Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:            

• Chinese Offshore Bond Defaults Reach Nearly 33% of 2020’s Total.
• Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Politicians Sell Homes Amid Crackdown.  
• Euro Optimism Losing Mojo as Strategists Make a Bearish Turn.
• Myanmar Orders Facebook Blocked as Protests Emerge After Coup.
• U.S. Equity Futures Rise; Crude Oil Extends Gain: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Surges as OPEC+ Pledges to Clear Pandemic-Driven Surplus.
• The Improving U.S. Economy Could Complicate Biden’s Stimulus Plan.
• Robinhood Crisis Reveals Hidden Costs in Zero-Fee Trading Model.  
• Goldman Sachs Wants to Get Cozy With Main Street and Its Money.  
• Amazon’s $1 Billion in Daily Sales Highlights Market Dominance.

Wall Street Journal:

• Democrats Move to Pull Greene From House Panels.
• Liberalism’s Ministry of Truth.
• The Tragedy of the Schools.
• From Covid Relief to Big Government.
• Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Presents Challenge for Herd-Immunity Push.
• Biden’s China Policy to Be Steered by Team of Rivals.

Fox News:   

• Outrage follows Biden's 'vast majority' comments after FBI agents' slayings.
  

CNBC.com:

• Amazon is using AI-equipped cameras in delivery vans, raising privacy concerns.
• Why investors were willing to write Robinhood a $3 billion check during the GameStop chaos.
• Qualcomm falls short on revenue in first earnings report since CEO change announced.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: eBay, PayPal, Qualcomm & more.

MarketWatch.com:    

• These S&P 500 stocks have had the biggest increases in ‘buy’ ratings so far this year.
  
• Apple may build a fully autonomous electric car with Hyundai-Kia: report.
  
• S&P 500 earnings recession set to end, as Q4 EPS swings to growth.
  
• Investors fear buoyant global markets vulnerable to China credit crunch.

Zero Hedge:

• Hong Kong Cops Threaten To "Kick Door Down" For Anybody Who Dosn't Open For COVID Test.
• '#AlexandriaOcasioSmollett' Trends On Twitter After NY Rep Rejects Claims She Wasn't At Capitol During Riots.
• Parler CEO Fired By 'Rebekah-Mercer-Controlled Board'.
• These Are The Words Colleges Don't Want You To Say.
• Reddit's Silver Raid Sparked Highly Unusual Backwardation.
• The Gaslighting Of The American Mind.
• California Opens First Federally-Run COVID Vaccination "Super-Sites": Live Updates.
• American Airlines Warns It Will Cut Another 13,000 Jobs As It Burns Through Latest Bailout In Just One Month.
• Politicizing The Classroom: 9 Things To Know About Illinois' Pending "Culturally Responsive" K-12 Teaching Mandate.
• SEC To Crawl Through Social Media, Hunting For Gamestop Manipulation Fraud.
• In Order To Have A "Tolerant Society", The Elite Believe They Must Be Intolerant Of All Dissenting Views.
• Meet The Hedge Fund That Made A Killing On The Reddit-Fueled Short Squeeze.
• Prosecution Of Top Officials "Unlikely" Outcome Of Durham 'Russiagate' Probe, Report.
• Yellen Gets Ethics Waiver To Lead Regulator Meeting On Gamestop Insanity After Taking $810K From Citadel.
• Big-Shorts, Bitcoin, Bond Yields, & Black Gold All Bounce.

Newsmax:

• 1776 Commission, Part II: Red States Weigh Limits on How Race, Slavery Are Taught.  
• Jen Psaki Accused of Homophobia Over Tweet Mocking Sen. Graham.
• Denzel Washington Praises Police, Denounces BLM Protesters.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Kroger to Close 25% of Its Stores in SoCal Beach City After City Council Passes Mandate Requiring Certain Companies to Pay Employees an Extra $4 Per Hour.
• BREAKING: AOC Was Not In the Capitol Dome Building – Embellished Her “Near Death Experience” Where Protesters Stormed Her Office (VIDEO).
• Train Wreck Jen Psaki Issues Quasi-Apology After Mocking Space Force During Press Briefing (VIDEO).
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Brutally Owns Rep. Ilhan Omar for Marrying Her Brother.
• Wisconsin’s ‘Indefinitely Confined’ Voter Status Excludes Requirement for Voter IDs – 265,000 Ballots Cast in 2020 Election.
• Biden DOJ Drops Race-Based Discrimination Case Against Yale Brought by Trump Administration.
• John Kerry Defends Taking Gas-Guzzling Private Jet to Accept Climate Award in Iceland, “The Only Choice For Someone Like Me” (VIDEO).

The Epoch Times: 

• China Insider: China Treats Asymptomatic Patient Like a Criminal.
• China Is Collecting Americans’ DNA, Posing Major Security Risks: US Counterintelligence Agency.

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 -.75% to -.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 59.5 -.5 basis point.

• China Sovereign CDS 29.75 -.5 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 62.44 +.01%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,102.0 -16.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 27.60 -.19%.
• FTSE 100 futures +.27%.

• S&P 500 futures +.10%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.20%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (ABB)/.19
• (AGCO)/1.12
• (APD)/2.19
• (ALXN)/2.56
• (ABC)/1.94
• (BAX)/.76
• (BDX)/3.16
• (BMY)/1.42
• (GOOS)/.80
• (CCL)/-1.64
• (CI)/3.69
• (CLX)/1.75
• (CMI)/2.76
• (GPI)/5.79
• (HSY)/1.43
• (ICE)/1.08
• (IP)/.81
• (LEA)/3.45
• (MRK)/1.39
• (FIZZ)/.71
• (ODFL)/1.57
• (PH)/2.58
• (PENN)/.18
• (PM)/1.22
• (DGX)/4.24
• (RL)/1.73
• (SINA)/.86
• (SNA)/2.93
• (YUM)/1.01

After the Close:

• (ATVI)/1.18
• (CSL)/1.20
• (DECK)/7.14
• (F)/-.09
• (GILD)/1.85
• (MCHP)/1.58
• (NWSA)/.09
• (PTON)/.12
• (POST)/.71
• (PRU)/2.57
• (SKYW)/-.83
• (SNAP)/.07
• (WERN)/.79
• (WYNN)/-2.28
• (ZEN)/.15
  

Economic Releases

7:30 am EST

• Challenger Job Cuts YoY for Jan.

8:30 am EST

• 4Q Non-Farm Productivity is estimated to fall -3.0% versus a +4.6% gain in 3Q.
• 4Q Unit Labor Costs are estimated to rise +4.0% versus a -6.6% decline in 3Q.
• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 830K versus 847K the prior week. 
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 4700K versus 4771K prior.
  

10:00 am EST

• Factory Orders for Dec. is estimated to rise +.7% versus a +1.0% gain in Nov.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Bank of England decision, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the (JWN) investor event could also impact trading today.

Market Hours
Normal:

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly lower, weighed down by technology and consumer shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.