Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:         

• Israel-Gaza Crisis Drags Biden Into Vortex He Sought to Avoid.
• Asian Cities Face Greatest Environmental Risks, Report Shows.
• Asia Stocks to Track U.S. Drop; Yields Jump on CPI: Markets Wrap.  
• Fed Optimism, China’s Costs Soar, Aussie Spending Spree: Eco Day.
• ‘Transitory’ U.S. Inflation Pressures Seen Lasting for Months.
• ‘Arm Waving’ Response to Hackers Makes Oil Industry Easy Prey.
  
• Panic Buying of Gas Seen Hundreds of Miles From U.S. East Coast.  
• Traders Ratchet Up Fed-Hike Bets for 2022 on Hot Inflation.
• Economists Struggle to Forecast U.S. Recovery With Huge Misses.
• Record Surge in Used-Car Prices Is Key Culprit in Inflation Jump.  
• Wall Street Pondering Ugly Outcomes for Sky-High Tech Shares.  
• Hedging Gets Frantic as Puts Soar Amid Stock Market Hammering.

Wall Street Journal:

• Cheating at School Is Easier Than Ever—and It’s Rampant.
• Is the American Work Ethic Dying?
• Powell Gets His Inflation Wish.
• Cathie Wood’s ARK Stumbles as Tech Trade Unwinds.

Fox News:

• Biden takes questions, even though he's not 'supposed' to.
  

CNBC.com:

• Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: Bumble, Sonos, Vroom & more.
• Colonial Pipeline restarts after hack, but supply chain won’t return to normal for a few days.
• Dubbed ‘WoodStocks,’ Jim Cramer sees Cathie Wood’s top tech picks heading lower.
• CDC OKs Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for use in teens, clearing way for shots to begin Thursday.

MarketWatch.com:          

• Beware heightened risks of ‘fragility shocks’ in a market too dependent on the Fed, BofA warns.

Zero Hedge:

• 120 Retired Generals, Military Officers Sign Letter Warning Of Conflict Between Marxism And "Constitutional Freedom".
• Israel's Security Cabinet Approves Expanding Gaza Strikes As Riots Spread In Jewish-Arab Cities.
• US Spends 90% More Than It Collects In First 7 Months Of Fiscal 2021.
• Colonial Pipeline Restarts Operations After Ransomware Attack.
• CDC Credibility 'Eroding' According To Ex-Obama Official.
• U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers To "Resume" Border Wall Construction.
• Tesla Suspends Bitcoin Payments Over "Concerns About Environmental Impact"
• US Considering Foreign Tankers To Move Domestic Fuel Supplies.
• "I'm Not At All Excited": China's Digital Yuan Is Turning Into A Giant Flop.
• 'Did Joe Biden Put Hunter In Charge?': Trump Rips 'Long And Horrible Gas Lines'.
• Liz Cheney Ousted From Leadership Post By House Republicans.
• Taibbi: Reporters Once Challenged The Spy State. Now, They're Agents Of It.
• Stagflation Scare Sparks Carnage In Crypto, Stocks, & Bonds.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• In Midst of Massive Gas Shortages Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Orders Shutdown of Pipeline.
• WOW! Same FBI that Pushed Trump-Russia Hoax for 3 YEARS then Exaggerated Russia 2020 Election Threat — NOW Blames Russia for Pipeline Hack.
• Indian Health Ambassador Gets COVID Vaccine Live on TV to Show Everyone How Safe It Is – Dies 2 Days Later.
• Biden’s Pompous Climate Envoy John Kerry During Hearing, “I am Flying Commercial and Have a Flight That I Have to Make” (VIDEO).

The Epoch Times: 

• US Will Remove Xiaomi From Blacklist, Reversing Action by Trump.

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 -1.5% to -.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 84.0 +4.25 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 39.0 +2.0 basis points.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 61.0 -.05%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,559.0 -29.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 25.60 -3.15%.
• FTSE 100 futures -.53%.

• S&P 500 futures +.15%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.20%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (BABA)/13.28
• (GOOS)/-.12
• (PLCE)/-.21
• (YETI)/.21
  

After the Close:

• (ABNB)/-.95
• (COHR)/1.14
• (COIN)/NA
• (DDS)/2.16
• (DASH)/-.14
• (DIS)/.27
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• PPI Final Demand MoM for April is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +1.0% gain in March.
• PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for April is estimated to rise +.4% versus a +.7% gain in March.
• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 490K versus 498K the prior week. 
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 3650K versus 3690K prior.
  

Upcoming Splits

• (CP)/5-for-1
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Waller speaking, Japan Money Supply Data, 30Y T-Note auction, weekly Langer Consumer Comfort Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report and the Credit Suisse Renewables/Utilities Conference could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are lower, weighed down by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.