Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:   

• Pentagon Says Putin Still Adding Russian Troops Around Ukraine.  
• China Manufacturing Loses Steam as Growth Risks Mount.
• Truckers Protesting Vaccine Rule Staying Put in Canada’s Capital.
• Australia Poll Shows Morrison’s Conservatives Face Election Loss.
• Australia to Scrap QE, Revise Up Inflation as Rate Debate Builds.
  
• U.S. and U.K. Work on Russian Sanctions Revamp: Ukraine Update.
  
• Where Military Forces Are Assembling Around Russia and Ukraine.  
• Flight From Risk Drives Biotech Stocks to Worst Start Since 2016.  
• Boston Ties 24-Hour Snow Record With Weekend Blizzard.  
• Collins Faults Biden for ‘Clumsy’ Handling of Breyer Replacement.  
• LVMH’s Hublot to Raise Watch Prices as Inflation Hits Luxury.
• Traders’ Emerging Stocks Dreams Are Dashed by Late January Curse.
• An Army of Faceless Suits Is Taking Over the $4 Trillion Hedge Fund World.

Wall Street Journal:

• Californians Now Willing to Admit Why They Are Leaving. Even Hollywood’s tolerance for bad ideas has a limit.
• Spying. Human Rights. Covid-19. Beijing Olympic Athletes Face the Most Complex Games Ever.
• Decluttered Bed Bath & Beyond Stores Frustrated Shoppers.
• Spotify Publishes Content Policy, Covid Hub Amid Rogan Controversy.
• Cathie Wood’s ARK Faces Loyalty Test After Tech Rout.
• Elliott and Vista Near Deal to Buy Citrix Systems.
• In Eastern Ukraine’s Largest City, Pro-Russia Sympathies Wither.
• Move Over, Meme Stocks: Retail Investors Go Back to Blue Chips.
• Aluminum Prices Can’t Keep Up With Energy Costs, Driving Closures.
• For Chip Industry, Supply Woes Push Next Target to $1 Trillion.
• Drugmakers Raised Prices by 6.6% on Average Early This Year.
• Restaurants Pull Back on Value Menus as Costs Rise.

Fox News:    

• Top Trump defense official says China will negate vital US Russia strategy.
• Canadian province deals major blow to 'freedom' trucker protestors.
• Voting for Biden's hard-left Supreme Court pick could end Manchin's political career, as it should: Ingraham. 

CNBC:

• The 4 vitamins and supplements this doctor takes every day to strengthen her immune system
• Fed’s Bostic tells the FT the central bank could hike rates by a half-point if needed.
• Big swings in the market are more normal than investors might expect, but things could get worse.
• Top Wall Street analysts see safety in these stocks amid market volatility.
• Hollywood agencies are betting big on TikTok talent as they seek to woo Gen Z audiences.
• Inflation at its worst: The cost of a night out is up as much as 100%.

Zero Hedge: 

• Greenwald: Pressure Campaign To Remove Joe Rogan From Spotify Reveals Liberal Religion Of Censorship.
• Atlanta Fed President Pours Gasoline On Fire With 50Bps Hike Comment, But There Are Reasons To Ignore It.
• "Some Unpleasant Math" - The Fed Has Two Options: A Recession,Or Years Of Very High Inflation.
• Here's Why US Truckers Staging Convoy To DC Will Face Soaring Diesel Prices.
• Speech Therapist: 364% Surge In Baby And Toddler Referrals Thanks To Mask Wearing.
• China PMIs Show Economy On Verge Of Contraction Amid Continued Growth Slowdown.
• Stockman Says "This Goes Way Beyond Wag-The-Dog 2.0" As Ukraine Pushes Back Against American Hawks. 
• Spotify Has Officially Become The Battleground For Big Tech's Censorship Civil War.
• Over 80% Of Americans Think They'll Be "Stuck With [COVID] Forever".
• Failure To Launch.
• The Pandemic Has Made Americans Even Lazier.
• Position-Sizing And Drawdowns.
• "They're Trying To Put Me In Jail" - Trump Calls For "Biggest Protests We've Ever Had" If "Racist" Prosecutors "Do Anything Illegal".
• "Peak Rationality" Hit In 1980, And Since Then It's Been All About "Emotion".
• T-Mobile To Fire All Unvaccinated Corporate Staff By April.
• Corporate Media And Big Tech Align Against #FreedomConvoy.
• Denmark Is First EU Country To Scrap All COVID Restrictions.
• North Korea Launches Most Powerful Missile In Years.
• A War Only America & Britain Seem To Want.
• China Will Play Major Role In Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Experts.
• Taiwan Says Its Athletes Will Not Participate In Beijing Olympics Ceremonies.
• Bacon Shortage? US Pork Supplies Tumble To 11-Year Low. 
• Did Powell Just Burst The ESG Megabubble.

