Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:  

• China's $6 Trillion Stock Wipeout Exposes Deeper Problems for Xi.
• Hong Kong’s Worst Office Slump Squeezes Real Estate Funds. 
• Las Vegas Sands Rises as Chinese Gamblers Defy Economic Worries.
• China Boosts Stimulus by Allowing Banks to Keep Smaller Reserves.
• China Stocks Poised to Extend Rally Into Third Day: Markets Wrap.
• Oil Extends Gains to Near One-Month High as US Stockpiles Shrink.
• US Plans ‘Bigger Picture Exam’ of Boeing Issues, Buttigieg Says.
• Fed Raises Rate on Emergency Loan Program to Stop Arbitrage.
• Cornell Donor Demands President’s Ouster Over Diversity Policies.
• David Ellison Makes Offer for Redstone Family’s Media Empire.
• World’s No. 2 Memory Chip Maker SK Hynix Reports Surprise Profit.
• ServiceNow Projects Strong Sales Growth With Cautious Caveat.
• Alphabet Shares Flirt With Record High on AI Hype. 
• Deutsche Bank’s Nolting Says US Stocks Ripe for a 10% Drop.

Zero Hedge:

• Arizona GOP Chair Resigns After Kari Lake Threatens "More Damaging" Recording.
• Reid Hoffman Pulls Out Of Nikki Haley After New Hampshire Pounding.
• The 9th Circuit Is Wrong: There's No Homelessness Protection Clause In Constitution.
• Fed Suddenly Kills Banks' 'Free Money' Bailout-Fund Arbitrage Scheme.
• Andrew Yang: Joe Biden Can't Defeat Trump In November.
• Transgender Golfer Wins Women's Tournament In Florida, Aims For LGPA Tour.
• Texas Defies 'Lawless' Biden, Invokes Right To Self-Defense From 'Invasion' With More Razor Wire.
• Global Nuclear Power Generation To Hit An All-Time High In 2025.
• Trump's Record-Setting New Hampshire Win Solidifies Path Forward.
• Cracking Down On Looters And Thieves In PA.
• US stocks finished mixed and pulled back from fresh record highs as yields climbed - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open.
• SHOT Show Surprise: Bloomberg Leaks Biden Draft Rule On Gun Export Restrictions.
• US Launches Airstrikes In Somalia For First Time This Year.
• US Navy Smacks Down Houthi Claim That Ballistic Missile Hit American Ship.
• Tesla Misses On Top, Bottom Line But Margin Beats; Warns Volume Growth "May Be Notably Lower" Due To Next-Gen Vehicle Launch.
• Dotcom History Rhymes For Nasdaq As Fed Cuts Loom.
• Rise in yields knocks stocks off ATHs - Newsquawk US Market Wrap. 
• Biden's New Houthi Strategy Is "Like Trying To Find A Needle In A Haystack, While Eating Truffles And Foie-Gras".
• Big-Tech Bid, Bonds & Bullion Battered As 'Better' Data Made Doves Cry.

Wall Street Journal:

• The Best and Worst Airlines of 2023.
• FDIC Lawyer Stayed on Paid Leave for Weeks After Child Porn Arrest.
• China Moves to Boost Bank Lending to Prop Up Growth.
• S&P 500 Notches Fourth-Straight Record.

CNBC.com:

• IBM shares rise after earnings top estimates in ‘uncertain, volatile’ economy
• FAA halts Boeing 737 Max production expansion, but clears path to return Max 9 to service
• Cramer sees upside for oil service stocks, points to Halliburton and SLB
• China is ‘risky’ and India a favored supply chain destination for U.S. firms, survey shows.
• How chaos in the Red Sea is putting the U.S. Navy to the test.

MarketWatch.com:

• United Rentals 4Q Revenue Rises On Strong Demand.
• IBM’s ‘accelerating’ AI demand helps power stock higher after earnings.
• Gen X-ers and millennials are poised to inherit trillions in the coming years.
• HPE says it was hacked by nation-state actor Midnight Blizzard.
• Tesla warns Wall Street it may grow slower this year; stock falls 6%.
• Opinion: 5 reasons to love unloved energy stocks – and 10 ways to buy them.
• Missed the boat on AMD’s stock surge? Why this analyst says you’re not too late.

