Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:          

• Xi Set to Unveil New Doctrine That Could Let Him Rule for Life.  
• China’s Deafening Silence Speaks Loudest at Global Climate Talks.  
• China’s Coal Imports Double After Power Shortage Boosted Demand.
  
• Aussie Dollar Looks Vulnerable After Massive Repricing of Rates.  
• BHP Extends Fossil Fuels Withdrawal With Met Coal Asset Sale.  
• Lost Decade Lingers as Emerging-Market Stocks Trail U.S. Peers.  
• In a World Desperate for Wheat, Australia and Argentina Step Up.
• Stocks Steady as Recovery Mulled; Treasuries Dip: Markets Wrap.
• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.  
• OPEC+ and Saudis Will Stay Cautious on Oil Output, Says Vitol.
• Crypto Tesla Tokens Drop 6.8% After Musk Suggests Selling Stock.
• Starbucks Union Vote Sets Up a Watershed Moment for U.S. Labor.
  
• Child Vaccine Demand Underscores Deep Divisions in U.S.   
• U.S. Flights Reopen, Handing British Airways $1 Billion Lifeline.  
• Turbocharged U.S. Consumer Plays Key Role in Supply-Chain Snarls.
• Cars Cost More Than Ever, and They’re Selling Faster, Too.  
• After Decades of Breeding Bigger Birds, Some Producers Are Shrinking the Chicken.  
• The Power Grid Is Just Another Casino for Energy Traders.

Wall Street Journal:

• Republicans Rescue Biden’s Agenda. Will the infrastructure bill grease the wheels for the Democrats’ $4 trillion spending blowout?   
• Natural-Gas Exports Lift Prices for American Utilities.
  
• Tragedy at Travis Scott Show Prompts New Questions.
• Electric-Vehicle Charging Stations Win Jolt of Energy in Congress.
• Government-Bond Swings Burn Wall Street Investors.
• The Economic Rebound From Covid-19 Was Easy. Now Comes the Hard Part.
• Iraqi Prime Minister Targeted in Assassination Attempt.

Fox News: 

• Biden administration ponders shutting down another pipeline as gas prices soar igniting new fury.
• Hannity blasts Biden Energy Sec for laughing at fuel price concerns: 'Makes your blood boil'.
• Biden administration 'took a chainsaw' to energy industry, global security: Dagen McDowell.

CNBC:

• ‘This is going to be one of the best Christmas seasons ever’: bull Ed Yardeni.
• Retailers hail lifting of travel ban, return of international tourists with hopes of sales rebound.
• Nuclear fusion start-up Helion scores $375 million investment from Open AI CEO Sam Altman.

Zero Hedge:

• Parents Increasingly Worried About Being Forced To Vaccinate Young Children As Biden Tightens Mandates.
• Biden Admin Silent As EU, Iran, & China Freely Violate US Sanctions.
• Get Ready For Your 'Woke' 401(k).
• Biden's Infrastructure Plan May Be Hugely Inflationary.
• US Rents Rose At Slowest Pace Since February In Latest Sign Of Housing Market Exhaustion.
• Here's Everything America Gets For $1.2 Trillion In Infrastructure Spending - Including The Crazy Stuff.
• Veteran Dem Strategist Sums Up Liberals' Electability Issue: "They're Not Popular... They Need A Woke Detox".
• How Media And Tech Elites Seized Control Of Elections.
• Iran Blames US For Assassination Attempt On Iraq PM As Fresh Unrest Set To Explode In Streets.
• Austria Moves Closer To Imposing Lockdown On The Unvaccinated.
• Shocked Goldman Trader Admits "I Could Never Imagine Typing These Large Numbers".
• California's Attempt To Hobble Gifted Students Over 'Racial Disparities' Starting To Backfire
• Maté: Russiagate Has No Rock-Bottom.
• 5 Unanswered Questions As FBI Raids Project Veritas Over A Missing Biden Diary.
• Majority Of Twitter Poll Respondents Say Musk Should Sell 10% Of His Tesla Stock.
• New Poll Suggests GOP Victory In 2022; Biden Approval Sinks To 38% While Kamala's Even Worse.
• Surgeon General: Biden Admin 'Prepared To Defend' OSHA Vaccine Mandate After Court Ruling.
• Chicago Homicide Crisis Worsens As Mayor Lightfoot Fails To Quell Violence.
• China Trade Surplus Hits Record Just As US Trade Deficit Rises To All-Time High.
• Bill Gates: "Germ Games" Needed To Prepare For Bioterrorist Attacks.

