Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:                          

• China’s Economy Weakens as Power Crunch, Covid Rules Hurt.
• China Minister Says U.S. Policies Cause Shocks to Relationship.    
• Troubles in China’s ‘Christmas Town’ Mean Higher Holiday Prices.
• China’s Stressed Developers Face $2 Billion Bond Bill This Month.
  
• Biden Chides Russia, China for Failing to Pledge More on Climate.  
• Japan Stimulus Set to Pass Easily After LDP Retains Majority.
• Two Thirds of China’s Top Developers Breach a ‘Red Line’ on Debt.
• Singapore Boosts ICU Beds as Serious Infections Remain High.
• G-20 Leaders Strike Climate Deal That Leaves a Lot to COP26.
  
• Highlights of What Was Agreed to At the G-20 Summit in Rome.    
• Asia Stocks Set to Get Boost From Japan; Yen Slips: Markets Wrap.
• Saudi Budget Sees First Quarterly Surplus Since 2019 on High Oil.   
• Oil Drops at Start of Key Week as Biden Boosts Pressure on OPEC+.
• NYC Vaccine Mandate May Leave Workers Unpaid and Services Unmet.
• Texas Sues to Halt Biden’s Vaccine Requirement for Employers.  
• Biden Agenda’s Vote Timeline in Question as Sanders Weighs In.  
• Moderna Says FDA Needs More Time to Assess Vaccine for Teens.  
• Three Days Will Reveal Global Alert Level on Inflation: Eco Week.

Wall Street Journal:

• G-20 Disagreements Point to Challenges for COP26 Summit
• Covid-19 Pushed Many Americans to Retire. The Economy Needs Them Back.
• American Airlines Flight Cancellations Continue to Climb.
• Wages and Prices Are Up, but It Isn’t a Spiral—Yet.
• Supermarkets Play Supply Chain ‘Whack-a-Mole’.
• Investors’ Inflation Fears Fuel Oil Rally.
• The Democrats’ Tax Plan Would Sink Real Estate. We’ve seen it before. The 1986 reform led to the savings-and-loan crisis and the 1990-91 recession.
• Former Afghan Spies and Soldiers Turn to ISIS After U.S. Withdrawal.
• Vaccine Mandates Turn Into Religious Tests at GE, Disney, Others.
• A New Generation Leads Chick-fil-A’s Growing Flock.
• Atlanta 2021 Mayor Election Is Dominated by Crime.
• Coke to Pay $5.6 Billion for Full Control of BodyArmor.
• Media Ignore Florida Covid Recovery.
• The Spending Bill Is an Attack on Work and Marriage.

Fox News:   

• One liberal city defunded the police — now voters could reverse that and bring back more cops.
• Mom slams school board after daughter came home with shocking question.

CNBC:

• Benefits and risks of buy now, pay later for holiday shopping: Credit experts.
• Facebook’s Meta mission was laid out in a 2018 paper declaring ‘The Metaverse is ours to lose’.
• Biden’s job rating sinks to 42% in NBC News poll a year from midterms.
• FDA clears Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11, shots could begin next week.

Zero Hedge:

• Watch: MEPs Protest "Oppressive" Vaccine Passports, Question Why "Political Elites Push This Agenda This Hard".
• Mandate Meltdown: 26 NYC Firestations Shuttered, LA Sheriff Warns Of 'Mass Exodus', Tucson Water District Faces 'Staff Shortage'. 
• Australia Confiscating Bank Accounts, Property, Licenses, & Businesses For Non-Compliance With COVID Fines.
• Taibbi: The "Let's Go, Brandon!" Freakout Goes Next-Level. 
• Pelosi To Placate Progressives? Top Dem Mulling Dual Votes Next Week As Biden Approval Hits All-Time Low.
• Fully-Vaccinated White House PressSec Psaki Tests Positive For COVID. 
• I've Been Driving Trucks For 20 Years, I'll Tell You Why America's "Shipping Crisis" Will Not End. 
• Warning: Joe Biden's "Eat The Rich" Pitch May Come Back To Bite You.
• Portland Travel Group Says City Is Too Scary For Tourists And Not Just On Halloween.
• "Just Get Back To Living": Bill Maher Declares Pandemic Over, Says "You Shouldn't Have To Wear Masks".
• Will China Pop The Global Everything Bubble? (Spoiler Alert: Yes). 
• A Huge Disconnect Between Climate Rhetoric And Doing Anything About It.
• Large-Scale Russian Troop Movements Along Ukraine Border Spark Alarm In US & Europe.
• The Fed's Inflation Is Behind The Supply Chain Mess.
• G-20 Leaders Make Little Progress Toward Sweeping Climate Deal.
• "10 To 20 Asset Managers Are Being Liquidated" - Rate Vol Exploding Just As Funds Pile Into Repo Trade That Blew Up Market.
• 90% Of Unvaxx'd Germans Say They Won't Get It.
• Durham Probe Inches Closer To Hillary As Alfa Bank Hoax Plot Thickens.
• Unvaxx'd San Francisco Police "Discarded Like A Piece Of Trash": Officer.
• The Most Popular Halloween Costumes Of 2021.
• Over 11,000 Active-Duty Air Force Personnel Unvaccinated With Days Left Before Deadline.
• Biden Admin Fails To Enforce Trump's Phase One Trade Deal With China. 
• Bidenvilles For Christmas.