Newsmax:

• Houthis Attack US-Flagged Ships Carrying DOD Cargo.
• Concerns Rise Over Any Impregnated Hostages.
• Exit Poll: Half of Voters Weren’t Republican.

Fox News:

• Abbott declares Texas has 'right to self-defense' from migrant 'invasion' amid feud with Biden admin.
• Major donor pulls funding over Cornell's 'toxic' DEI culture, calls on president to resign.
• World Economic Forum video sparks outrage: 'They're coming for your coffee'.

TheGatewayPundit.com:

• Jeff DeWit Resigns as Arizona Republican Party Chair after Audio Tape of Him Attempting to Bribe Kari Lake Surfaces, Claims Tape Was “Selectively Edited” and Says There is an Even “More Damaging Recording”.
• WATCH: Fox News Host Charles Payne Turns the Tables on Democrat Strategist Jessica Tarlov and Goes Scorched Earth on Joe Biden’s Sick Hatred of Trump Supporters.
• “I ‘am Disgusted!” – Man Unleashes on Fulton County Board of Commissioners for Funding Fani Willis’s Witch-Hunt of President Trump and Remaining Silent Over Her Corrupt Love Affair (VIDEO).
• Victor Reacts: Texas Won’t Back Down! Showdown Brews at the Border (VIDEO).
• SHOWDOWN: Governor Abbott Holds the Line, Invokes Texas’ Constitutional Authority to Defend Itself Against Lawless Biden Regime.
• Terror Threat Made… Are Terrorists Being Let in??! Where Are They Now? (Video).
• BREAKING: O’Keefe Media Group Releases “DC BLACKMAIL EXPOSED PART 1” – Congressional Intern Reveals Blackmail and Extortion Scheme After Affairs & Sex Parties: “Cawthorn Wasn’t Lying Neither” (EXPLOSIVE VIDEO).
• Crazed NY AG Letitia James Pushes For Total Trump Ban From Real Estate Industry in Latest Court Filing.
• Former Obama Advisor Says Biden Should ‘Stay Hidden’: ‘There’s Something Wrong’.
• California Judge Rules Woman Who Stabbed Boyfriend 108 Times While High Will Avoid Prison, Citing She “Had No Control Over Her Actions”.
• Germany, France, Romania, Poland, Lithuania… Farmers All Over Europe Take a Stand Against Crippling ‘Green’ Policies.
• Nikki Haley Campaign Enters ‘Delusion and Denial Phase’: ‘We Aren’t Going Anywhere’.
• The Culling vs. Raffensperger Lawsuit: Evidence of Voting Machine Vulnerabilities and Fulton County 2020 Election Issues Entered into the Federal Record. 
• Texas AG Ken Paxton Explains How Democrats Stole the 2020 Election – Look for The Gateway Pundit to Release More on This Democrat Plot in the Coming Days.

The Epoch Times:

• Huge Bailouts Can’t Save China’s Stock Rout: Analysts.
• Is China Entering a Period of Economic Oblivion?

X:

• @WallStreetApes - People Are Still Asking The Question, Where Are All The Missing Children From The Lahaina, Maui Fire? NEW: According To Podcast “If you're not a Hawaii news media, they're not gonna even talk to you. They're not even gonna respond to your email.” “They're all avoiding it. They're all ignoring it.” (video)
• @JimFergusonUK -  Breaking News: Italy launches protests against Globalist policies designed to harm the farming industry. Farmers protests are beginning to break out in other European countries and now Italy, France, Poland, Germany, Romania, Holland and Belgium have all seen Farmers supported by many hundreds of thousands of people flocking to support them in their respective countries.
• @Libsoftiktok - Teacher shows off a “social justice” day her school has. Students spend an entire day learning about banned books, climate change, LGBTQ rights, resistance, and protesting. (video) This is an actual ad from @VirginAtlantic. They went all in on DEI. They changed uniform policy so men can cross dress and nonbinary crew can wear pronoun pins. They boast drag queen flight attendants. Last week a @VirginAtlantic flight was canceled after a passenger noticed missing bolts on the wing. DEI in the airline industry will get people k*lled. (video)
• @wendyp4545 - That didn't take long. @FBI We have a terrorist that just walked across our border and threatened a reporter. (pics)
• @JamesMelville - MEP Christine Anderson warns that the WHO Pandemic Treaty “aims to give the WHO de facto governing power over its member states in the event of a pandemic, without involvement or consultation with national governments or national parliaments.” (video)
• @Timcast - Jeff says around 9 minutes in he fears if people find out he was told to bribe
  @KariLake he will be *KILLED*. (audio)
• @WallStreetSilv - They want to ban you from growing your own food and being self-sufficient. Their goal is to have you fully under their control. Expect in the future they will try to ban you from having a garden because it will exceed your personal carbon allowance. Meat inflation in two years is almost 100% higher. CPI is not even remotely accurate for reporting actual inflation in the economy. Have you seen other examples of stuff that is up 100%? (video)
  
