Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:            

• Wall Street Loves China More Than Ever.  
• U.K. Inflation Concerns Hit the Highest on Record for Businesses.   
• Turmoil in Uranium-Rich Kazakhstan Threatens to Boost Prices. 
• Supermarkets Limit Purchases as Australian Supply Chains Hobbled.
• Asia Stocks Decline as Tech Rout Deepens on Fed: Markets Wrap.  
• Oil Falls on Tighter U.S. Monetary Policy, China Demand Angst.  
• Deep Freeze Disrupts Crude Flows in Oil Sands and Bakken Shale.
• Heaviest Tech Selling in a Decade Fueled Stock-Market Rate Rout.
  
• Fed Minutes Flag Chance of Earlier Hikes, Balance-Sheet Rundown.
  
• Bitcoin Declines to Lowest Level Since December’s Flash Crash.
• U.S. Attorney General Garland Vows to Go After All Jan. 6 Perpetrators ‘at Any Level’.  
• Rapid Covid Tests Are Reselling for Triple the Retail Price.  
• Debate Emerges Over How to Shrink Fed’s $8 Trillion Bond Pile.  
• Stock, Bond Market’s Worst Start in Decade Revives 60/40 Doubt.

Wall Street Journal:

• Fed Minutes Point to Possible Rate Increase in March.
• Auto Makers Supercharge Move Into Electric Vehicles.
• Inside a Covid-19 School Closing: A Pennsylvania Superintendent Agonizes Over Going Remote.
• Airlines Scrap Over 1,000 Flights for 11th Straight Day.
• Europe’s Trade Czar Walks Line Between U.S. and China.
• Best of CES 2022: New Tech That’s Practical, Innovative or Just Plain Crazy.

Fox News:

• 'Corrupt' and 'evil' teachers ignore Biden, and refuse to go back into classroom as students suffer.
• Chicago mayor threatens to withhold pay after teachers union votes against in-person classes.
• Another Dem caught maskless enjoying Florida’s freedom days after AOC. 
• Disney+ actress Kim Mi-soo dies 'suddenly' at just 29.

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.  
  

CNBC.com:

• Federal Reserve puts wheels in motion for balance sheet reduction.
• CDC panel recommends Pfizer boosters for 12- to 15-year-olds amid omicron surge.
• Nike sues Lululemon for patent infringement over at-home Mirror gym and fitness apps.
• GM unveils Cadillac self-driving concept car, plans for personal autonomous vehicles by mid-decade.
• Roku tumbles 12% after analyst says competition from Amazon, Google is stunting user growth.

MarketWatch:

• Tech stocks get off to worst start to a calendar year since the 2008 financial crisis  
• Bitcoin, ether tumble after Fed minutes show talk of quicker end to easy policy stance.

Zero Hedge:

• Walensky Vs. Fauci Continues After CDC Director Says 'No Plans' To Change Definition Of 'Fully Vaccinated'.
• What Spooked Markets So Badly In Today's Fed Minutes? JPMorgan, Goldman Explain.
• President Biden Called Elizabeth Holmes "Inspiring", Praised Theranos As "Lab Of The Future" In 2015.
• Rivian Shares Plunge After Amazon Agrees To "Significant" EV Van Deal With Stellantis.
• Amid Hospital Bed Scare, Why Has Pritzker Admin Let Supply Of Illinois ICU Beds Collapse?
• The Defenestration Of Dr. Robert Malone.
• Ningbo Port Activity Grinds To A Halt As China Outbreak Worsens.
• Finally, Bloomberg Admits Renewables Mania Caused Energy Shortages.
• Russian-Led Bloc Agrees To Send Troops To Restore Order In Kazakhstan.
• Japan Boosts Coast Guard Over China's Patrols Near Senkaku Islands.
• "Get Ready" For Another Snowstorm To Blast Northeast.
• Kim Signals He's Boosting Arsenal As North Korea Claims It Test-Fired A Hypersonic Missile.
• A March Rate Hike? Not So Fast.
• First Two 'Flurona' Cases Detected In US: Officials.
• So Now It Has Been 666 Days Since A Pandemic Was Officially Declared...
• Cathie Wood's ARKK Sinks With Record 45% Drawdown.
• Markets Turmoil As FOMC Minutes Spark Surge In Rate-Hike-Odds.

Newsmax:

• Texas AG Ken Paxton: Guard Vaccine Mandate Violates Federal Law.
• Newsmax to Air 'Day of Outrage' for Jan. 6 Anniversary.

TheGatewayPundit.com:  

• Dr. Fauci Admits Definition of Fully Vaxxed is Changing: ‘Up-to-Date’ Shots Replacing ‘Fully Vaccinated’.
• Manhattan’s New Soros-Backed DA Orders Armed Robberies to Be Charged as Mere Misdemeanors.
• HUGE! Georgia Ballot Trafficking Whistleblower Admits to Making $45,000 for Stuffing Ballot Boxes — Just One of 242 Traffickers — HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Ballots? (VIDEO).
• Dystopia Down Under: Australia Denies Entry to World’s Number One Tennis Player Novak Djokovic After Being Granted Immunity from COVID-19 Vaccination Exemption.
• Dominion is Panicking in Pennsylvania Because Their Machines Likely Weren’t Properly ‘Hardened’ and Shouldn’t Have Ever Been Put in Use. 
• Psaki Says Joe Biden Will Spend Tomorrow Attacking Trump For Jan 6 “Insurrection” That Never Happened as Everything Around Biden Crumbles (VIDEO).
• 36-Year-Old Brazilian Reporter Collapses and Suffers Cardiac Arrest During Live TV Broadcast (VIDEO).
• Bannon and Dr. Peter Navarro Are Right – Georgia Laws Were Changed Before the 2020 Election Outside the Legislature to Soften Signature Verification.

The Epoch Times:

• China’s Xi Orders Military to Create ‘Elite Force’ to Win Wars
• Taiwan Should Destroy Island’s Semiconductor Plants If China Invades, Paper Says.

The Center Square:

• Indiana life insurance CEO says deaths are up 40% among people ages 18-64. “Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.” Most of the claims for deaths being filed are not classified as COVID-19 deaths, Davison said.

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 709,083 Reports(+7,757 from prior week) Through December 24, 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 equity indices are -1.25% to -.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 76.5 +1.5 basis points. 

• China Sovereign CDS 40.5 +1.25 basis points.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 53.52 -.08%. 
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,222.0 -28.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 22.6 -.2%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -1.36%.

• S&P 500 futures +.12%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.19%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (ANGO)/.00
• (BBBY)/.01
• (CAG)/.68
• (STZ)/2.79
• (HELE)/3.16
• (LNN)/.88
• (SCHN)/1.74
• (WBA)/1.34
  

After the Close:

• (EDU)/.00
• (PSMT)/.91
• (WDFC)/1.25
  

Economic Releases

7:30 am EST

• Challenger Job Cuts YOY for Dec.

8:30 am EST

• The Trade Balance for Nov. is estimated to widen to -$81.0B versus -$67.1B in Oct.
• Initial Jobless Claims for last week is estimated to fall to 195K versus 198K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims is estimated to fall to 1680K versus 1716K prior.
  

10:00 am EST

• The ISM Services Index for Dec. is estimated to fall to 67.0 versus 69.1 in Nov.
• Factory Orders for Nov. is estimated to rise +1.5% versus a +1.0% gain in Oct.
• Factory Orders Ex Transports for Nov. is estimated to rise +1.1% versus a +1.6% gain in Oct.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone Industrial Production report and the weekly EIA natural gas inventory report 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 technology and commodity shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.