Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:     

• U.K. Retailers Raise Prices at Fastest Pace Since 2012, BRC Says.
• Stocks, Futures Rise on Earnings, Easing Fed Angst: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Holds Near Seven-Year High as Traders Count Down to OPEC+.
• OPEC Barely Increased Supply Last Month Amid Chronic Struggles  
• Goldman Sees QT Fueling Treasury Volatility and Hurting Liquidity.
• CME to Launch More Battery-Metals Contracts as Demand Surges.   
• Fewest Americans Ever Are Laid Off in Frenzy to Retain Workers.  
• Ford to Spend Up to $20 Billion Reorganizing for Shift to Electric Cars.  
• Fed Won’t Be Rushed in Its Hiking Path by Wall Street Frenzy.
• Invesco to Hire Dozens in China as Assets Sail Past $100 Billion.
• Biden Consults With Key Senators on Supreme Court Nominee.  
• A Major Homebuilder Sees No Improvement Coming to the Supply Chain In 2022.  
• Anxiety Over Beef Shortages Reaches Fever Pitch in Golden Corral Fistfight.

Wall Street Journal:

• Putin Says West Failed to Address His Demands in Ukraine Standoff.
• Russia Confronts Ukraine With Upgraded Military Rebuilt After Soviet Collapse.
• Brian Flores Sues NFL Alleging Discrimination Against Black Coaches. 
• Biden’s Southern Border Crisis Isn’t Going Away. The administration lets a crisis fester, and the Democratic Party will pay a political price. 
• VR to the ER: Metaverse Early Adopters Prove Accident-Prone.

Fox News:

• College shooter kills beloved campus security officers, suspect arrested after massive manhunt.
• Fraternal Order of Police accuses White House press secretary Psaki of laughing off rising crime rates.
• 'Squad,' Dems mum on police funding as crime continues to rise in major cities.
• Top schools ditch vaccine mandates instant new GOP AG turns up heat.

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:

• AMD rises 10% after issuing strong 2022 sales outlook.
• GM forecasts earnings ‘at or near record levels’ in 2022 as chip shortage eases.
• Alphabet reports big fourth-quarter beat; stock pops.
• After a huge year for growth, the U.S. economy is about to slam into a wall.
• Pfizer asks FDA to expand use of Covid vaccine to kids under 5.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Alphabet, AMD, PayPal and more.

MarketWatch:     

• Gilead earnings slammed by legal settlement, stock falls.
• PayPal stock drops as eBay impacts weigh on earnings outlook.
  
• Starbucks to raise prices as inflation, labor issues hit earnings.  
• Watch: 40-person brawl breaks out in Golden Corral over reported steak shortage.  
• With chicken wing prices rising by as much as 26%, will Super Bowl parties still be happening?

Zero Hedge:

• Quebec Scraps Planned Tax On Unvaccinated Residents Amid Growing Backlash.
• Bill Maher Is Right: It's The Left That Has Gotten More Radical. 
• Taibbi: The British Medical Journal Story That Exposed Politicized "Fact-Checking".
• 500 Dead In Northeast Syria "Major ISIS Comeback Plot".
• San Francisco Residents Flocking To Montana As Demand Has "Exploded".
• Ukraine Drone Strike Kills Separatist Fighter At Donbas Front Line: Russian Media.
• Illinois Democrat Rep. Calls For "Quarantine To Observe" Those Refusing Vaccines.
• WTI Dips After Gasoline Inventories Build For 5th Straight Week.
• Alphabet Explodes 7% Higher After Beating Estimates Across The Board, 20-For-One Stock Split.
• These Were The Best And Worst Performing Assets During January's Rollercoaster Month.
• Fourth Turning 2022: Bad-Moon Rising, Part 3.
• Stocks Shrug Off Bullard, Bad-Data, & 'BBB' Bust As Dollar Drops.

Newsmax:

• FIRE Poll: Majority Say Cancel Culture Rising Threat to Freedom.
• Sen. Blackburn: Beijing Focused on Propaganda Olympics Brings.

TheGatewayPundit.com: 

• Senator Ben Ray Luján Hospitalized After Suffering a Stroke.
• Biden’s Nominee to be Judge of Central District of California Won’t Answer Whether Racial Discrimination is Wrong Under Questioning From Ted Cruz (VIDEO).
• Outraged Citizens Surround Pfizer Headquarters In Paris: ‘Assassins!’ (VIDEO).
• BREAKING: Key Evidence Uncovered Shows State Dept Thought Ukrainian Prosecutor Shokin Was a Good Guy and Yet Biden Bragged About Firing Him Because He Was Investigating Hunter, Biden’s Son.
• Illinois HB4244 Mandatory Vaccine Registry is Now in Subcommittee – Lawmaker Proposes HB4640 to Quarantine Exposed to Infectious Disease.
• Biden Regime RESCINDS Deportation of Illegal Alien Who Killed 19-Year-Old Girl in New Program to Reduce Removals.

The Epoch Times:

• Fauci Knew About Virus Lab Origin From Secret Teleconference, Pushed Alternate Narrative: Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke.

Twitter: 

• @ProtestNews_EN - All Canadians want their freedom. (video) #Truckers #Ottawa #FreedomConvoy #Canada. The vibe in Canada is just amazing! Nice message to Australia as well! (video)
  
• @TheChiefNerd - Johns Hopkins Professor Dr. Marty Makary on new data showing the superiority of natural immunity “The NIH controls the currency of academic medicine”. (video)
• @TomasMorales_iv - Gavin Newsom unmasked in a packed stadium while the state of CA still has emergency orders in place for Covid-19. (pic)
  

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 equity indices are +1.0% to +1.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 91.0 unch. 

• China Sovereign CDS 50.0 unch.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 54.49 -.02%. 
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,375.0 +39.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 23.7 -.9%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.75%.

• S&P 500 futures +.45%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.95%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (ABBV)/3.28
• (ABC)/2.58
• (AVY)/2.12
• (BSX)/.44
• (EAT)/.51
• (CHRW)/1.86
• (DHI)/2.80
• (EMR)/1.01
• (HUM)/1.16
• (IDXX)/1.72
• (JCI)/.53
• (ODFL)/2.27
• (SAIA)/2.58
• (TMO)/5.27

After the Close:

• (AFL)/1.26
• (ALGN)/2.73
• (ALL)/2.77
• (AVB)/2.25
• (CTSH)/1.04
• (KLIC)/1.90
• (MXL)/.84
• (MCK)/5.42
• (FB)/3.83
• (MET)/1.46
• (QCOM)/3.00
• (RRR)/.51
• (YELL)/-.13
  

Economic Releases

8:15 am EST

• The ADP Employment Change for January is estimated to fall to 184K versus 807K in Dec.
  

10:30 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory  gain of +1,055,890 barrels versus a +2,377,000 barrel gain the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to rise by +1,895,220 barrels versus a +1,297,000 barrel gain the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -1,237,000 barrels versus a -2,798,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.01% versus a -.4% decline prior.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone PPI report 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 commodity and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to maintain gains into the afternoon. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.