• @profstonge - Turns out the "Elite" really does hate you. New poll finds the globalist one percent have political views unrecognizable to regular Americans: They think people have too much freedom and the government too little power. They think teachers -- not parents -- should raise kids. They want to ration meat and electricity and ban air conditioning and gasoline cars. (video)
• @charliekirk11 -  Yes, the Biden Regime is funding the invasion of America with US taxpayer money. The UN just released its 2024 plans to give away $1.6 billion to the millions of illegals moving north via debit cards, bank transfers, and even "cash in envelopes." The money will be handed out via 248 NGOs in 17 Latin American countries and it's all funded largely by US taxpayers, the UN's largest donor.
• @P_McCulloughMD -  Trending #1 in @Google. Sudden, unexplained death among the vaccinated with no antecedent disease, most likely is caused by COVID-19 vaccine induced cardiac arrest when assessed by autopsy. (pic)
• @wideawakemedia - WHO head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declares war on meat and traditional agriculture, in the name of fighting "climate change": "Our food systems are harming the health of people and planet. Food systems contribute to over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, and account for almost one third of the global burden of disease." "Transforming food systems is therefore essential, by shifting towards healthier, diversified and more plant based diets." (video)
• @GenFlynn - When we try to highlight globalists and what they are attempting to do to humanity, one only needs to stop and listen to this man, Yuval Noah Harari, a principal advisor to Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum. His ideas about life are so extreme. This is why, at times, I say those associated with the globalist movement are dark soulless people. Listen to this short video…just wow. (video)
• @BGatesIsaPsycho - Planet Farms, Italy. Planet Farms is the largest Agricultural vertically integrated production facility in Europe - it supports farmers grow Pesticide free crops, increase growth yields & reducing water consumption through technology. Yesterday it caught fire. Coincidence? (video)
• @VigilantFox - THIS IS TRAGIC: 158,000 more Americans died in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2019, surpassing all American fatalities in every war since Vietnam. Alarmingly, these excess deaths are affecting YOUNG people, not the old. (video) Senator @RandPaul just called half of the Republican Party sell-outs, including Nikki Haley. (video)
• @TuckerCarlson - Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans in the Senate who understands the threat of Nikki Haley. He may be the only one who cares where COVID came from. “Anthony Fauci should be in jail,” he says. (video)
• @EndWokeness - Logan Airport has now been turned into a shelter for illegal aliens in Boston. What happens when we run out of public property for these people? (video)
• @DC_Draino - Navy SEALs Christopher J. Chambers and Nathan Gage Ingram died on Jan. 11 while conducting a night-time seizure of a vessel illegally transporting advanced weapons from Iran to Houthi forces in Yemen.
• @RWMaloneMD - All true. And he was fired from the Cleveland Clinic for speaking these vaccine truths. Thread. (video)

OpenVAERS:

• VAERS US COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 1,000,725 Reports(+2,808 from prior report) Through December 29th, 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.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 98.5 -3.75 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 63.75 -1.0 basis point.
  
• China Iron Ore Spot 136.0 USD/Metric Tonne +.6%.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 40.88 -.03%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 63.5 -.8%.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 14.1 +.09%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.11%.

• S&P 500 futures -.01%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.05%.  

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.