral Commission Stooge Ajay Banga as New World Bank President Who Will Address ‘Climate Change and Pandemics’ (VIDEO).
- NEW: “There Should Be Consequences” – Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell Releases Statement on Maricopa County Midterm Election and “Cover-Up” by Officials.
- US Track Star and 3X Olympic Medalist Tori Bowie Dead at 32.
- “I Vote for Aid for Ukraine, I Support Aid for Ukraine” – Kevin McCarthy Folds – Will Fund Ukraine-NATO War on Russia.
- Senate Votes to Undo Freeze on Chinese Solar Tariffs, Setting Up Showdown with Biden.
- US Chamber of Commerce Warns of Heightened Risk for Firms Doing Business in China.
Twitter:
- @Rasmussen_Poll - Update: "How likely is it that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election?" Likely / Not likely: All: 62% / 32% (new record high) Rep: 80% / 16% Dem: 45% / 50% Ind: 64% / 28%.
- @BreedLove22 - “Woke is Marxism evolved to take on The West…” The most brilliant description of our modern cultural sickness… this 30 min video is worth every second. We are in a struggle for the future of humanity: Awaken yourself to the malevolent reality of Woke. (video)
- @WallStreetSilv - Real estate … this time is different? Wages are quickly catching up, right? Right? (graph)
- @OldRowSwig - The uncomfortable cost of green energy. (video)
OpenVAERS:
- VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 955,352 Reports(+1,937 from prior week) Through April 21st, 2023.
SKirsch.com:
- Using the MGH numbers with our own VAERS queries, we have 247 cases per million doses from the MGH study divided by 5.97 cases per million doses from VAERS. 247/5.97 = 41. This suggests that the VAERS under-reporting factor (URF) is 41X.
Night Trading
Morning Preview Links
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly lower, weighed down by commodity and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.
- Asian equity indices are -.5% to unch. on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 134.75 +2.75 basis points.
- China Sovereign CDS 76.5 +1.25 basis points.
- China Iron Ore Spot 100.5 USD/Metric Tonne -.8%.
- Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 47.8 -.04%.
- Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 51.8 -.3%.
- Bloomberg US Financial Conditions Index -.12 -1.0 basis point.
- Volatility Index(VIX) futures 22.4 +1.6%.
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.51%.
- S&P 500 futures -.30%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures +.02%.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly lower, weighed down by commodity and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.