Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:            

• China Sanctions Pompeo, Other Trump Staff as His Term Ends.  
• Twitter Locks Out Chinese Embassy in U.S. Over Post on Uighurs.
• For Trudeau, Life After Trump Is Off to Surprisingly Rocky Start.  
• ECB Just Can’t Escape Grip of Virus on Economy: Decision Guide.
• Australia Unemployment Falls to 6.6% as Recovery Strengthens.  
• Global Stocks Rise to Record High; Dollar Slips: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Erases Gains With Industry Report Showing Rising U.S. Supply.  
• Critical 100 Days, Yellen Urges Big Spend, BOJ to Hold: Eco Day.
  
• Biden Rejoins Paris Climate Agreement, Halts Arctic Oil Leasing.  
• Biden Stimulus Gets Skeptical Response From GOP Moderates.
• Haines Wins Senate Confirmation as National Intelligence Chief.  
• Citigroup to Cut Bonuses for Top Executives After U.S. Reprimand.
• Here Are the U.S. Companies Hitting Pause on Political Donations.

Wall Street Journal:

• Procter & Gamble Gets Shoppers to Pay Up.
• AstraZeneca Vaccine Speeds U.K. Effort to Reach Nursing Homes.
• Companies Revisit Financial Forecasts Ahead of Potential Tax Changes.
• Mountain of Small Loans Looms Over Europe’s Banks.

Fox News:   

• Biden's call for unity contradicts press hostility for Trump supporters.
• Biden barely sworn in, 'Squad' already pushing agenda.

CNBC.com:

• Democrats take Senate majority, sealing control of the White House and Congress.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: United, Discover Financial, Alcoa and more.

MarketWatch.com:         

• Opinion: 5 reasons why 2021 just might be the year GM’s stock price stands up to Tesla.  
• Investors think there’s more chance Tesla and bitcoin will halve than double, warns Deutsche Bank.  
• United Airlines posts nearly $2 billion in quarterly losses.

Zero Hedge:

• "We Want Revenge": Antifa Anarchists Activate After Biden Inaugurated.
• Biden Signs First 17 Executive Actions Starting With Mask Mandate, "Racial Equality" & Rejoining Paris Accord.
• "Perfect Storm...Not Of Our Doing" - Fauci-Led Biden Team Suddenly Stunned By Virus Surge Created By Fauci-Led Trump Team.
• MSM Calls For "New Definition Of Free Speech".
• China Mocks "Doomsday Clown" Pompeo After 'Genocide' Designation For Uighur Persecution.
• Biden Institute Refuses To Disclose Donors; Blinken Faces Questions Over $22 Million In Anonymous Chinese Contributions.
• Leftists Call For New "Secret Police" Force To Spy On Trump Supporters.
• Wall Street Declares "The Beginning Of The End Of The COVID Crisis".
• Biden Reverses WHO Withdrawal Plan, Taps Fauci To Lead US Delegation This Week.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham: 'No $15 Min Wage' In Stimulus Plan - Here's One Reason Why.
• Indian Gold Market Shows Signs Of Revival.
• Jabs For Joints: Free Bag Of Weed With Your COVID Vaccine In DC.
• Insider-Selling Explodes To Record Highs As Buybacks Re-Emerge.
• Barrage Of New Countries And Airlines To Adopt Vaccine Passports.
• WTI Slides After Surprise Crude Build.
• Bullion, Bonds, & Big-Tech Bid; Bitcoin Bust On Biden's Big Day.
• My Pillow CEO Says Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's To Stop Selling His Products.

Newsmax:

• Biden Rolls Back Trump Orders on Climate, Wall, Muslims, Face Masks.
• Biden Administration to Disband 1776 Commission.
• Rep. Reschenthaler to Newsmax TV: Expect a 'Softening' With China Under President Biden.
• Iran Ready to Move Forward on Nuclear Deal With Biden Administration.

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:

• On Inauguration Day Maricopa County Officials Finally Agree to Audit of Voting Equipment from 2020 Election.
•  Portland Antifa Smashes Out Windows of the Headquarters of the Democrat Party of Oregon (VIDEO).
• Biden Removes Painting of Jackson From Oval Office, Adds Cesar Chavez Bust.
• CHINA IN CHARGE: The Chinese Communists are Gloating: “Good Riddance Donald Trump”.
• Biden has Maybe 2,000 Attendees at Inauguration — and 25,000 Military.
• Breaking: Trump-Hating Liz Cheney Draws TWO OPPONENTS in Wyoming GOP Primary After Impeachment Vote.
• Joe Biden’s Sexual Assault Accuser Tara Reade: ‘Terribly Painful to Watch the Man Who Assaulted me Take Office’.
• Feds Quietly Close Flynn Leak Investigation, Find No Wrongdoing By Crooked Obama Officials.
• Four GOP Reps DIDN’T VOTE on Impeachment – Along with the 10 Turncoats Who Voted to Impeach Trump – Update.

The Epoch Times: 

• Three New Reports Expose China’s Human Rights Violations.
• Canada Warns Companies Against Using Supply Chains Involved in Forced Labour in China’s Xinjiang.
• Beijing City Detects UK Variant Virus Patients, as More Regions Enact Lockdowns.

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 +.75% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 61.0 -1.0 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 30.5 -.75 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.71 +.06%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,115.0 +67.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 24.75 -.10%.
• FTSE 100 futures +.41%.

• S&P 500 futures +.17%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.39%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (BKR)/.16
• (CCL)/-1.94
• (FITB)/.68
• (KEY)/.43
• (MTB)/3.04
• (SINA)/.86
• (TRV)/3.14
• (UNP)/2.24
  

After the Close:

• (IBM)/2.05
• (INTC)/1.11
• (ISRG)/3.10
• (PPG)/1.58
• (STX)/1.13
• (SIVB)/3.83
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Housing Starts for Dec. is estimated to rise to 1560K versus 1547K in Nov.
• Building Permits for Dec. is estimated to fall to 1605K versus 1639K in Nov.
• Philly Fed Business Outlook for Jan. is estimated to rise to 11.5 versus 11.1 in Dec.
• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 935K versus 965K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 5300K versus a 5271K prior.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The ECB meeting, Bloomberg Economic Expectations Index for Jan., weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report and the (AEO) investor meeting could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

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