NewsMax:

• Trump: Boycott Platforms That Cancel Conservatives.
• Allen West: Progressive Crime Policies Result in ‘Lawlessness’.  
• Trump: Boycott 'Radical Left Lunatics' of AT&T, DirecTV, 'Concast'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• General Michael Flynn Says Globalists Created COVID and “One of the Big Reasons Was to Steal an Election.”. 
• ** BREAKING BOMBSHELL** Dinesh D’Souza Releases Movie Trailer for “2000 Mules” Exposing Ballot Traffickers Who Stole the 2020 Election. 
• NEW VIDEO via Laura Loomer: Biden Drops Off Hundreds of Illegal Aliens at Florida Hotel.
• CNN Panel Paints Joe Rogan’s Millions of Listeners as Stupid Rubes (VIDEO).
• “I’m Disgusted with Them Both!” – Democrat Voter Who Was Featured in Biden’s Campaign Video Slams Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (VIDEO).
• Convoy to DC 2022: American Truckers to Form Convoy Protest From California to DC (VIDEO).
• Marxist BLM Leader Patrisse Khan-Cullors Bought Four High-End Homes in US Before Stepping Down — And Is Now Linked to $6 Million Mansion in Canada.
• LAWRENCE SELLIN: China’s Military May Be Making a New Human-Infecting Coronavirus Deadlier than COVID-19.
• More Bald-Faced Lies: Biden Regime Says There’s No Such Thing as Secret Illegal Alien Flights in Dead of Night.
• Crowd Size at Trump Rally in Texas Was Massive – an Estimated 50,000 Show Up to See President Trump in Conroe.
• CNN Tries To Put Jim Acosta In Their Primetime Lineup And He’s A Ratings Dud.
• Father of Two Young Children Denied Heart Transplant for Being Unvaccinated.
• Trump Praises Canadian Truckers – Calls on Congress to Rehire EVERY Soldier or Marine Fired by Joe Biden over Vaccine Mandate (VIDEO).

The Epoch Times:

• China Is Undermining the US Through Elite Capture: Author.
• Chinese-Made COVID-19 Test Kits Are Coming to Millions of American Households via White House Initiative.  
• CCP May Collect Top American Athletes’ DNA at Beijing Olympics, Experts Say. 
• ‘Government Overreach Is Coming to an End’: Massive Truck Convoy Heading to Washington After Ottawa.

Twitter:

• @BeachLife7 - The Truckers have arrived in Ottawa. City in gridlock. Testament to Trudeau’s failed leadership. Symbol of People Power. The NWO/WEF Great Reset plan is failing. No one wants the Transhumanist, AI controlled Digital nightmare Future they are attempting to foist upon us !!! (video) Truckers have full control over downtown Ottawa. The truckers are also getting organized and rotating shifts. (video) "JUSTIN TRUDEAU MUST GO". (video) NUREMBERG, GERMANY RISING UP AGAINST VACCINE PASSPORTS. (video) Thousands protest vaccine passes and COVID tyranny in Mallorca, Spain. (video)
  
• @steve_hanke - In #Paris, thousands gather to protest France's tyrannic COVID-19 restrictions for the 29th week in a row. Take a look: (video)
• @IFENewsAgency - Appears the Europe convoy has started already- and I’m not sure but Brussels feb 7 may have been switched to 14. Woohoo Go Europe!!! (video)
  

GETTR: 

• @DiscloseTV - JUST IN - Health Secretary Sajid Javid set to scrap mandatory Covid jabs for NHS and social care workers, The Telegraph reports. NEW - Dutch truckers drive in a convoy through Friesland, Netherlands, inspired by events in Canada.

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 739,999 Reports(+7,117 from prior week) Through January 21, 2021.
  

SKirsch.com:

• Using the MGH numbers with our own VAERS queries, we have 247 cases per million doses from the MGH study divided by 5.97 cases per million doses from VAERS. 247/5.97 = 41. This suggests that the VAERS under-reporting factor (URF) is 41X.

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 -.25% to +.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 91.5 +1.0 basis point.
• China Sovereign CDS 50.5 +1.0 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 53.92 +.04%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,792.0 +18.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 27.3 +1.6%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures n/a.
• S&P 500 futures -.28%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.29%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (OTIS)/.70
• (TT)/1.31
  

After the Close:

• (CRUS)/2.14
• (FN)/1.46
• (HP)/-.47
• (NXPI)/3.01
  

Economic Releases

9:45 am EST

• The MNI Chicago PMI for Jan. is estimated to fall to 61.8 versus 63.1 in Dec.

10:30 am EST

• Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity for Jan. is estimated to rise to 9.0 versus 8.1 in Dec.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone GDP report, China Non-Manufacturing PMI report and the International Mining/Resources Conference could also impact trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted 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 week.