Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:      

• Russian Stocks, Ruble Rebound as Sanctions Seen Muted So Far.
• Biden Ups Russia Sanctions, Calls Ukraine Invasion Underway.
  
• Blinken Says Meeting With Lavrov Is Canceled: Ukraine Update.  
• Ukraine Power Plant Damaged During Two Days of Shelling.
• AllianceBernstein Joins Pimco in Turning Cool on China’s Bonds.  
• U.S. Futures Rise as Traders Mull Russia Sanctions: Markets Wrap.  
• Oil Slips as U.S. Avoids Harshest Sanctions, Iran Supply Beckons.
• NYC Begins Plan to Move Homeless From Subway as Crime Surges.  
• Biden Delays Oil Permits as Gasoline Prices Surge on Ukraine. 
• Crypto, Soros and the Global Drive to Fund a Revolution in Myanmar.  
• Mask Mandate Likely to Be Extended, U.S. Flight Attendants Say.   
• Activision to Delay Next Year’s Planned Call of Duty Game.   
• S&P 500 Charts Are So Bad Even Bulls Are Looking to Adjust Bets.

Wall Street Journal:

• Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Tyranny. Ottawa is now freezing bank accounts as if the truckers are terrorists.
• With Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, a New Cold War Arrives. U.S. and European sanctions are still too weak against Putin.
• How Much Could Sanctions Hurt Russia’s Economy?
• Push to Relax Cannabis Laws Hits Roadblocks.
• Meta’s Facebook Escalates TikTok Rivalry, Launches Reels Globally.
• Volkswagen’s Porsche IPO Won’t Put Investors First.
• Winter Storms With Snow, Sleet and Frigid Temperatures Forecast to Hit Much of U.S.

Fox News:   

• Biden torpedoes meeting with Putin after Russia does the ONE thing Joe told them not to do.
• NATO warns 'full scale attack' on Kyiv in the works by Russia, 'real risk' of full blown war with Europe.
• New sanctions, 'defensive' troop movements unleashed by US as WH denounces 'invasion'.
• Trump warns China will follow Russia's lead after WH declares Putin invaded.

CNBC.com:

• Biden says U.S. will sanction Russian banks, sovereign debt and individuals after Ukraine ‘invasion’.
• Russia’s Ukraine incursion could complicate the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions.
• Covid infections plummet 90% from U.S. pandemic high, states lift mask mandates.
• One key to Home Depot’s growth strategy: Nabbing bigger orders from home professionals.
• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Palo Alto Networks, Virgin Galactic & more.
• Consumers lost $5.8 billion to fraud last year — up 70% over 2020.

MarketWatch:     

• S&P 500 enters its first correction in 2 years as Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates. What history says happens next.

Zero Hedge:

• Blinken Abruptly Cancels Lavrov Meeting As Ukraine's President Calls Up Reserve Forces.
• Critical Race Theory Makes Its Way Into Mandatory Trainings At Top US Medical Schools, New Database Shows. 
• "Bronco Ice Mountain": Thousands Of Ford Broncos Are Stacking Up In A Michigan Lot.
• Shooting Erupts At Popular Mexican Beach Resort Again As Cartel Turf-War Escalates.
• Watch: Two More Black Hawks Down In Utah.
• Ivy League Parents Fearful To Speak Out Publicly As Lia Thomas Dominates Their Daughters.
• Market Sentiment Has Never Been Worse And Everyone Is Hedging For A Crash.
• Small Frackers Race To Drill As OPEC+ And Big Oil Majors See No Need To Pump Faster.
• Deeper Analysis: Trump Transition Data Was Passed To The CIA.
• "Very Similar To 2018": Why Wall Street's Biggest Bear Sees Stocks Tumbling To 3,800 By Late March.
• Qatar Says It Can't Replace Russian Gas Supplies To Europe.
• Canadian Lawmaker Claims Single Mom Had Bank Account Frozen After Donating $50 To Freedom Convoy.
• Russia Evacuates Diplomats From Ukraine In Ominous Sign.
• Our Leaders Made A Pact With The Devil, And Now The Devil Wants His Due.
• Pre-Amble To WW3 Sends Stocks & Bonds Lower; Gold & Crude Higher.

Newsmax:   

• Gallup: Just 36 Percent Approve of Biden's Ukraine Tack.
• Texas Gov. Abbott Orders Probes of Alleged Child Gender-Transition Abuses.   
• Zel;enskyy Activating Reservists.
• Trump Hits ‘Weak Sanctions’ on Russia.
• Rep. Fallon: Appalling That US Didn't Lead on Russia Sanctions.

