Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:             

• Chinese Jet Buzzed Air Force Plane From Just 20 Feet Away, US Says.
• Here Are the Places Imposing New Covid Rules for China Travelers.
• Asia Stocks to Rise as S&P 500 Jumps, Dollar Falls: Markets Wrap. 
• Oil Set for Yearly Gain as Investors Look Ahead to China Rebound.  
• Shale Bosses Worried About US Labor Shortages Going Into 2023.
• Wall Street’s Top Stars Got Blindsided by 2022 Market Rout.  
• The Great Liquidity Debate: Top Wall Street Traders Size Up the 2022 Fallout.   
• Bankman-Fried Met With White House Aides on Crypto Policy Before FTX Collapse.
• These Are the Stocks That Kept Investors Up at Night in 2022.  
• Retail Investors Took a Beating in 2022. Will It Continue in 2023?
• Nasdaq Back From Brink of Worst December Ever as Fed Angst Dims.

Wall Street Journal:

• When Will Academia Account for Its Covid Failures? We need universities to be robust centers of debate, not rigid enforcers of ideological conformity.
• The Shoplifting Tax Keeps Going Up. When Target loses $600 million, customers end up paying more.
• Apple iPhone Output in China Ramps Up Despite Covid Woes.
• Mortgage Rates Record Biggest Calendar-Year Increase in 2022.
• AmerisourceBergen Hit With Federal Lawsuit Over Opioid Crisis.
• FTX Customers Want Identities Redacted From Bankruptcy Filings.
• What’s in $1.65 Trillion Omnibus Spending Law, and What Isn’t.

Fox News:

• California Dem's fiery COVID messages to vet open floodgates of complaints: 'She has made staffers cry'.

CNBC.com:

• Amazon lost half its value this year as tech stocks got crushed and recession fears grew.
• Southwest Airlines says holiday meltdown will ‘certainly’ hit fourth-quarter results.
• Here’s why the U.S. electric grid isn’t running on 100% renewable energy yet.
• FTX diverted $200 million of customer money for two venture deals that caught the SEC’s attention.

MarketWatch:         

• Did 2022 break Wall Street’s ‘fear gauge’? Why the VIX no longer reflects the sorry state of the stock market.

Zero Hedge:

• SBF Was Meeting With Senior White House Officials Shortly Before FTX Collapse.
• California Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Legalize Magic Mushrooms, Other Psychedelics.
• Buttigieg Knew: State AGs Warned Transportation Agency Of Airline Debacle Months Ago.
• Gun Owners Of America Labels 18 Republican Senators "Turncoats".
• Biden Awkwardly Congratulates Most Extreme Right Government In Israel's History.
• Of Economic Crises & Pandemics: Facebook As Fact, Government As Truth, Big Pharma As God.
• Andurand Sees Oil Demand Soaring As Much As 4MM b/d In 2023.
• West Point Begins Removal, Alteration Of Confederate Memorials On Campus.
• Watch: Chinese Fighter Threatens US Spy Plane Over Regional Waters, Coming Within 20 Feet.
• WEF To Accelerate Push For 'Metaverse' Surveillance Network At Davos 2023.
• Less oversold.
• 'The Role Of Gold May Be Changing' - Central Banks Panic-Buy Precious Metals In 2022.
• Times Square Crowne Plaza Hotel Goes Bankrupt.
• The "Mega-Bubbles" Have Started To Burst, And That Could Mean Unprecedented Financial Chaos Is Ahead.
• Stocks, Bonds, Gold Rally Into Dismal Year-End.

Newsmax:

• Trump Foreshadowed Airport Travel Woes, Laments US in Decline.
• Home Depot Co-Founder Marcus: Nobody Works Anymore Because of Socialism.
• Stephen Moore: Debt Rise 'Recipe for National Bankruptcy'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Wake Up America: The End Of Free Elections Is In Sight!
• JUST IN: Joe Biden Signs $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Bill – Gives Ukraine Another $45 Billion.
• Egg Prices Hit A Record High and Are Still Going Up.
• State Judge Announces Democrat Kris Mayes Beat Republican Abe Hamadeh by 280 Votes in Arizona’s Attorney General Race.
• Travel Hell: Southwest Cancels Another 2,300 Flights.
• U.S. Virgin Islands Sues JPMorgan Over Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal.
• LIKE A DICTATOR: Brazilian Socialist Lula da Silva intends to Increase Gun Control in Brazil.

The Epoch Times:  

• China’s COVID Outbreak Linked to Worldwide Shortage of Over-the-Counter Drugs.
  
• EU Declining to Impose Curbs Amid China’s COVID Surge Is ‘Huge Gamble’: Expert.
  

Twitter: 

• @DrAseemMalhotra - BREAKING: Double vaxxed respected Norwegian clinical psychologist @Silje_Schevig calls for complete suspension of the covid mRNA jabs because of clear evidence of more harm than good. ‘We’ve all been fooled but we must show kindness to each other despite previous disagreements’. (video)
  

 OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 906,543 Reports(+3,216 from prior week) Through December 2nd, 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).

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are unch. to +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 132.0 +.5 basis point. 

• China Sovereign CDS 73.75 -4.5 basis points. 
• China Iron Ore Spot 115.7 USD/Metric Tonne +.5%.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 47.6 +.01%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index  56.0 -.7%. 
• Bloomberg US Financial Conditions Index -.38 -9.0 basis points.
  
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 23.3 +.2%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.21%.

• S&P 500 futures -.15%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.19%.  

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• None of note
  

After the Close:

• None of note
  

Economic Releases

9:45 am EST

• The MNI Chicago PMI report for Dec. is estimated to rise to 40.0 versus 37.2 in Nov.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The UK home price report could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly higher, boosted by commodity and technology 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.