Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Texas Border Chaos Spurs Rebuke From Mexico’s Economy Chief.
• Ukraine Latest: Small Number of Civilians Released in Mariupol.  
• South Korea’s Exports to China Drop Amid Fallout From Lockdowns.
• This Is Where Inflation Runs Hottest in America. Just Ask Voters.
  
• Buy or Rent? The Decision Has Never Been Harder as Cost Gap Narrows.
  
• Popular Retirement Funds Are Getting Hammered as Tech Stocks Plunge.  
• Thrashed Stock Bulls Look to Future and See Nothing But Bad News.
• Bond Traders Face Week That Threatens to Shatter Any Market Calm.
• Credit Markets Eye Fed Decision With $25 Billion of Sales on Tap.  
• Bonds Are Suddenly Getting Love From Investors Hedging Recession.  
• Irrational Market Exuberance Is Dying a Painful Death: Devitt.
• Einhorn’s Greenlight Defies April’s Rout With 10.6% Gain.
  
• Tough-to-Crack Housing Market Has U.S. Buyers Eyeing Second Jobs.  
• Powell Takes Lead in Round of Rate Hikes Worldwide: Eco Week.  
• Charting the Global Economy: Growth in Euro Area Weakens.

Wall Street Journal:

• Record Fertilizer Prices Drive Investors, Farmers to Microbes.
• Ukrainians Suffer Fuel Shortages.
  
• The Taxpayer Con of the Century. Writing off student loan debt is a wealth transfer to the affluent and academia.
• Tariff Probe Casts Shadow on U.S. Solar Build-Out.
• China’s Factory Activity Falls.
• Investors Are Waiting for Vehicle Prices to Drop.
• Apple’s Next Move in Microchips.

Barron's:

• Had bullish commentary on (CCL), (NCLH), (RCL), (FISV), (ROKU) and (LAD).
• Had bearish commentary on (TDOC) and (GE).

Fox News:

• Top Biden official under intensifying pressure to resign over response to domestic terrorism question.
• Mayorkas testifies more than 389,000 migrant ‘gotaways’ at border.
• Republicans accuse Mayorkas of discrediting 'legitimate criticism' with 'disinformation' board, demand info. 
• Military official fears indications point to alarming turn in Russia's war on Ukraine.

CNBC:

• Dow tumbles more than 900 points and the Nasdaq drops 4% on Friday to close out a brutal month.
• Warren Buffett says inflation ‘swindles almost everybody,’ Munger rails against bitcoin, market ‘mania".
• Warren Buffett says Berkshire owns 9.5% of Activision Blizzard shares in merger arbitrage bet.
• Amazon workers won’t get paid for Covid leave anymore.
• Buffett gives most expansive explanation for why he doesn’t believe in bitcoin.
• Charlie Munger says the Robinhood trading app is justly ‘unraveling’ for ‘disgusting’ practices.

Zero Hedge:

• "Twitter, You Failed" - Bill Maher Blasts Censorship, Cites Hunter Biden Email Story.
• Twitter's $17M Per Year Censorship Czar Could Get Axe Under Musk.
• Escobar: The Empire Of Lies, Operation Z, & The New Global Chessboard.
• $2 Billion Hedge Fund Loses Nearly Half After Carvana Plummets 75% In 2022.
• Shippers Are Back In The Driver's Seat On Rates.
• Buffett Blasts Bankers For Turning Stock Market Into "A Gambling Parlor".
• Johnstone: "Oh God It's Going To Get So Much Worse".
• NY Case Against Trump Implodes As Grand Jury Ends With No Charges.
• Why Is CDC Trying To Put A Mask On Your Face Again?
• Russia To Pull Out Of ISS Over Western Sanctions.
• "Toto, I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore".
• NATO Jets Intercept Russian Fighters Multiple Times In Baltic & Black Sea Regions.
• Buckle-Up, Buttercup.
• Food Processing Plant Fires: Conspiracy Or Coincidence?
• Number Of Illegal Immigrants Living In US Rose By 1 Million In Biden's First Year: Report.
• Rand Paul: Fauci "Is A Man That Is Against Everything That America Stands For".
• Watch: Biden's New 'Disinfo' Queen Goes Full 'Libs Of TikTok'.
• White House Says It Would "Strongly Support" Finland & Sweden NATO Membership.
• How Far Are We From Phasing Out Coal?
• Streaming Accounts For Just 30% Of US TV Screen-Time.
• Hundreds Of CDC Employees Still Haven't Received COVID-19 Vaccine.
• These Are The World's Biggest Shipping Hubs.
• 71% Of Elementary School Math Textbooks In Florida Contained 'Woke Indoctrination' .
• Telling The COVID 'Good Guys' From The 'Bad Guys'.
• Hospitals Ignoring Price Transparency Rule Rack Up Billion-Dollar Profit.
• Newsquawk US Market Wrap: Spooz's take a month-end haemorrhaging for their biggest loss since June 2020.
• Nasdaq Collapses To Worst Month Since Lehman As Market Starts Pricing 75bps Hike In June.