NY Post: 

• US companies riddled with members of Chinese Communist Party: Devine. Boeing(BA), Qualcomm(QCOM) and Pfizer(PFE) are just three US companies that have employed dozens of CCP members in their Chinese facilities, the database reveals.

USA Today:

• COVID vaccines for kids aren't as clear-cut as for adults: 5 factors for parents to consider. What about rare side effects? Pfizer-BioNTech's safety trials included about 5,000 children, which is not enough to identify rare side effects. The potential side effect of greatest concern is called myocarditis, a swelling of the heart muscle that can also be caused by COVID-19. Myocarditis after vaccination has been seen mainly in adolescents and young adults, mostly male, after their second dose of vaccine.

Reuters:

• Singapore has administered at least 10,094,499 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that's enough to have vaccinated about 88.5% of the country's population(4th best rate in world). Singapore is reporting 3,700 new infections on average each day(463 infections per 100K people reported last 7 days), 100% of the peak - the highest daily average reported on Oct. 30.
  

Our World in Data:

• Singapore is seeing the number of COVID-19 patients in it's ICUs hit record levels despite the 4th best vaccination rate in the world(88.5% fully vaxxed).

WXYZ-TV Channel 7:

• After the vaccines were available to everyone, did you lose an unvaccinated loved one to COVID-19? Comment section:
  

Apex World News:

• Dr. Ruben on the FDA panel says people are never going to "learn about how safe the vaccine is until we start giving it. That's the way it goes." (video)

NewsMax:

• Glenn Youngkin to Newsmax: I Won't Order Vaccine Mandates.
• NBC Poll: 71 Percent Believe Country on Wrong Track Under Biden. 
• Rep. Murphy: Child Vaccine Mandates 'Problematic'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• BREAKING: Archbishop Vigano Chastises Pope for Calling Joe Biden a “Good Catholic” and Aligning Church with Lynn Forester de Rothschild and Others Pushing Climate Change and World Depopulation. 
• EXCLUSIVE: West Point Cadets Who Chose to Leave West Point Rather Than Take COVID Vaccine Were Coerced, Abused and Discriminated Against. 
• American Airlines Cancels Another 634 Flights Sunday – 1,500 Total Flights Canceled Since Friday.
• Illinois Legislature Votes to Eliminate Right of Religious Freedom from COVID Rejection Measures.
• Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds Signs Law Allowing Workers to Seek Medical and Religious Exemptions from COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate.
• Utah Lawmaker Who Pushed for Forensic Audit Resigns Following Attacks on His Wife and Family.
• Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Will Give US Highest Top Tax Rate of Any Country in the OECD Here We Go… Anti-Trump Fairfax County Director of Elections Tells Media Virginia Results May Not be Finished Until Friday.
• “Let’s Go Brandon!” Makes the World Series in Atlanta with President Trump in the House.
• Majority of Americans Now Say Psychopath and Serial Liar Tony Fauci Should Resign.
  

The Epoch Times:

• China Uses ‘Whole-of-Society’ Effort to Steal From the US: Former CIA Officer.

Covid-19(Data, Maps, Graphs):

• Our World in Data:  New Global Covid-19 Cases(7-day rolling average graphs). New US Covid Hospital Admissions/ICU Admissions/Deaths
  
• FT.com:  Fully Vaccinated by Country(graph). Global Lockdown Stringency Index(map).
• Bloomberg.com:  International Travel Restrictions.  Case Graphs by State.
  
• NYTimes.com:  County Trends and Clusters. Local ICU Occupancy.
  
• Brown School of Public Health:  Covid Severity by State/County(map).  US Hospital Capacity(region).
  
• CovidActNow:  Covid Severity/Infection Rate by Metro Area.
  
• KFF:  US Vaccinations by Race/Ethnicity.
  
• Carnegie Mellon: Covid-Like Symptoms in Community. Covid Symptom Searches on Google. Covid-Related Dr.Visits.  Restaurant Visits. Wearing Masks. (graphs)
  
• Safegraph.com:  Commerce Patterns(graphs).

Night Trading

• Asian indices are unch. to +1.0% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 81.5 +1.25  basis points.
• China Sovereign CDS 46.25 +1.0 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 58.11 unch.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,312.0 -12.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 20.87 -.87%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures n/a.
• S&P 500 futures +.39%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.43%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (AMG)/3.91
• (ON)/.73
  

After the Close:

• (AMC)/-.56
• (ANET)/2.71
• (CAR)/6.68
• (CHGG)/.19
• (CRUS)/1.63
• (CLX)/1.01
• (FANG)/2.81
• (FN)/1.33
• (MCK)4.62
• (MOS)/1.48
• (NXPI)/2.73
• (PSA)/3.22
• (SPG)/2.53
• (RIG)/-.15
• (WMB)/.27
  

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

• Construction Spending MoM for Sept. is estimated to rise +.5% versus unch. in Aug.
• ISM Manufacturing for Oct. is estimated to fall to 60.3 versus 61.1 in Sept.
• ISM Prices Paid for Oct. is estimated to rise to 82.3 versus 81.2 in Sept.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone PMI report, (ANET) analyst day and the (F) 3Q fireside chat could also impact trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to maintain gains into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.