Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:        

• ECB Is Capping Bond Yields But Don’t Call It Yield Curve Control.  
• A Surge in Bad Debt Is Set to Worsen India’s Shadow Bank Crisis.
• U.S. Stock Futures Climb, Dollar Extends Decline: Markets Wrap. 
• Oil Rises With Stimulus Hopes Overshadowing Gloomy IEA Forecast.  
• Yellen’s Dollar, Central Bank Juggle, Banana Republic: Eco Day.
• U.S. Deaths Top 400,000; Record U.K. Fatalities: Virus Update.
  
• Wall Street’s Leading Banks Widen Gulf With Rivals Amid Pandemic.
• Yellen Gets Wall Street Buzzing About 50-Year U.S. Treasuries.
• Here Are the U.S. Companies Hitting Pause on Political Donations.

Wall Street Journal:

• U.S. Says China Is Committing Genocide Against Uighurs.
• Net Neutrality and Big Tech’s Speech Hypocrisy.
• America the Unextreme.
• College Board Eliminates SAT Subject Tests.
• Court Vacates Trump Rules on Emissions at Power Plants.
• Blinken Backs Tough Approach to China, Says Will Work With GOP.
• Taking Care of Your Eyes In The Golden Age of Screen Time.

Fox News:   

• Nominee touted speaker who claimed schools 'spirit murder' Black kids.
  

CNBC.com:

• ‘Unintended consequences’ from stimulus could crush stocks: Jim Paulsen.
• China’s new Covid-19 outbreak are sparking concerns over steel, iron ore.
• Yellen says U.S. can afford higher corporate tax rate if it coordinates with other countries.

MarketWatch.com:      

•  Here are Wall Street’s favorite oil stocks for a 2021 recovery.

Zero Hedge:

• Watch: In Farewell Address, Trump Wishes Biden Success In "Keeping America Prosperous And Safe".
• McConnell Sparks GOP-Split Talk, Claims "Mob Was Fed Lies...Provoked By Trump".
• Media Cheers DC Under Military Occupation.
• Greenwald: The New Domestic War On Terror Is Coming.
• Democrats Fear Inauguration Violence... But Certainly Are Experts.
• The Empirical Case For A Mask Mandate Lacks Scientific Grounding.
• Pompeo Hits China With 11th Hour 'Genocide' Label For Its Treatment Of Uighur Minority.
• My Pillow CEO Says Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's To Stop Selling His Products.
• US Cuts Off Telephone Line To Russian Consulate In New York Day Before Inauguration.
• Everything's Fine, There's Absolutely Nothing To See Here.
• Now That Universal Basic Income Checks Have Started, The American People Will Go Mad If They Don't Continue.
• General Motors "Blue Sky" Scenario Could Send Stock To $160: B of A.
• Independent Panel Blames China, WHO For Acting Too Slowly To Contain COVID-19.
• Foreigners Bought A Record Amount Of US Stocks In The Year Ending November, China Restarted Bond-Buying.
• Netflix Soars After Huge Subscriber Beat, Company Projects It Will Soon Be Free Cash Flow Positive.
• Yellen's "Go Big" Narrative Sparks Big-Tech, Bond, Bullion, & Bitcoin Gains.

Newsmax:

• Biden to Keep Jerusalem Embassy but Seek Palestinian State: Nominee. 
• Facebook Has No Plans to Lift Trump's Suspension.

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:

• “The Movement We Started Is Only Just Beginning” – President Trump Promises His Movement Will Live On in Farewell Speech (VIDEO).
• FOX News Did Not Air President Trump’s Farewell Speech Live and in Full – Only Newsmax and OANN Carried it Live.
• Mitch McConnell Reportedly Threatened President Trump: “If You Pardon Julian Assange, We are Much More Likely to Convict You in an Impeachment Trial” (VIDEO).
• MORE LIES: Democrat Media Complex Claims Anti-Trump ‘Boogaloo’ Terrorists Are Trump Supporters – New Evidence Proves Otherwise.
• Joe Biden Suddenly Becomes Emotional During Farewell Speech to His Home State, Talks About His Death (VIDEO).
• AWFUL! GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: Capitol “Insurrectionists” were “Provoked by the President and Other Powerful People”.
• President Trump’s Approval Rating Hits 51% on Day before Inauguration.
• Fox News Political Editor Who Sat on Election Night Decision Desk Laid Off Alongside 20 Fox News Staffers as Network Ratings Crater.
• Republicans: Vice President Pence, Senate Majority Leader McConnell and House Minority Leader McCarthy, Won’t Attend President Trump’s Goodbye Ceremony.
• JUST IN: John Brennan Protégé Gina Haspel Resigns as CIA Director After Covering up Chinese Interference in 2020 Election.
• Four GOP Reps DIDN’T VOTE on Impeachment – Along with the 10 Turncoats Who Voted to Impeach Trump – Update.

The Epoch Times: 

• Locals in Chinese City Claim Authorities Are Concealing the Severity of COVID-19 Outbreak.
• Two More Chinese Cities Go Under Lockdown, as Beijing Mandates Four-Week Quarantine for Travelers.

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 62.0 -1.25 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 31.25 -1.0 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.48 +.1%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,048.0 +47.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 25.30 +.3%.
• FTSE 100 futures +.44%.

• S&P 500 futures +.22%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.48%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (ASML)/2.46
• (BK)/.91
• (CBSH)/.93
• (FAST)/.33
• (MS)/1.28
• (PG)/1.51
• (TDY)/3.17
• (USB)/.94
• (UNH)/2.39
  

After the Close:

• (AA)/.07
• (DFS)/2.29
• (JEF)/.59
• (KMI)/.24
• (UAL)/-6.42
• (WTFC)/1.41
  

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

• The NAHB Housing Market Index for Jan. is estimated at 86.0 versus 86.0 in Dec.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Inauguration Day "ceremonies", UK inflation data report, Eurozone inflation data report, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report and the B. Riley Oncology Investor Conference 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 weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.