Wedneday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:       

• China’s Crackdown Leaves the World’s Biggest Gaming Hub on the Brink.  
• China Property Firms Face Raft of Key Payments This Week.  
• West Coast Airport Flights Halted on North Korea’s Missile.
• Israel Gives Fourth Doses as EU Warns Against Them: Virus Update.
• Wary Global Bond Markets Brace for the Supply Floodgates to Open.  
• Asia Stocks Rise After Powell Inflation Comments: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Surges Alongside Equities as Powell Reassures Investors.  
• Powell Makes Case for Fed Curbing Inflation While Doing No Harm.
• Stacey Abrams and Voting-Rights Allies Spurn Biden’s Atlanta Events.  
• Students at New York City’s Largest High School Stage Walkout Over Covid Protocols.  
• Citi to Exit Mexico Retail Banking, Its Biggest Branch Network.  
• Ken Griffin’s Fortune Soars to $28 Billion on Citadel Securities Deal.   
• Can’t Find Pasta or Cat Food? Empty Store Shelves Are Here to Stay.  
• 50 Company Stocks to Watch in 2022.  
• Jeffrey Gundlach Sees ‘Recessionary Pressure’ Building With Inflation.  
• Ares-Backed Restaurant Chain Cooper’s Hawk Plans 2022 IPO.

Wall Street Journal:

• Citadel Securities to Receive First Outside Investment.
• Why the Catholic Church Is Losing Latin America.
• China Lockdowns Hit Factories, Ports in Latest Knock to Supply Chains. 
• The Greening of the Federal Reserve. Powell endorses bank stress tests to allocate capital for climate policy. 
• GM Takes Aim at Carvana, Vroom With Used-Car Website.
• Facebook Owner Meta Names DoorDash CEO to Board.

Fox News:

• Rand Paul rips Fauci following latest hearing fireworks: He doesn't want debate because he 'is science'.
•  OPINION: The arrogance of Anthony Fauci.
• Biden trusted thousands of illegal immigrants to report to ICE - they didn't.

CNBC.com:

• Fed Chair Powell says rate hikes, tighter policy will be needed to control inflation.
• Empty grocery shelves return as sick employees, supply chain delays collide.
• Delta Air Lines battles with nation’s largest flight attendant union over shortened Covid sick leave.
• Medicare plans to pay for controversial Alzheimer’s drug, from Biogen.
• Crypto scams are the top threat to investors ‘by far,’ say securities regulators.

MarketWatch:   

• These 14 bank stocks are in the best position to benefit from rising interest rates.
  
• Here are dozens of ‘cheap’ stocks that could be poised to outperform as U.S. rates start to rise.

Zero Hedge:

• Ivermectin 'Works Throughout All Phases' Of COVID According To Leaked Military Documents.
• House Republicans Release Damning Fauci Emails Suggesting Concealed Knowledge Of Lab Leak. 
• Who Is Ray Epps? DoJ Refuses To Say, Jan6 Committee Claims 'Not A Fed'.
• China Halts Some US Flights As Omicron Wave Spreads.
• Biden's Education Secretary Allegedly Requested 'Domestic Terrorism' Letter From School Boards Group.
• China Auto Sales Rise 4.5% In 2021, Tesla Sells Record 70,602 Vehicles In December.
• Bill Gates Flip Flops After Turning Omicron 'FUD' Up To '11'.
• Othering Unvaccinated Persons.
• Here Are The Two Things That Will Crush The Fed's Hiking Plans.
• After The Storm.
• It Turns Out If You Doubted COVID Headlines, You Were Correct.
• Biogen Shares Crater After CMS Limits Coverage For Alzheimer's Drug.
• WTI Dips On Smaller Than Expected Crude Draw, Big Gasoline Build.
• Bitcoin, Bonds, Big-Tech, & Bullion Bid On Powell's 'Goldilocks' Testimony.