TheGatewayPundit.com: 

• “Potential Extinction”: 48 Top Global Scientists Sign Declaration – Demand Ban on Fauci’s “Gain of Function” Research.
• BREAKING HUGE: Dr. Shiva Uses AI to Perform Ballot Image Analysis of Maricopa County’s 2020 Election Results – Identifies Thousands of Issues in State Awarded to Biden by 10,000 Votes.
• China Strengthens Its Hold on Hong Kong Ordering Compulsory COVID Tests for All Citizens.
• Biden Stares Blankly, Picks at His Teeth When Reporter Asks if He May Have “Underestimated” Vladimir Putin (VIDEO).
• France Deactivates 4 Million Vaccine Passports, Forcing Double-Jabbed Citizens to Decide Between Taking the Booster or Being Shunned From Society (VIDEO).
• TRUMP IS RIGHT AGAIN: German UN Delegation Laughed at President Trump When He Warned Them of Reliance on Russian Oil (VIDEO).
• 7-Year-Old Boy Allegedly Choked, Put In Restraint Hold, Thrown Across Room For Not Wearing Mask In School.
• Biden Says Defending “Freedom” for Ukraine will Mean Higher Gas Prices Than His Already Record High Gas Prices.
• Democrat Candidate for US House Gets Drunk at Little Girls’ Sleepover, Swears at Them, Insists She’s Woman of Color, Throws Up in Their Shoes.
• “You Are Certainly Facing a Potentially Lengthy Term of Imprisonment” – Canadian Trucker Protester Tamara Lich Will Remain in Jail At Least 8 Days and Likely More.
• EXCLUSIVE: 12 News Did NOT Air AZ Gubernatorial Candidate Kari Lake’s Ad Exposing Corrupt Fake News During Purchased Time Slot – Why?
• Elderly Woman Trampled by Ottawa Police Horse Identified- Is Mohawk Elder and Grandmother, She Is Currently in Hospital.

The Epoch Times:

• ‘I Have No Regrets’: Enes Kanter Freedom, Ousted from NBA, Vows to Continue Speaking Out Against CCP’s Abuses.

Twitter: 

• @JesseKellyDC - Western governments turning against their own citizens is the biggest story on earth right now. Nothing else comes close. That is THE story that’s changing the world.
• @backtolife_2022 - Post-COVID world, The Fourth Industrial Revolution and The Great Reset. (video)
• @JackPosobiec - Nationwide trucker strike far more effective than an American convoy that will be immediately infiltrated.
• @the_ragex -  US Secretary of Defense orders 800 soldiers, twenty AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and up to eight F-35 fighter jets be sent to the eastern flank of NATO.

GETTR:

• @DiscloseTV - NEW - Chinese media outlet - owned by the Communist Party - has accidentally leaked its directives to not publish any anti-Russian or pro-Western content. NOW - Thousands at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris to pay their respects to Luc Montagnier, the French biologist and virologist and Nobel laureate in medicine who dared to ask questions about the vaccines and the origin of the coronavirus. (video) NOW - U.S. Capitol fence goes up again ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address. (video)

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 760,101 Reports(+6,620 from prior week) Through February 11th, 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 103.25 +.75 basis point. 

• China Sovereign CDS 54.5 -.75 basis point.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 54.44 +.01%. 
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,081.0 +12.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 27.8 -.8%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.31%.

• S&P 500 futures +.42%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.54%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (BCO)/1.46
• (FDP)/-.07
• (JACK)/1.91
• (LL)/.25
• (LOW)/1.69
• (TAP)/.85
• (OSTK)/.26
• (TJX)/.91
• (TUP)/.54
• (WWW)/.41
  

After the Close:

• (Y)/17.51
• (BKNG)/13.52
• (EBAY)/.98
• (HTZ)/.74
• (IR)/.59
• (NTAP)/1.29
• (RMAX)/.56
• (RGR)/1.94
• (SUM)/.25
• (OLED)/1.03
  

Economic Releases

• None of note 

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The German Consumer Confidence report, 5Y T-Note auction, US weekly retail sales reports, Barclays Industrial Conference, Wolf Auto/Auto Tech/Mobility Conference, (CMI) analyst day and the Citi Healthcare Conference 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 energy and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.