Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Alternative Data Show Europe Slowing, U.S. Gaining.  
• U.S. Says It Has Evidence of Forced Labor in Chinese Sweetener.
• ECB’s Lagarde Says Virus Resurgence Is a Clear Risk to Economy.
• Apartment Rents Are Plunging in the World's Richest Cities. It's Time For You to Negotiate.
• U.S. Futures Push Higher Amid Stimulus Talks: Markets Wrap. Asian stocks rose and U.S. futures extended overnight gains amid optimism about progress on stimulus talks in Washington. The dollar dipped. Shares climbed in Japan, Australia and South Korea. S&P 500 contracts edged higher after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she remains hopeful of a deal before the election. The gauge bounced back from Monday’s selloff on Tuesday. Tech shares mostly shook off the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to sue Google for allegedly abusing its power. Netflix Inc. plunged in late trading after it added fewer subscribers than predicted in the third quarter and issued a forecast that missed Wall Street estimates. Elsewhere, Treasuries continued to retreat, with the 10-year yield rising toward 0.8%. Oil slipped.  S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% as of 9:02 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 Index gained 0.5%. Topix index rose 0.5%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.2%. South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures rose 0.2% earlier.
• Oil Climbs While U.S. Lawmakers Discuss a Potential Aid Package.
• Pelosi, Mnuchin Move Closer to Stimulus Deal Amid Senate Doubts.
  
• Netflix Slides After Results Suggest Pandemic Boom Is Waning.
• Amazon to Let Employees Work From Home Through June 2021.  
• What Al Fresco Dining May Look Like When It’s Cold.  
• In New 60/40 Portfolio, Riskier Hedges Are Displacing U.S. Debt.  
• Trump Nemesis Mary Nichols on Short List to Run Biden EPA.

Wall Street Journal:

• Google’s Exclusive Search Deals With Apple at Heart of Antitrust Lawsuit.
• The Bidens and China Business.
• End the School Shutdown.
• States Prepare to File Own Antitrust Cases Against Google.
• Pioneer Natural Resources to Buy Parsley Energy for $4.5 Billion.
• Uber Weighs California Overhaul if Ballot Measure on Workers Fails.
• Top Universities Took Billions in Unreported Foreign Funds, U.S. Finds.
• Trump Urges Barr to Initiate Investigation Into Joe Biden and Son.

Fox News:

• Investigators have laptop with Hunter Biden's purported emails, agree they're not linked to Russia
  

CNBC.com:

• Pelosi and Mnuchin make progress in stimulus talks, but big differences remain, Meadows says.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Netflix, Snap, Texas Instruments & more.
• GM unveils Hummer EV as ‘world’s first supertruck’ for $112,600 starting in 2021.
• A Democratic wave could make things much easier for the marijuana industry, Jim Cramer says.
  

MarketWatch.com:         

• Snap stock rockets 20% after surprise profit and huge revenue beat.  
• AT&T stock notches worst losing streak since 2010 amid fears of iPhone subsidies’ effects on earnings.  
• Complacency warning? ‘Election premium’ in currency market collapses much like it did in 2016.

Zero Hedge:

• Trump Abruptly Ends Interview With Leslie Stahl: "You'll Have To Watch What We Do To 60 Minutes".
• 'I Refuse To Work For This Socialist City Council': Seattle Cops Go Scorched Earth In Exit Interviews.
• Trump Vs Biden: The Race Tightens, "Suddenly Looks Like 2016".
• First Tests Of New "Immunity Passports" Will Take Place Wednesday.
• Feds Confirm Biden Emails Are "Authentic"; '50 Former Intel Officials' Wrong On Russian Disinfo.
• Playing Chicken In The High Yield Market.
• Bloomberg In Talks To Go Public Through A Bill Ackman SPAC.
• Food Shortages Hit China: There Is "Not...Enough Fresh Food To Go Around".
• Here's 3 Reasons Why Very Few Experts Trust The National Polls Showing Biden With A Huge Lead.
• "Growth Has Slowed": Netflix Crashes After Huge Miss On EPS, New Subs As Covid Boom Ends.
• San Diego School District Announces It Will Eliminate Grading Standards To "Combat Racism".
• How Hysterical Punditry Failed America.
• Big-Tech, Banks, Bitcoin, & Bullion Jump As Dollar & Bonds Dump.

Town Hall:

• Here Are Hunter Biden's Alleged Text Messages Giuliani Just Turned Over to the Delaware State Police.

The Epoch Times:  

• US Orders Seizure of Imports of Chinese Sweetener After Finding Forced Labor Was Used.

Digital Blackboard:

• Daily New Cases by Region.

Worldometer:

• New Cases/Deaths by state.

Rt Covid-19:

• How fast virus is growing by state.

KFF:

• State Data(Tests/Hospitalizations).

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are unch. to +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 65.75 unch.

• China Sovereign CDS 38.75 -.75 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 59.64 +.05%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 80.0 -3.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 29.65 -1.08%
• FTSE 100 futures -.04%.

• S&P 500 futures +.47%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.57%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (ABT)/.90
• (AN)/1.65
• (AVY)/1.50
• (BKR)/.04
• (BIIB)/8.09
• (KEY)/.36
• (KNX)/.64
• (TMO)/3.23
• (NDAQ)/1.45
• (VZ)/1.21
• (WGO)/.93
  

After the Close:

• (ALGN)/.70
• (CMG)/3.43
• (CCI)/1.44
• (CSX)/.93
• (DFS)/1.51
• (EW)/.44
• (KMI)/.20
• (LRCX)/4.12
• (LSTR)/1.42
• (LVS)/-.63
• (SLG)/1.54
• (SAVE)/-2.67
• (TSLA)/.60
• (VMI)/1.72
• (WHR)/3.97
• (XLNX)/.77
  

Economic Releases

10:30 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory decline of -1,288,580 barrels versus a -3,818,000 barrel decline the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to fall by -1,476,090 barrels versus a -1,626,000 barrel decline the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -1,946,910 barrels versus a -7,245,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.54% versus a -2.0% decline prior.
  

2:00 pm EST

• The US Fed Beige Book release.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Brainard speaking, UK Inflation Data report and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly higher, boosted by financial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finished mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.