Friday Watch

Around X:

• @Business 

• Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda kept his policy options open by reiterating the bank’s long-held stance on interest rates, avoiding sending any clear signals about the prospects for a rate hike when the board meets later this month.
• Digital subsea cables were designed for cooperation, not conflict. As the line between peace and war blurs, the reality is setting in that these critical lines are highly vulnerable.
• Gavin Newsom threatened to withhold billions in state funding from universities that back a Trump administration plan tying funding to limits on international students.
• Applied Materials said expanded US export curbs to China will further cut its revenue. 
• Get up to speed on what's moving global markets.
• Here's what you need to know to start your day.   

• @ZeroHedge

• Alberta Proposes New Oil Pipeline.
• VIX ETPs are still long 180mm vega and keep getting bought. We saw buyer of year-end 6950 calls yesterday (6mm vega), playing for the spot up, vol up tape to continue as we keep busting thru all-time highs: GS Derivs. 
• Top FDA Vaccine Official Says US Vaccine Schedule May Be Suboptimal.
• Data Centers "Primary Reason" For High PJM Capacity Prices: Market Monitor.
• Six Thematic Takeaways, Buy-Rated Stocks From Goldman's Global Sustainability Forum.
• CNN is not a NEWS organization. They cut off the Republican press conference to CENSOR the truth from the American people and LIE about indisputable FACTS: On page 57 of the Democrat’s OWN bill - they insist we restore $200 BILLION in health care subsidies for illegal aliens. CNN must correct this. @SpeakJohnson (video)  
• Your Hot Tea May Come With A Splash Of Microplastics.
• Department Of Energy Cancels Another $7.6 Billion In Energy Project Funding.
• Copper Highest In Year On Supply Disruptions Collide With AI And Power Grid Demand.
• Performative until the end.
• Stocks Shrug Off Shutdown Day 2 As Bitcoin Rips, Gold Dips.   

• @CNBC

• Asia markets set to open higher after Wall Street gains as investors look past government shutdown.
• Friday's big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session.
• Stock futures are little changed as AI trade drives market to fresh highs, shutdown grinds on: Live updates. 
• USA Rare Earth jumps 6% after CEO confirms discussions with Trump administration.

• @MarioNawful

• 850 CHRISTIANS STILL HELD IN JIHADIST CAMPS IN NIGERIA. At least 850 Christians remain captive in jihadist camps across Nigeria, many tortured or killed if ransoms aren't paid, according to international NGOs. Recent cases include kidnapped nuns, murdered priests, and ransom deals to free clergy in Enugu and Kogi. Reports also point to systematic abductions of Christian children, sent to Islamic orphanages in the north for forced religious conversion. Since 2009, over 19,000 churches have been attacked or shut down, averaging more than three per day.

• @thehealthb0t

• YouTube removed this video. The real money is not in the vaccines. It’s in the remedies being sold for the injuries from the vaccines. (video)

• @newstart_2024 

• The entire UN 2030 Agenda rests on one cornerstone: your voluntary adoption of Digital ID. As Whitney Webb powerfully argues, they are investing billions to sell you on its "convenience." They'll pitch it as the solution to illegal migration, voter fraud, and cybercrime. But this is a sales pitch for a surveillance prison. Digital ID is the essential key that unlocks: - Programmable, surveillable central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). - The framework for a social credit score system. - Predictive "pre-crime" policing and "pre-pandemic" healthcare mandates. They learned from the vaccine passport rollout. The strategy is the "carrot," not the "stick"—making compliance easy and resistance seem inconvenient. They want you digitally dependent, isolated, and connected only through the virtual world they control. But their greatest fear is our non-compliance. The power remains with us. We must build resilient, real-world lives and communities that function outside this system. The most critical first step is to say NO to Digital ID. 
• mRNA Vaccine in Animals: Shocking Stats & Consumer Risks. A recently disclosed data sheet on experimental mRNA vaccines in livestock is raising profound concerns for both consumers and agricultural producers. The findings, drawn from a study of 525 hogs, present a stark picture of potential risks. Within 21 days of administration, the live vaccine yielded alarming results: 25 animals died. 55 became severely anorexic, nearing death. 20 suffered from lameness. 12 experienced a significant loss of condition. 25 more displayed other near-death symptoms. Cumulatively, this indicates that approximately 30% of the test group either died or developed life-threatening conditions. Perhaps most alarming for public health is the post-mortem analysis: autopsies revealed remnants of the live virus vaccine persisted in the animals' tissue. This raises two critical alarms: 

• EricLDaugh

• JUST IN: State of Florida tells World Economic Forum to SHOVE IT, declines invitation to the WEF's major San Francisco summit. "The WEF's values and stated objectives do NOT align with the state of Florida, including the WEF's efforts to transform society through top-down government regulations and institute dangerous programs like digital IDs and Centralized Bank Digital Currencies," Visit Florida CEO
  @BryanDGriffin told the WEF. "We choose the values of Destin and Dunedin over Davos. Individual liberty and national sovereignty matter and should be protected."
• WOW! Fox News just absolutely stunned Sen. Jeane Shaheen (D). SHAHEEN: I haven't heard anyone in my party wanting to give illegals taxpayer-funded healthcare! FOX: I'm glad you said that. I have some tape... "Show of hands: provide coverage for illegal aliens?" EVERY DEMOCRAT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: *Raises hand* FOX: That's literally every member of your party...from moderate to progressive. (video)

• @ExxAlerts

• ALERT: Debbie Wasserman Schultz ONCE AGAIN accused of insider trading. Records reveal Schultz purchased Stratasys Ltd on August 18th, 2025. The stock is now UP 25 % in just over 40 days.