Newsmax:

• Emails: Ed Sec. Cardona Solicited Group's Letter Branding Concerned Conservative Parents 'Terrorists'.  
• Sen. Graham: Biden Lying on Voting Rights.
• Rep. Tenney: Dems Want Voting Reform So They Can 'Cheat'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:  

• BREAKING: House GOP Oversight Members Release Emails of Fauci and NIH Officials Concealing Information on Wuhan Lab Leak Theory from the American Public.
• “I’m Insulted You Asked That Question” – Biden Snaps at Reporter Asking About Stacey Abrams Snub (VIDEO).
• “Premeditated Manslaughter of Millions of People Coordinated at the Highest Levels” – Naomi Wolf and Dr. Malone Respond to Project Veritas BOMBSHELL (VIDEO).
• Biden Slips Up, Calls Kamala “President Harris” in Speech Calling on Senate to Nuke Filibuster Rules For ‘Voting Rights’ Bill (VIDEO).
• COVID Child Abuse: Virginia Elementary School Teacher Holds Class Outdoors in Sub-Freezing Weather (Update: “Snack and Mask Break”?).
• Cops Suspect Bob Saget Suffered ‘a Heart Attack or Stroke’ Based on Position of Body.
• “Was Ray Epps A Fed?” – ‘I Can’t Answer That’: FBI Asst. Director Refuses To Answer Any of Ted Cruz’s Questions About Jan 6 in Fiery Exchange on Capitol Hill – (Video).
• Now Even the Far-Left Media is Reporting on the Grocery Crisis and Empty Shelves Across the Nation.
• BOOM! Senator Rand Paul RIPS into Serial Liar Dr. Tony Fauci and HE HATES EVERY MINUTE OF IT (VIDEO).
• “I Do Not Want to Have a Vaccination.. The Science Isn’t Strong Enough” – Brave Doctor Challenges UK Health Secretary and Tells He Will Not Get the Jab (VIDEO).

The Epoch Times:

• American Companies are Supercharging the Chinese Communist Party.
• CCP Mismanagement, Authoritarianism Pushing China Down Road to Economic Ruin: Experts.

Twitter:

• @SKMorefield - Tucker Carlson & Dr. Scott Atlas discuss how the CDC is finally coming clean after their years-long deception about Covid death numbers. "This was an intentional inculcation of fear in the American public." (video)
• @drscott_atlanta - The #CDC Director States 1) Vaccines don’t prevent transmission of COVID virus 2) The vast majority of deaths from #covid are in patients with “at least 4 co-morbidities” THEN Why are they forcing the rest of us to get #vaccinated? (video)
• @nataliegwinters - CONFLICT: Fauci’s Daughter is a Software Engineer at Twitter, A Company Which Suspends People for Disagreeing With Her Father.

GETTR:

•  @vanguardmma - Pfizer CEO: “We know the two doses offer very little protection, if any.” (video) All of my social media accounts (Twitter, IG, & TikTok) were just suspended for “misinformation” and “community guidelines” for posting this video. Hence, they’re calling the CEO of Pfizer’s own words “COVID misinformation.”

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 715,856 Reports(+6,773 from prior week) Through December 31, 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 +.25% to +1.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 79.5 -.75 basis point. 

• China Sovereign CDS 42.5 -1.5 basis points.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 54.01 +.09%. 
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,616.0 +12.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 21.1 +.27%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.63%.

• S&P 500 futures -.04%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.07%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (JEF)/1.34
• (SJR)/.34
  

After the Close:

• (KBH)/1.77
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• The CPI MoM for Dec. is estimated to rise +.4% versus a +.8% gain in Nov.
• The CPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for Dec. is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +.5% gain in Nov.
• Real Avg. Weekly Earnings YoY for Dec.
  

10:30 am EST

• Energy inventory data

2:00 pm EST

• The Monthly Budget Statement for Dec. is estimated at -$5.0B versus -$191.3B in Nov.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The UK Industrial Production report, 10Y T-Note auction and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report could also impact global 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 mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.