Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:        

• U.S. Bans Xinjiang Cotton Products, Tomatoes Over Forced Labor.
• U.S.-China Decoupling Raises Risks for European Firms.    
• Surging Shipping Rates Are a New Headwind for the Global Economy
• A $2,500 Book on U.S. Decline Is Suddenly a Must-Read in China.   
• Record Valuations Raise Alarm in India’s Frenzied Stock Market.
• Disneyland Site Opens; Australia Backs AstraZeneca: Virus Update.   
  
• Treasury Yields Steady After Drop; Japan Stocks Up: Markets Wrap.  
• World Economy Boxed In, Gaping Deficit, Taper Specter: Eco Day.
• U.S. Covid Hospitalizations on Cusp of First Decline in Months.
• Covid-19 Outbreaks Aren’t Driven by In-Person Classes, CDC Says.  
• Schumer Asks Biden to Seek More Than $1.3 Trillion in Relief.
• Petco IPO Raises $864 Million as Retailer Returns to Market.
• Here Are the U.S. Companies Hitting Pause on Political Donations.
• U.S. Budget Deficit Widened 61% in Quarter on Covid-19 Spending.

Wall Street Journal:

• Trump Impeachment Deepens GOP Divide.
• Andrew Yang Joins Race for New York City Mayor.
• The Pros and Cons of the Most Popular Encrypted Chat Apps.
• U.S. Agencies Pushed for Chinese Covid Tests.
• China’s Economy Powers Ahead While the Rest of the World Reels.
• Democrats Plan Policy Path on Next Round of Stimulus Checks.
• Iran Is Assembling Gear to Produce Key Nuclear-Weapons Material.
• Arizona GOP to Weigh Censure of Republicans Including Cindy McCain.
• Smart Face Masks? Fever-Sensing Doorbells? CES 2021 Tech Promises Covid Protection.

Fox News:   

• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explains Trump Twitter ban, makes stunning admission.
• Senate won’t reconvene early to start impeachment trial before Trump leaves office: McConnell spokesman.
• Trump 'would have standing to challenge' his impeachment trial, Turley says.
  

CNBC.com:

• J&J’s one-shot Covid vaccine is safe and generates promising immune response in early trial.
• Snapchat will terminate Trump’s account on Jan. 20.
• U.S. vehicle safety agency asks Tesla to recall 158,716 older vehicles over touchscreen glitches.
• Stocks are climbing a ‘wall of worry’ too quickly amid tax risks, Oppenheimer’s John Stoltzfus says.

Zero Hedge:

• In Final Act, Trump Admin To Present 'Bombshell' Findings Blaming Wuhan Lab For COVID-19, WHO Cover-Up.
• Bagholder's Row: Condo At NYC's One57 Sells For A Record 51% Discount.
• Blue Lives Matter Organization Calls Out Democrats Over Their Sudden Change Of Heart.
• Another Mutant COVID Strain Discovered In Ohio.
• Fed President: We Should Have A Discussion About Guaranteed Basic Income.
• Pelosi Names Eric Swalwell As House Impeachment Manager.
• Trump Impeached By House For Second Time.
• Pompeo Tells Taxpayer-Funded News Outlet: "Time To Put Woke-ism To Sleep".
• In "Staggering" Lack Of Self-Awareness, Twitter Lectures Uganda On Principles Of 'Open Internet'.
• A Big Move To Ban Realtor "Hate Speech" At Work, Anywhere, 24/7.
• Watch: Trump Says "Mob Violence Against Everything I Believe In...It Must Stop".
• Parler CEO Says Conservative Twitter Competitor May "Never" Return.
• Turley: The Senate Should Reject The Impeachment.
• J&J One-Shot Vaccine Is Safe In Early Trials, Generates "Promising Immune Response".
• The Fed Sent $838 Billion in "Profits" To The Treasury In Past Decade.
• Congressional Hysteria & Hypocrisy Could Doom Liberty.
• Bonds & Big-Tech Bid As Penny-Stock Buying-Panic Explodes.

Newsmax:

• McLaughlin Poll: GOP to Reject Those Voting to Impeach.
• Which 10 Repubs Supported Impeachment?
• Conservatives Move to Strip Liz Cheney of Leadership Job.
• MLB Suspends Political Donations After DC Protest.

NBC 10 Philadelphia:

• These Are the Companies Taking a Stand on the U.S. Capitol Protest by Pulling Their Political Donations. Many of the country's biggest companies across industry sectors, from Ford Motor Co. to Airbnb to Boston Scientific, announced suspensions of all PAC donations. The list of companies pledging change, which continues to grow, included the financial services companies JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and the tech behemoths Microsoft, Facebook and Google. A host of other large companies, including Delta Air Lines, Wells Fargo, Walmart and Bank of America, said they would take the unprecedented events of last week into account when considering future political donations.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• BREAKING: GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to Introduce Articles of Impeachment Against Joe Biden on January 21 Over Abuse of Power (VIDEO).
• Baseball Great Curt Schilling Says AIG Canceled His Insurance Over his Conservative Beliefs — Same Company that Got a $182 Billion Bailout from US Taxpayers.
• HUGE: Jovan Pulitzer Releases Report — Confirms Numerous Countries Interfered In the 2020 Election – Millions of Invalid Ballots Inserted Into the Election.
• HERE THEY ARE: Liz Cheney Leads 10 House Republicans Who Voted to Impeach Trump — GOP IS DOOMED IF LIZ KEEPS LEADERSHIP POSITION.
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasts Democrats for Supporting Riots, Triggers Media With ‘CENSORED’ Mask During Anti-Impeachment Speech.
• BREAKING: Texas Election Fraudster Caught in Project Veritas Undercover Sting Arrested For Widespread Vote Harvesting – Faces Up to 20 Years in Prison.
• Louie Gohmert DUNKS on Pelosi – Quotes Her Support for Black Lives Matter Riots on House Floor– Liberals Freak Out!
• MI Judge Orders Dem Sec of State To Release All Communications With Dominion, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google.

The Epoch Times: 

• Power Behind Chinese Telecom Giants.
• Chinese Authorities Relocate 20,000 People for Virus Quarantine as Locals Question Official Data.
• New CCP Virus Outbreak in Northeastern Chinese Province Spreads Quickly.

ProtectTheVote.com: 

• Serious allegations of misconduct in the 2020 elections have resulted in unprecedented legal action to ensure our elections are -- and remain -- free and fair. Find out where we’re exposing fraud and how you can help.

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 equity indices are -.25% to +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 61.25 -1.25 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 30.0 -.5 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.50 -.06%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,094.0 +43.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 24.95 -.5%.
• FTSE 100 futures +.31%.

• S&P 500 futures +.24%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.21%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (BLK)/8.26
• (DAL)/-2.44
• (TSM)/4.50
  

After the Close:

• (PRGS)/.78
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to rise to 789K versus 787K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 5000K versus 5072K prior.
• Import Price Index ex Petrol for Dec. is estimated to rise +.1% versus unch. in Nov.
• Import Price Index YoY for Dec. is estimated to fall -.8% versus a -1.0% decline in Nov.
• The Export Price Index MoM for Dec. is estimated to rise +.6% versus a +.6% gain in Nov.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Powell speaking, China Trade Balance report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report and the (MNST) investor day could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by industrial and consumer 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.