MarketWatch.com:    

• More Americans are fretting over their finances compared to last year. Take one guess on what their main worry is.
  
• Rising real yields are threatening perennial `TINA’ trade favoring U.S. stocks — and put tech names further at risk.
  
• A rough 4 months for stocks: S&P 500 books the worst start to a year since 1939. Here’s what pros say you should do now.  
• Weekend reads: How companies and consumers fight inflation and handle shrinkflation.

NewsMax:

• Dershowitz: 'No Free Lunches' With Student Loans.
• Georgian President Weighs In on Putin Using Nukes.
• Zelenskyy: Peace Talks Near Collapse.  
• Goya CEO Unanue: US 'Softening' Too Much Under Biden.

TheGatewayPundit.com:  

• NEVER FORGET… Here are the Six RINOs Who Voted to Confirm DHS Secretary Mayorkas and the Country’s Destruction Through Open Borders.
• BREAKING HUGE EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Li-Meng Yan Says China Released COVID-19 Intentionally – “THIS IS NOT AN ACCIDENT”.
• YIKES: Bill Gates Wants To Build A New Global Team Called “GERM”.
• NY Times Reporters: Manchin Would Have Given Senate Control To The GOP — But He Didn’t Like McConnell.
• Healthcare Freedom Activists Releasing “Propaganda Exposed” Documentary May 4th.
• Grassroot Patriots Are Getting the Word Out Across the Country About “2000 MULES”.
• High-Level Disney Executive Leaves In Wake Of Woke Disaster.
• BIDEN ECONOMY: The DOW and S&P 500 Record Worst April Since 1970.
• Dr. Drew Leaving YouTube and Joining Rumble After Vaccine Video Was Censored.
• Rep. Lauren Boebert Understands Danger of Biden’s Ministry of Truth and Calls for Its Defunding.
• What’s Really Going On? Georgia Governor Candidates Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams Both Increased Their Net Worth in the Millions While 2020 Election Was Stolen.
• Dept. of Defense Study Shows Pregnant Female Soldiers Are Experiencing “Absolutely Catastrophic Rate of Abnormalities and Fetal Problems” – Dr. Naomi Wolf Drops a Bomb on the War Room (VIDEO).

The Epoch Times:

• China Deploys New Missiles Against the US Navy.

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 810,170 Reports(+2,929 from prior week) Through April 22nd, 2022. 

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).

Weekly Scoreboard*

S&P 500 4,131.93 -3.3%

 

Weekly Market Wrap by Edward Jones.

Indices

• DJIA 32,977.21 -2.5%

• NASDAQ 12,334.64 -3.9%

• Russell 2000 1,864.10 -4.0%

• S&P 500 High Beta 67.24 -2.3%

• Goldman 50 Most Shorted 207.99 -5.0%

• Wilshire 5000 41,679.16 -3.3%

• Russell 1000 Growth 2,453.23 -3.3%

• Russell 1000 Value 1,541.02 -3.4%

• S&P 500 Consumer Staples 810.50 -2.1%

• MSCI Cyclicals-Defensives Spread 1,172.07 -1.2%
  

• NYSE Technology 3,112.81 -2.3%

• Transports 14,865.06 -1.3%

• Utilities 999.90 -4.1%

• Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 71.97 -2.93%

• MSCI Emerging Markets 42.48 +.86%

• HFRX Equity Hedge 1,464.43 -.57%

• HFRX Equity Market Neutral 930.66 +.02%

Sentiment/Internals

• NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 455,207 -.97%

• Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index -1,555 -935
  

• Crude Oil Commercial Bullish % Net Position -34.2 -1.2%

• CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 307,697 +.96%

• CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 1,740,300 -2.4%

• Total Put/Call 1.24 -7.0%

• OEX Put/Call 1.26 -13.4%

• ISE Sentiment 88.0 +18.0 points
  

• NYSE Arms 1.05 -47.6% 
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk-Off Index 4,020.0 -432.0 points
• Bloomberg Financial Conditions Index + Bubbles 2.70 -15.0%
  

• Volatility(VIX) 32.81 +10.7%

• CBOE S&P 500 Implied Correlation Index 52.47 +9.6%

• G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 10.0 +13.6%
  

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility (EM-VXY) 12.07 +7.0%

• Smart Money Flow Index 13,943.88 +1.49%

• ICI Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $4.510 Trillion +.92%

• ICI Domestic Equity Long-Term Mutual Fund/ETFs Weekly Flows -23.675 Million

• AAII % Bulls 16.4 -13.2%

• AAII % Bears 59.4 +35.3%

Futures Spot Prices

• CRB Index 308.27 +1.3%

• Crude Oil 104.05 +5.0%

• Reformulated Gasoline 347.21 +6.7%

• Natural Gas 7.28 +12.1%

• Heating Oil 478.17 +37.3% 
• Newcastle Coal 299.0 (1,000/metric ton) -12.6%
  

• Gold 1,904.23 -1.2%
• Silver 22.85 -4.6%
  

• S&P GSCI Industrial Metals Index 541.60 -4.9%

• Copper 439.90 -4.0%

• US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 621.0 USD/Metric Tonne -1.3%

• China Iron Ore Spot 145.95 USD/Metric Tonne +.2%

• Lumber 1,034.40 +2.63%

• UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 1,649.12 +.93%
• US Gulf NOLA Potash Spot 820.0 USD/Short Ton unch.
  

