Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:     

• China Covid Unrest Boils Over as Citizens Defy Lockdown Efforts.
  
• Videos Show How Covid Protests Are Spreading Across China.
  
• Chinese Protesters Use Tricks to Evade Censors, Vent Anger.    
• BBC Journalist Beaten by Police at China Covid Protests, PA Says.
  
• Hong Kong Property Slump Reaches City’s Coveted Luxury Homes.
• Australia Retail Sales Fall for First Time in 2022 as Rates Bite.
  
• Ukraine Latest: GOP Plans for More Oversight of US Military Aid.
• Yuan, Commodity Currencies Slide as China Covid Unrest Hits Mood.
• Stocks Fall Amid China Unrest, Dollar Advances: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Sinks With China Unrest Rippling Through World Markets.  
• Putin’s War Leaves West More Reliant Than Ever on Asian Fuel.
• Scotch Whisky Prices Jump as Investors Seek Haven, FT Says.
• Musk’s Twitter Slides Say ‘We’re Recruiting’ Following Job Cuts. 
• Retailers’ Inflation-Fighting Discounts Yield Modest Growth on Black Friday.  
• There’s a Job-Market Riddle at the Heart of the Coming Recession.

 

Wall Street Journal:

• Protests Spread Over China’s Covid Restrictions.
• Earnings Threaten to Drag Down Rising Stocks.
• Oil Faces Fresh Volatility on New Sanctions, OPEC Meeting.
• FTX’s Collapse Upends Founder’s Washington Play.
• As Mortgage Rates Rise, More People Choose to Rent Single-Family Homes.
• U.S. Effort to Arm Taiwan Slowed by War in Ukraine.
• California’s Homelessness Problem Pits Governor Against Mayors.
• Restaurants, Grocery Stores Battle Over Consumers’ Stretched Dollars.
• China’s Revolt Against Zero-Covid. Protests across the country reveal deep anger and frustration at three years of lockdowns and social control. 
• Crypto’s Final Price Could Be Zero. No sane lender would extend credit against assets lacking any underlying collateral.
• Public Distrust of Health Officials Is Anthony Fauci’s Legacy. He presented his judgment as beyond reproach, while consistently flip-flopping and silencing dissent.
• Thousands of Bottles, Cups for Toddlers Recalled Over Lead Poisoning Risk.

Fox News:

• Biden admin scrambles to track $20B in Ukraine aid as House Republicans warn of audits.
• Store shuts down, posts blistering note on door slamming rampant crime.
• Arizona couple disappears while kayaking in Mexico on Thanksgiving.

CNBC:

• Shanghai hit by Covid protests as anger spreads across China.
• Tech’s reality check: How the industry lost $7.4 trillion in one year.
• Top Wall Street analysts say buy these stocks during a market downturn.

Zero Hedge:   

