Monday Watch

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:                                       

• EU’s Looming Gas Price Cap Could Trigger Abrupt Market Changes.  
• Germany Beat Putin’s Energy Squeeze. But for How Long?  
• Ukraine Latest: Russia Claims Advances in Zaporizhzhia Region.  
• UK Activates Coal Reserve to Boost Supply During Cold Snap.
• Germany and France Push for Huge Spending to Compete With US.
• ECB’s Knot Wants at Least Two More Half-Point Rate Hikes.   
• France Lifts Military Budget as Risk of High Intensity War Grows.  
• Scholz and Macron Pledge to Strengthen EU in Response to Russia.
• Latin American Presidents Throw Weight Behind Campaign to Free Assange.  
• Lula Fires Brazil’s Army Chief Arruda After Riots in Capital.  
• Brazil and Argentina Are Discussing Whether to Combine Currencies.
  
• Ukraine Latest: Germany Signals Approval for Poles to Send Tanks.
  
• Asia Stocks Sentiment Buoyed by Tech, Fed Comments: Markets Wrap.
• Biden Says ‘No Regrets’ Over Handling of Classified Documents’ Discovery.
  
• Missteps on Secret Papers Create Self-Inflicted Crisis.
• Investors Struggle With When to Dive Back Into US Stock Market.
• Citadel Makes $16 Billion to Top Paulson’s ‘Greatest Trade Ever’.

Wall Street Journal:

• Tesla’s Price Cuts Put Pressure on Rivals.
• Fed Sets Course for Milder Rate Rise.
• Europe’s Leaders Are in Battle of Wills Over Ukraine War.
• Debt Ceiling Looms Over Capitol.
• Investors Plow Into Renewables, but Projects Aren’t Getting Built.
• Genesis Demise Marks End of Era for Crypto’s Pseudo-Banks.
• The First ETF Launched 30 Years Ago, Revolutionizing Investing.
• For Future Viral Threats, Health Officials Look to Sewage.
• The Deceptive Campaign for Bivalent Covid Boosters. Studies show they fail to live up to their promise, but vaccine makers and experts keep pushing them.

Fox News:

• WATCH:Police, mayor give update after 10 killed in mass shooting with suspect still on the loose.
• Kim Kardashian gives lecture at Harvard Business School, gets ripped online.
• Administrator wants 'privileged white voices' dismissed from curriculum plans.

CNBC:

• Top Wall Street analysts pick these stocks to climb 2023’s wall of worry.
• The 10 best cities to buy a home in 2023 are all in the South.
• Russia official warns countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risk their own destruction.

Zero Hedge:      

• Fiery But Peaceful In Atlanta? CNN Once Again Suggests That Leftist Riots Are Not Violent.
• Police Arrest 6 After Fiery Atlanta Riots, Mayor Confirms Antifa Used Explosives.
• Six More Classified Documents Discovered At Biden House. 
• Police Release First Images Of California Mass Shooting Suspect.
• Turkey Outraged After Sweden Allowed Quran Burning In Front Of Stockholm Embassy.
• The Trillion-Dollar Coin Idea Is Just Another Way To Rip Us Off.
• Two Democrats Call For Investigation Into Biden Classified Documents Case.
• FAA Won't Divulge Data Behind Pilot Heart Arrhythmia Decision.
• Max pain market.
• "Such Demographic Decline Has Never Happened Across Major Global Economies".
• Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• Climate Alarmists Panic That Twitter Under Musk Allows More Dissenting Views On Global Warming.
• Peru Closes Famed Machu Picchu Ruins, Tourists Trapped, As Anti-Govt Unrest Spreads.
• Election Integrity Watchdog Finds California Lost 10.9 Million Mail-In Ballots in 2022 Midterms.
• Mike Wilson: "The Consensus View Has Shifted Sharply, Particularly Regarding The Recession".
• Where Did All The Workers Go?
• Elon Musk Reveals "Major Side Effects" After 2nd COVID Booster.
• 'Penetration Rates' Across Global Dating Apps.
• Don't Call It Capitalism: The Fed's $8 Trillion Hoard Of Financial Assets.
• Going Cashless: Norway's Digital Currency Project Raises Privacy Questions.
• The Nord Stream Pipeline Could Be Repaired Within A Year.
• 10 Dead, 10 More Injured In Mass Shooting During California Lunar New Year Celebrations.
• The Dangerous Fantasy Of Scotland's Net-Zero Energy Transition.
• Record-High 250,000 Migrant Encounters Across US-Mexico Border In December 2022: CBP.
• School System Failing And Is No Longer There To Educate, Says Teacher.
• IRS Reminds Wage Earners To Adjust 2023 Withholding Now Or Face A Surprise Later.
• Goldman Trader: "Sell Strength On Any Move Back Toward The August Highs Of 4300".
• Newsom Twosome: Siebel Newsom's Films - Shown In Middle Schools - Feature Porn, Radical Gender Ideologies, And Her Husband Gavin.

