Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:      

• Shadowy China Firms Spend Billions on Land Shunned by Developers.
• GOP Lawmakers Press NBC to Address Human Rights in Olympics Coverage.  
• Bear Market Looms for China’s Equity Benchmark During Volatility.
• Asia Stocks, U.S. Futures Steady Ahead of Fed: Markets Wrap.  
• Oil Holds Above $85 as Traders Focus on Stockpile Draw, Ukraine.
• Stocks Trading on Fumes Probably Aren’t Keeping the Fed Awake.
  
• These 12 U.S. States Have Restored Employment to Pre-Covid Levels.  
• Retail Dip-Buyers Get Whiplashed Big Time by Historic Volatility.  
• Mark Zuckerberg’s Stablecoin Ambitions Unravel With Diem Sale Talks.  
• Bank of America Employees to Share Stock Award of $1 Billion.  
• Retail’s Latest Challenge Is a ‘Problematic’ Number of Returns.  
• A Nor’easter Approaching New York Risks Becoming a Bomb Cyclone.  
• California's Plan to Slash Solar Subsidies Seen Cutting Market in Half. 
• Self-Driving Car Users Should Not Be Responsible ‘If Anything Goes Wrong’: Report.

Wall Street Journal:

• Fidelity, Once Stodgy and Adrift, Bets on the Reddit Crowd.
• SAT Changes Will Make Exam Shorter, Simpler and Digital. 
  
• Covid-19 Fuels Best-Ever Commercial Real-Estate Sales.
• Cryptocurrency Doesn’t Amount to Much. Blockchain merely mirrors rudimentary parts of the regulated financial system. 

Fox News:

• Pelosi sees her power slip in chaotic 2021, with Democratic retirements, infighting.
• Bill Hemmer calls out fine print on those at-home COVID tests WH sent you.
• One state wants to make it illegal to ask for your vaccine status.
  

CNBC.com:

• The Fed is likely to signal a March interest rate hike and that further policy tightening is coming.
• Logitech turns in strong quarter, but CEO says supply woes still held back sales.
• Trillion-dollar tech companies set to report results amid worst January slump since 2008.
• A more than $761 billion dilemma: Returns jump as retailers’ online sales grow.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: Microsoft, F5, Navient & more.

 MarketWatch:         

• Car prices are at near-record highs — yet car ownership is on the rise.  
• You can still find a haven in tech stocks: These 20 offer the safety of highly stable profits.

Zero Hedge:

• 'It's Him Or Me': Neil Young Throws Tantrum Over Joe Rogan, Demands Spotify Remove His Songs.
• Joe Biden's Gasoline Problem Is Back.  
• Biden Family Made $31 Million From Individuals With 'Direct Ties To Chinese Spy Apparatus': Schweizer. 
• Flashback: Fauci Spreading False Information On AIDS.
• Pfizer Board Member Suggests End To Mask, Vaccine Mandates.
• FBI Searches Illinois 'Center For COVID Control' Headquarters Following Complaints: Officials.
• Yep, They're Still Riding The "Omicron" Wave...
• Judge Saves New York's Mask Mandate After Last-Minute Appeal From Democrats.
• Russia-Ukraine Crisis Deescalating As NATO Countries Break From Bellicose US-UK Stance.
• Woman Who Came Into Contact With Escaped Monkeys Says She Developed Symptoms.
• WTI Dips After Smaller Than Expected Crude Draw.
• Buzzfeed Shares Crater: Down 60% As SPAC Bloodbath Worsens.
• 2nd NYPD Officer Dies After Being Shot During Harlem Ambush.
• A Bearish Bank Of America Says It's Time To "Buy Some Dips".
• Durham: DNC Lawyer Marc Elias Has Given Grand Jury Testimony.
• Microsoft Tumbles Despite Beating Across The Board.
• 'Deja Vu All Over Again' As Stocks Dump'n'Pump Again Ahead Of Fed.

 Newsmax: 

• Rep. Babin: Biden Turning His Back on Border Crisis.
• K.T. McFarland: Ukraine a 'Done Deal' for Putin.