MarketWatch.com:                

• ‘It’s a melt-up’: U.S. stocks are on an unusually strong run heading into the holidays.
•  Elon Musk let Twitter users decide whether to sell 10% of his Tesla stock. They said yes.  
• A bargain you can’t ignore: Small-cap stocks are trading at their second-biggest discount in 20 years.
  
• Peloton stock’s pain is the mirror opposite of Planet Fitness’ gain.

NewsMax:  

• Mark Meadows: Climate Agenda 'Wrapped in Dollar Bills'.
• Rep. Pat Fallon: 13 Republicans Do 'Nancy Pelosi's Bidding, Biden's Work'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Biden’s Surgeon General Doesn’t Rule Out Extending Vaccine Mandate to Businesses with Fewer Than 100 Employees (VIDEO).
• Plane With ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Banner Flies Over Georgia Bulldogs’ Football Game (VIDEO).
• Samantha Power and Biden Regime Announce $300 Million Payday to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala for Equitable Economic Growth, Human Rights and Fighting Gender-Based Violence in Migration “Root Causes” Funding.
• UPDATE: Newsmax Opposes Vaccine Mandate and Will Not Enforce Vaccine Mandate at Company.
• WATCH: George Floyd’s Nephew Makes Video Threatening Jurors if They Do Not Convict Kyle Rittenhouse.
• DeSantis Working to Stop Illegal Aliens Being Shipped to Florida.
• Dystopia Down Under: Thousands of Australians With Unpaid Fines for Breaking Covid Rules Have Bank Accounts Raided and Property Seized As Tyrannical Government Chases Millions in Fees.
• Democrat Thought Leader AOC Slams James Carville for Blaming Election Losses on Far Left’s Marxist, Wokeness Agenda.
• BREAKING: Appeals Court Temporarily Halts Biden’s Vaccine Mandate for Businesses.
• BREAKING: FBI Raids Project Veritas Founder James O’Keefe’s Home Over Ashley Biden Diary.
  

The Epoch Times:

• Parents Worried About China’s Vaccine Orders on Children.
• Jailed Chinese Journalist Who Reported on Wuhan Outbreak Might Not Survive the Winter, Family Says.
  

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 -1.0% to unch. on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 85.5 +5.0  basis points.
• China Sovereign CDS 49.55 +3.25 basis points.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 58.08 +.02%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,191.0 +107.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 20.48 -.13%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.08%.
• S&P 500 futures -.19%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.34%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (TTD)/.15
• (THS)/.50

After the Close:

• (DDD)/.05
• (AMC)/-.54
• (NHI)/1.18
• (EDU)/.03 
• (PYPL)/1.08
• (RMAX)/.63
• (RBLX)/-.08
• (SANM)/.99
• (TREX)/.58
• (TRIP)/.24
• (SPCE)/-.28
• (ZNGA)/.07
  

Economic Releases

• None of note

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Powell speaking, Fed's Clarida speaking, Fed's Bowman speaking, Eurogroup meeting, $56B 3Y T-Note auction, JPMorgan Consumer/Retail/Luxury Conference, Credit Suisse Healthcare Conference, (AMD) data center event, (ALB) fireside chat and the (MCHP) could also impact trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST

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