MarketWatch.com:         

• Yellen dismisses minting $1 trillion coin to avoid federal default. 
  
• New postal rates go into effect Sunday: It will now cost 63 cents to mail a letter.

NewsMax:

• More Classified Docs Turn Up at Biden Home as Probe Expands.
• Rep. Comer: Biden, Family Probed for 'Influence Peddling'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:  

• “I Want America to Wake Up and Pay Attention, Something Ain’t Right!” – Silk Describes How Her Sister Diamond ‘Died Suddenly’ in Her Kitchen (VIDEO).
• REVEALED: China Sent Hunter Biden a 3-Carat Diamond at About the Same Time Joe Biden Was Stealing and Relocating Classified Documents (VIDEO).
• 35-Year-Old Middle School Coach and Teacher Drops Dead in Front of His Class After Suffering from Heart Attack.
• Illegal Alien Gang Member Arrested For The Rape And Murder Of 20-Year-Old Maryland Woman With Autism. 
• Biden White House MonkeyPox Response Coordinator Urges Americans to Take the COVID, Flu, and MonkeyPox Vaccines at the Same Time.
• Washington D.C. Made Itself the Enemy of the American People.
• Corrupt Mainstream Media Colludes to Censor Reporting of Diamond’s Memorial Service – Blackout of President Trump Continues.
• “I Don’t Want You to Worry About Paying for Nothing” – President Trump to Silk Regarding Memorial Service for Her Sister Diamond.
• Local Reporter Calls Riot in Atlanta “Largely Peaceful Protest” as Police Cruiser Goes up in Flames in the Background (VIDEO).
• UNBELIEVABLE: Urgent Care Physician Warns of Stroke Season After Flu Season (VIDEO).
• DEVELOPING: ‘Revenge’ Riot Erupts in Atlanta: Antifa Militants Destroy Businesses, Light Cop Car on Fire After Fellow Comrade Killed By Police (VIDEO).
• UH-OH: Biden Lackey and Manager of UPenn Biden Center Was Involved in Trump Impeachment Sham.

The Epoch Times:  

• Video Games Are Now the Most Potent of Political Weapons.

Twitter:

• @P_McCulloughMD - Breaking @TrialsiteN : Tip of icerberg all countries seeing "safety signal" blinded @AlbertBourla cannot. Associated with kidney injury which always worsens cardiovascular outcomes. Bad news continues to pour in on failed biotech.
• @911NewsBreaks - 15 MILLION VIEWS: Pfizer CEO confronted in Davos, The World Economic Forum wants this video removed. BANNED on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Great work by Avi Yemini and Ezra Levant. (video)
  

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 922,020 Reports(+3,512 from prior week) Through January 6th, 2023.
  

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 -.25% to +.25% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 105.75 unch.
• China Sovereign CDS 52.25 -.25 basis point.
• China Iron Ore Spot 124.9 USD/Metric Tonne -1.0%
  
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 48.6 +.13%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 55.8 +.7%.
• Bloomberg US Financial Conditions Index .13 -9.0 basis points. 
  
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 21.0 -.41%. 
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.44%.
• S&P 500 futures -.09%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.12%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (BKR)/.40
• (BOH)/1.42
  

After the Close:

• (BRO)/.46
• (CR)/1.90
• (LOGI)/1.03 
• (ZION)/1.66
  

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

• The Leading Index for Dec. is estimated to fall -.7% versus a -1.0% decline in Nov.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone Consumer Confidence report and the Jefferies Restaurant/Foodservice/Gaming/Lodging/Leisure Summit could also impact trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by industrial and consumer shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower.  The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the week.