• Zero-Tolerance: Chinese Lockdown Protests Intensify In Rare Display Of Defiance.
• The Consumer Economy Has Completely Collapsed – "It's A Ghost Town" For Holiday Shopping Everywhere.
• FTX Post Mortem Part 2 Of 3: How Did We Get Here? 
• IRS Warns Americans To Report Annual PayPal, Venmo Transactions Exceeding $600 Per Year.
• Bans On "Assault" Weapons Do Not Reduce Crime.
• Binance's 'CZ' Says Half Billion WhatsApp User Records For Sale On Dark Web.
• When Crypto Bros Hit Miami: "It Was Like Revenge Of The Nerds" Booking Tables For $50,000.
• Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• RV Boom Over? Monthly Shipments Plunge As Dealerships Overflow With Campers.
• 'Greater Idaho' Moves Closer To Bi-State Referendum As Two More Oregon Counties Vote To Leave.
• Bar Association Votes To Abandon LSAT To 'Enhance Diversity'.
• China Bulls Look To A Future That No Longer Exists.
• The Diesel Crunch Is Finally Causing Demand Destruction.
• EV Charging Stations By 2035 Will Need More Power Than A Small Town.
• A Grand Unified Theory Of The FTX Disaster.
• Russia's Wagner Group Sent Blood-Stained Sledgehammer To EU Parliament.
• Where Is All The Oil Going - Part 2.
• Germany Tees Up Windfall Tax On Solar And Wind.
• EU Accuses Washington Of Making A Fortune From Ukraine War.
• COVID Lockdown Protests Erupt In Beijing, Xinjiang After Deadly Fire.
• 'Woke Warfighters': GOP Report Says Leftist Ideology, Gender "Insanity" Weakening America's Military.
• The Left's Cynical "Speech Is Violence" Ploy.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Here We Go: Fauci Says We Need Multiple COVID Booster Shots Each Year Due to New Variants (VIDEO).
• BREAKING: Maricopa County Response to AZ AG Materially Conflicts with Instructions on Election Day – But They Will Certify Election TOMORROW Anyways.
• BREAKING: Brazilian Military Stands with Bolsonaro – Is Prepared to Invoke Article 142 to Save the Nation (VIDEO). 
• Irish Government to Criminalize Hate Speech, Effectively Silencing Those who Hold Different Opinions- Penalty is up to 5 Years Imprisonment. 
• Eat Bugs and Live in a Pod: WaPo Tells Americans to Eat “Salted Ants” and “Ground Crickets” on Thanksgiving Weekend.
• BREAKING: Biden Admin Can’t Account for $20 Billion in Aid to Ukraine.
• BUSTED! Katie Hobbs Tied To Money From FTX Funded PACs.
• Biden Eases Sanctions on Communist Venezuelan Govt.
• Abraham Lincoln Statue Vandalized With ‘Colonizer’ and ‘Land Back’ in Chicago During Thanksgiving Weekend.
• Maricopa County Refuses to Provide Documents to the Head of the GOP in Arizona Regarding Election.
• Newsom Says He Will Not Challenge Biden in 2024.

The Epoch Times:

• Protests Spread Across China Over COVID-19 Curbs.
• New Book Illuminates Beijing’s Global Media Influence Operations.

Twitter:

• @KariLakeWarRoom - "No Way to Recover." "These ballots are in the wind." This is not how the system is supposed to work. But it worked exactly the way
  @katiehobbs wanted it to.
• @unusual_whales - Reminder, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried cashed out $300 million personally during a $420.69 million raise from 69 investors, per WSJ,
• @CitizenFreePres - Spotted in China... Covid cops carrying heavy weaponry after nights of protests across the country...(video)
• @zerohedge - No bear market has ever ended before the associated recession had begun: TS Lombard. (graph)
• @WallStreetSilv - The CCP is going to have to crack down hard in order to survive, similar to the Tiananmen square massacre in 1989. These videos are happening all over China. Police arrest residents in China's Xinjiang province. They smash this guys cellphone for recording. (video)
  

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 898,029 Reports(+3,179 from prior week) Through November 11th, 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). 
• COVID Money Tracker. Tracking the Covid response.
  

Night Trading

• Asian indices are -1.75% to -.75% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 148.0 +7.25 basis points.
• China Sovereign CDS 86.25 +11.0 basis points.
• China Iron Ore Spot 96.8 USD/Metric Tonne -2.4%
  
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 47.4 -.12%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 46.7 -1.6%.
• Bloomberg US Financial Conditions Index -.62 -6.0 basis points. 
  
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 23.0 +2.1%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.68%.
• S&P 500 futures -.73%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.91%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• None of note
  

After the Close:

• None of note
  

Economic Releases 

10:30 am EST

• The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity report for Nov. is estimated to fall to -23.0 versus -19.4 in Oct.

Upcoming Splits

• (TECH) 4-for-1
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Australia Retail Sales report and the Credit Suisse Tech TMT Conference could also impact trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are lower, weighed down by technology and consumer shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to maintain losses into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the week.