TheGatewayPundit.com: 

• Ford Motor Company Bucks Supreme Court – Moves Forward with their Own Vaccine Mandate for Remote Workers.  
• “Omicron Transmission is Likely Facilitated by The Vaccines”: Dr. Malone Warns That If We Keep Vaccinating, We Risk Developing a More “Pathogenic Virus” – (VIDEO).
• NEW FOOTAGE Shows Ashli Babbitt Punched Violent Rioter Who Was Breaking Windows In The Face Just Seconds Before She Was Shot Dead (VIDEO).
• Psaki Has No Answer When asked Why a Large Number of Military-Aged Males Are Being Released Into the US Hours After Being Apprehended at Border (VIDEO).
• Another House Democrat Announces Retirement – Dem Rep. Jim Cooper Will be Leaving Congress After 32 Years in Office.
• Leftists Attack, Then Fight Americans For Not Wearing Masks at ‘Defeat The Mandates’ Rally in DC (VIDEO).
• Breaking: Georgia Officials Tampered With and Deleted Hours of Ballot Box Video Before It Was Released to Investigators.
• Biden’s Deputy Nat Sec Advisor Says Americans Should Care About Ukraine Because “Sovereignty Should be Respected” (VIDEO).
• 178,840 Illegals Captured and Released at Border in December — Nearly 2 Million This Year — But Biden Regime Worried about Ukraine’s Border!
• Stalinesque Cruelty: Biden’s FDA Blocks Florida from Using Life-Saving Monoclonal Antibody Treatments for COVID Patients.

The Epoch Times:

• ‘Abusive Intolerance’: Lawmakers Denounce Beijing’s Jailing of 11 Who Shared Pandemic Photos With The Epoch Times.

Twitter: 

• @BeachLife7 - Globalists are desperate to purge this video from the internet, and history. Watch it to the end, and you’ll soon see why. (video)
• @ThorDeplorable - Nurse Jennifer Bridges gives first hand account. video 1/2. Nurse Jennifer Bridges gives first hand account. video 2/2.
• @TheChiefNerd - Registered nurse Nicole Sirotek shares what she saw on the front lines in NYC. (video)
• @phyxx - Please retweet this far and wide. These numbers need to reach more people! (video)
  

GETTR:

• @DiscloseTV - NEW - Truckers are driving across Canada in a large caravan to protest vaccine mandates and people are meeting them along the way to cheer them on. NEW - YouTube has censored a Bible-based sermon, labeling it as "hate speech" because the pastor said God made us "male and female."

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 732,882 Reports(+9,841 from prior week) Through January 14, 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 +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 90.0 +.5 basis point. 

• China Sovereign CDS 48.25 unch.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 54.17 +.01%. 
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,541.0 +36.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 28.05 -.41%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.17%.

• S&P 500 futures +.05%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.30%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (ABT)/1.21
• (APH)/.64
• (ANTM)/5.12
• (T)/.76
• (ADP)/1.63
• (BA)/-.19
• (GLW)/.52
• (FCX)/.91
• (GD)/3.37
• (HES)/.75
• (KMB)/1.25
• (KNX)/1.43
• (NDAQ)/1.77
• (NSC)/3.04
• (OSK)/.84
• (PGR)/1.01
  

After the Close:

• (CNMD)/1.03
• (CCI)/1.73
• (EW)/.55
• (INTC)/.91
• (LRCX)/8.50
• (LSTR)/2.86
• (LVS)/-.22
• (LEVI)/.40
• (RJF)/1.76
• (STX)/2.36
• (NOW)/1.43
• (TER)/1.29
• (TSLA)/2.36
• (URI)/6.69
• (VRTX)/3.29
• (WHR)/5.93
• (XLNX)/1.02
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• The Advance Goods Trade Balance for Dec. is estimated at -$96.0B versus -$98.0B in Nov.
• Wholesale Inventories MoM for Dec. is estimated to rise +1.2% versus a +1.4% gain in Nov.
• Retail Inventories MoM for Dec. is estimated to rise +1.5% versus a +2.0% gain in Nov.
  

10:00 am EST

• New Home Sales for Dec. is estimated to rise to 760K versus 744K the prior week.
  

10:30 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory gain of +166,440 barrels versus a +515,000 barrel gain the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to rise by +1,947,110 barrels versus a +5,873,000 barrel gain the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -1,492,890 barrels versus a -1,431,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to fall by -.31% versus a -.3% decline prior.
  

2:00 pm EST

• The FOMC is expected to leaves the benchmark Fed Funds Rate at 0.00-.25%.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Australia Export/Import Prices, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report, TD Securities Mining Conference and the (KMI) investor day could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by consumer and commodity shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.