Economy

• Atlanta Fed GDPNow Forecast +1.9% +.6 percentage point
  

• ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate +4.0% -.6 percentage point
  
• Bloomberg US Recession Probability Next 12 Months 25.0% unch.
  

• NY Fed Real-Time Weekly Economic Index 4.3 -2.3%

• US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index 53.6 -45.3%

• S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 236.61 +.31%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index 39.4 -27.7 points

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index 53.1 +22.4 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index 48.3 +4.5 points

• Fed Fund Futures imply 0.0%(unch.) chance of +0.0-25.0 basis point hike, 99.1%(+1.2 percentage points) chance of +25.0-50.0 basis point rate hike on 5/4

• US Dollar Index 103.0 +2.0%

• MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index 1,686.71 -1.6%
  

• Bitcoin/USD 38,655.52 -2.4%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 140.78 -1.4%
  

• Yield Curve(2s/10s) 18.75 -.25 basis point
  

• 10-Year US Treasury Yield 2.89% -1.0 basis point
  

• Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $8.902 Trillion -.19%

• U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 17.4 +6.0%

• Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 138.36 unch.
  

• Italian/German 10Y Yld Spread 184.0 +14.0 basis points
  

• China Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 75.9 +4.3%
  

• Brazil Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 228.26 +1.7%
  

• Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 39.52 -.11%

• South Korea Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 39.93 +11.9%

• Russia Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 3,839.0 -68.0%

• China Corp. High-Yield Bond USD ETF(KHYB) 29.3 -.6%

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 3.0% -1.0 basis point

• TED Spread 46.0 +10.25 basis points

• 2-Year Swap Spread 33.5 +3.5 basis points
  

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -21.75 -1.25 basis points

• N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 82.88 +5.5%
  

• America Energy Sector High-Yield Credit Default Swap Index 394.76 +3.98%

• European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 101.42 +12.1%
  

• Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 283.68 +5.2%
  

• MBS 5/10 Treasury Spread 123.0 -1.0 basis point
  
• Markit CMBX BBB-6 75.6 -1.1%

• M2 Money Supply YoY % Change 9.9 -1.1 percentage points
  

• Commercial Paper Outstanding 1,104.40 +1.6%

• 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 179,750 +1.3%
  

• Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 1.0% unch.
  
• Kastle Back-to-Work Barometer(entries in secured buildings) 40.5 -5.4% 

• Average 30-Year Fixed Home Mortgage Rate 5.42% +13.0 basis points

• Weekly Mortgage Applications 343,100 -8.3%

• Weekly Retail Sales +13.7% -.6 percentage point
  
• OpenTable US Seated Diners % Change from 2019 +1.0% +5.8 percentage points
• Box Office Weekly Gross $144.5M -6.5%
  

• Nationwide Gas $4.16/gallon +.04/gallon

• Baltic Dry Index 2,403 +4.2%

• China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 3,109.8 -.6%

• Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 27.5 -8.3%
• Truckstop.com Market Demand Index 111.32 +9.6%

• Rail Freight Carloads 268,967 +.15%
• TSA Total Traveler Throughput 2,258,077 +23.6%
• US Covid-19:  115 infections/100K people(last 7 days total). 7.0%(+2.0 percentage points) of peak on 1/14/22  +23/100K people from prior week
  
• US Covid-19:  New patient hospital admissions per 100K -91.2%(+1.4 percentage points) from peak 7-day avg. of 1/9/22-1/15/22
  

Best Performing Style

•  Mid-Cap Growth -1.3%

Worst Performing Style

•  Small-Cap Growth -2.8%
  

Leading Sectors

• Social Media +4.2%

• Software +1.7%
  

• Homebuilders +1.3%

• Energy +.9%

• Road & Rail +.6%
  

Lagging Sectors

• Medical Equipment -4.3%
  

• Networking -4.5%

• Telecom -4.8%

• Gold & Silver -4.8%
  

• Airlines -4.9%
  

Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (4)

• FRGE, MHK, DWAC and HUBG
  

Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (38)

• BMY, WOW, ORI, CCOI, SYK, CMCSA, CRI, HCAT, RLGY, CL, X, CVNA, STAG, IONS, INTC, COLM, SSNC, ILPT, CUBE, LBRDA, EGP, BHVN, LBRDK, FR, BHVN, CINF, EBS, CHTR, ABBV, FTAI, LYLT, RILY, WU, VRSN, CENX, AMZN, VERI and MITK
  

ETFs

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

Stocks

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change