Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Virus Controls Undercut China’s Holidays, Economic Recovery.   
• Australia Central Bank Faces Taper Quandary as Peers Stand Pat. 
• U.K. Businesses Call for Clear Roadmap to Reopening the Economy.
• Governments Exploit Covid Data for Other Uses, Risking Backlash.
• Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Detained, Her Party Says Army Stages ‘Coup’.
  
• Cases Slow Across Globe; Variant Worries Remain: Virus Update.  
  
• U.S. Stock Futures Slide; Silver Contracts Surge: Markets Wrap.
• Dubai Stocks Lead Gulf Selloff Amid Travel Curbs: Inside EM.
• Oil Drops Below $52 as Virus Resurgence Weighs on Demand Outlook. 
• Biden’s First U.S. Jobs Report to Show Challenge Ahead: Eco Week.
• OPEC+ Sees Almost Full Compliance With January Oil-Supply Cuts.
• The Reddit Army Bailout: Desperate Companies Get New Lifelines.
• Biden Health Adviser Warns of Virus Variants, Future Lockdowns.   
• ‘Trillion Dollar’ Mt. Gox Demise as Told by a Bitcoin Insider.  
• Silver Retail Sites Grind to Halt as Reddit Horde Moves to Coins.

Wall Street Journal:

• Behind the Bitcoin Bubble.
• Investors Consider Next Move as Signs of a Bubble Mount.
• Lockdowns Spur Shift to High-End Liquor.

Fox News:

• Biden adviser shrugs off concerns about jamming through massive stimulus package.
• Doctor issues new warning about COVID vaccines and evolving virus.

CNBC: 

• GameStop mayhem hits close to home for co-founder’s son, who’s active on WallStreetBets.
• It’s likely going to take a constant stream of excited buyers to keep the GameStop, AMC rally going.
• Russia arrests over 4,500 at nationwide protests backing jailed Putin critic Navalny.
• Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen leaves Twitter after family receives threats amid GameStop backlash.
• Robinhood to continue trading limits on Monday, customers can still only buy one GameStop share.
• Melvin Capital, hedge fund that bet against GameStop, lost more than 50% in January.
  

Zero Hedge: 

• Lincoln Project Denounces Co-Founder After Allegations Of Pedophilia, Sexually Provocative Messages To 21 Young Men.
• Silver Futures Soar 8%, Rise Above $29 As Reddit Hordes Pile In.
• Make Standard Oil Great Again: Exxon, Chevron Have Discussed A Merger.
• Ray Dalio: Recent Market "Rebellion" Shows Growing "Anger" And "Intolerance" In U.S.
• Why Hasn't The House Held Hearings To Establish "Incitement To Insurrection"?
• This Is The Stunning Way Some Desperate Funds Covered Their Gamestop Shorts.
• Religious Books Seized And Burned In Communist China, 'Believers' Given Jail Terms.
• "Everyone Is Afraid Ahead Of The Open" - Reddit-Raiders Spark Nationwide Physical Silver Shortage.
• GOP Senators Offer $600 Billion Compromise For COVID Relief.
• "So You Just 'Raided' Your First Company" - A Letter To Non-Professional Traders.
• Reddit Outages Reported As r/WallStreetBets Experiences Surge In Web Traffic.
• The Stock Market, Fatally Wounded By The Truth, Will Stumble And Crash.
• "Biggest Storm In 5 Years?!" - More Than A Foot Of Snow Could Blanket Northeast.
• Melvin Capital Lost A Stunning $7 Billion In January, 53% Of Its Capital; Here's How Everyone Else Did.
• Gordon Johnson: Tesla Lost Money Selling Cars For The Fourth Straight Quarter.
• Stimulus Checks Helped Fuel GameStop Stock Surge: Billionaire Gundlach.
• Extremely high fear.
• Only You Can Beat Big Tech Censorship.
• WHO Team 'Tightly Controlled' By CCP During COVID-19 Origins Investigation.
• 'Black Lives Matter' Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize.
• Caveat Emptor - Are You A WSB 'Useful Idiot'?
• Virginia Task Force Drops Gang Database After Complaints It Has Too Many Minorities In It.

NewsMax: 

• GOP Senators Counter Biden Stimulus With $600 Billion Plan.  
• John Catsimatidis: Biden Moves Hurt Low-Wage Americans.
• Sen. Blackburn: Biden 'Giving Favors to China, Restricting Our Freedoms'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Perfect. Kamala Harris Tells Unemployed Coal Miners That After Biden Kills Their Jobs They Should Work Reclaiming Abandoned “Land Mines” (VIDEO).
• Americans Learn Those Involved in the Russia Collusion Coup Will Walk Confirming The Evolution of the Deep State and the Two Tiered Justice System.
• Unity: Biden White House Fired Trump Officials in Pentagon Who Were Out on Maternity and Paternity Leave (VIDEO).
• Biden KILLS Trump Order Expanding Access To Opioid Abuse Treatment.
• SNL Runs Disgusting Hit Piece on Mike Lindell, Mocks Him for Previous Drug Addiction and His Support for Donald Trump (VIDEO).
• Never Trump Lincoln Project Co-Founder John Weaver Busted For Grooming Underage Teen Boys – Lincoln Project Responds.
• A Miracle! Only 23 Americans Tested Positive for Flu Last Week Compared to 14,657 Cases Reported Last Year at Same Time.
• Bill Gates Surprised Over “Crazy Conspiracy Theories” About Him and Dr. Fauci — Blames Social Media Companies and Not His Creepy Ideas.
• Note to Arizona Senate from a Former International Audit Executive: If Audit Resources are Limited – FOCUS ON THE BALLOTS.
• Rep. Elise Stefanik Calls for Federal Investigation on Criminal Acts Committed by Gov. Cuomo in COVID Nursing Home Scandal (VIDEO).
• Five of Trump’s Impeachment Lawyers Leave Defense Team 9 Days Before Senate Trial.
• Rapper Tom MacDonald’s “Fake Woke” that RIPS Cancel Culture Reaches #1 on Hip-Hop, Rap and All-Genre US iTunes Song Sales.

The Epoch Times:

• US Can Draw Lessons From Taiwan on Fighting China’s Disinformation: Report.
• Popular Fertility App Sued Over Allegedly Sharing Personal Data With Chinese Firms.

HereIsTheEvidence.com:

• This is for aggregating publicly available items of voter fraud evidence in the US election that would be admissible in court.

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 indices are -.5% to +.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 63.5 +2.25 basis points.
• China Sovereign CDS 32.50 +.75 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.15 +.11%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 1,178.0 +34.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 32.55 +.40%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.17%.
• S&P 500 futures -56%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.71%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (ON)/.28
• (TMO)/3.88
• (OTIS)/.59
  

After the Close:

• (CRUS)/1.86
• (FN)/1.04
• (KMT)/.09
• (NXPI)/2.11
• (VRTX)/2.58
  

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

• Construction Spending MoM for Dec. is estimated to rise +.8% versus a +.9% gain in Nov.
• ISM Manufacturing for Jan. is estimated to fall to 60.0 versus 60.7 in Dec.
• ISM Prices Paid for Jan. is estimated to fall to 76.0 versus 77.6 in Dec.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone PMI report and the RBA rate decision could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by metals & mining 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 50% net long heading into the week.