Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:  

• Trump Bows to Economic Fears in Move to Delay China Tariffs.

• Stocks to Rally in Asia on Tariff-Delay Relief. Asian stocks were primed to rally after the Trump administration de-escalated its trade war with China, providing relief to risk assets that had been under pressure earlier in the week. Treasuries retreated. Japanese futures were more than 2% higher after the S&P 500 Index had its biggest intraday gain in more than two months. Washington said it was delaying until mid-December the 10% tariff on some Chinese-made products that are high on many holiday-shopping lists such as phones, laptops and toys. A stronger-than-expected CPI data and easing in trade tensions sent 10-year yields higher. The dollar strengthened. The S&P 500 Index rose 1.5% on Tuesday. Futures were little changed. Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 2.2%. Hang Seng Index futures earlier advanced 1.6%. Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.7%.   

• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.  

• Trump Flinches, U.S. Inflation Quickens, Somber Merkel: Eco Day.

• Jeffrey Epstein Asset Forfeitures Wouldn’t Guarantee Payout for Accusers.

Wall Street Journal:

• U.S. Retreats on Chinese Tariff Threats, Stocks Soar.

• Hong Kong Protesters and Police Clash at Airport.

• Mortgage Debt Hits Record, Eclipsing 2008 Peak.

• States Sue Trump Administration Over Rollback of Power-Plant Rules.

• San Francisco, Santa Clara County File Suit to Block Rule on Green Cards.

• Russia Urges Villagers to Leave Radioactive Blast Site.

Fox News:

• Royal's link to Jeffrey Epstein draws new scrutiny after suicide, document dump.

• Harris, Warren take heat for claim Michael Brown was murdered.

CNBC:

• CBS and Viacom have finally agreed to merge — here’s what they could buy next.

• Trump just blinked, giving China a possible edge in trade war, some big Wall Street names say.

• A $1 trillion US budget deficit is one big reason the Fed may have to cut rates.

• Cramer breaks down the biggest winning stocks from Trump’s tariff delay.

• Why activist investor Carl Icahn is taking a big stake in 11-year-old ‘big data’ company Cloudera.

• Main yield curve nearly inverts as 10-year yield tops 2-year rate by just 2 basis points.

• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: RealReal, Tilray, and Myriad.

Zero Hedge:

• Tesla(TSLA) Stock-Sellers Bank $2.75 Billion As Carmaker Is Now The Most Profitable US Short This Year.

• San Francisco Fentanyl-Related Deaths Spiked 150% Last Year.

• India's Car Market Just Crashed, Had Its Worst Month In 18 Years.

• WTI Slides After 2nd Surprise Crude Build In A Row.

• Facebook(FB) Is Collecting User Audio, Paying Contractors To Transcribe It.

• Beijing Refuses American Warships Entry To Hong Kong Ports.

• Trump Trade Blink Sparks Stock, Yuan Spike But Treasury Curve Collapses To 12-Year Lows.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are +.75% to +1.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 68.25 -1.75 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 50.25 -3.25 basis points.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index  66.12 +.01%.

• FTSE 100 futures +.19%.

• S&P 500 futures -.13%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.11%.

Morning Preview Links 

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (GOOS)/-.24

• (LK)/-.45

• (M)/.45

After the Close:

• (A)/.72

• (CACI)/2.17

• (CGC)/-.41

• (CSCO)/.82

• (NTAP)/.58

• (VIPS)/1.04

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

• The Import Price Index MoM for July is estimated to fall -.1% versus a -.9% decline in June.

• The Import Price Index ex Petrol MoM for July is estimated to fall -.1% versus a -.4% decline in June. 

• The Export Price Index MoM for July is estimated to fall -.1% versus a -.7% decline in June.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The China Retail Sales/Industrial Production reports, Eurozone Industrial Production/GDP reports,  weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report and the (IDXX) investor day could also impact trading today.

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