• @visegrad24

• Just hours after a terrorist attack in the UK in which 2 Jews were murdered in front of a synagogue, there’s now an anti-Israel mob running amok in central London. (video)

• @realstewpeters

• Howard Lutnick says video tapes exist of Epstein’s clients having sex with underage girls. “He’s the greatest blackmailer ever. That’s how he got his money.” (video)

• @HustleBitch_

• FLOODED WITH TYLER ROBINSON DOUBLES - BUT NO REAL TYLER. At and around UVU during Charlie Kirk’s assassination, cameras caught multiple men who looked just like the FBI’s alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson. But not one clip shows the ACTUAL Tyler Robinson on campus that day. Not one. And if you wanted to frame a patsy? Wouldn't this be the perfect way to do it? Flood the scene with doubles, blur the truth, and let the cameras write the story. So what really happened? (video)

• @SaiKate108

• The gaslighting is off the charts. Albert Bourla keen to put it all behind him and move on to finding cancer treatments and things that people value!! Conveniently overlooking the fact that Pfizer inflicted cancer on the world. Dr Jessica Rose discusses the excessive DNA contamination found in all 32 vials tested. When these foreign DNA fragments are delivered in the billions to the inside of a cell this can induce the cGAS-STING Pathway. Which is a cancer pathway. The SV40 promoter enhancer is problematic. ‘We don’t know why it’s there… it was effectively hidden by the manufacturer which is Pfizer.’ (video)

• @MJTruthUltra

• Tucker Carlson: If Israel is our greatest Ally, why in the world are they Transferring US Military Technology to CHINA? Why does China have a significant stake in the Port of Haifa, Israel’s biggest port? — China's involvement in Israel's Port of Haifa is limited to the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) operating the Haifa Bayport Terminal, a modern container terminal, under a 25-year concession (2021–2046) (video)

• @NicHulscher

• Pfizer Is a Criminal Enterprise. Their own documents reveal they were aware of 1,223 deaths within 3 months of the COVID-19 "vaccine" rollout and did absolutely NOTHING about it. A dark day for America as Albert Bourla sinks his claws into the executive branch. (video)

• @PatrickByrne

• Tina was to be moved to a federal prison, a minimum security camp where her quality of life would have been 20X, and she would not have TdA killers fighting her over a Honey Bun. Though 47 repeatedly demanded it publicly, this DOJ #2 Todd Blanche
  @DAGToddBlanche blocked it. (pic)

• @ValerieAnne1970

• PAXLOVID...Pfizer's Approved 'Antiviral' Treatment For Mild COVID Symptoms. It Contains The HIV/AIDS Drug Ritonavir As A 'Booster' To Enhance Paxlovid's 'Other Ingredients.' Package Insert Includes A Black Box Warning: "Paxlovid Leads To Severe Life Threatening Fatal Events."
  

• @EYakoby

• BREAKING: Islamists flood London streets, branding Keir Starmer a “war criminal”—just days after he recognized a Palestinian state and with a ceasefire deal still on the table. It’s never enough. For Islamists, the demand is always total submission. (video)

• @WCdispatch_

• THE WINSOME SEARS SURGE CONTINUES. The tide is turning in Virginia. A brand-new A2 Insights poll shows Winsome Sears now within the margin of error—just three points behind Spanberger, and with MASSIVE momentum on her side. Abigail Spanberger: 47.7%. Winsome Earle-Sears: 44.6%.

• @UgonnaMario

• Over 7,000 Christians slaughtered in Nigeria this year, villages burned, churches turned into killing fields. A genocide unfolding, and total silence because the victims are Christian. If it were mosques, the UN and media would be screaming nonstop.

• @1MikeFairclough

• Pfizer: $70 BILLION Deal. Pfizer is set to receive $70 billion in U.S. R&D and manufacturing incentives. Trump on Albert Bourla and the Covid 'vaccine': “He’s done a fantastic job … He’s a leader, and Pfizer is right at the top.” And yet RFK Jr. has said: “Pfizer knew they were going to kill a lot of people, and they did it anyway.” Pfizer’s Legal & Regulatory Track Record: 2009: $2.3 billion settlement (incl. $1.195 billion criminal fine) for off-label marketing & kickbacks. One of the largest in U.S. history. U.K. (Nov 2022): Pfizer’s Albert Bourla was reprimanded by the UK pharmaceutical marketing regulator (PMCPA) for making 'misleading' claims about vaccinating children. U.K. Tribunal: £69 million fine for 'excessive and unfair' pricing of epilepsy drug phenytoin (2012–16). Earlier U.K. CMA: ~£90 million in fines for price inflation practices. (And the above is just a snapshot!) 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) is in tatters.

• @wideawake_media

• Ex-investment banker Catherine Austin Fitts: "If these guys get a 100% digital system with a digital ID and programmable money, guess what?" "You don't get your vaccine this month, they're going to turn off your money." "You don't transgender your kid, they're going to turn off your money." "They're going to dictate all of your health and food policies to you."
• Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla: "I truly think the best days of Pfizer are ahead of us, because Covid was for me like a rehearsal." (video)

• @kacDNP91

• We gave you death, cancer, auto-immune disease, kidney failure, heart damage (the list goes on) and now we’re going to sell you more drugs, while we create more mRNA injections to use on all you guinea pigs. That’s what people are clapping for; they’re mocking you while you hold them on a pedestal. Our society is so brain damaged & weak. I’m angry, disgusted and sick over all of it. 22yr female confirmed stage 4 bladder cancer today. 2 + 1 booster taken for college and grad school. Her life is over.

• @ProjectConstitution

• ALERT: Kash Patel Dodges KEY QUESTION About Charlie Kirk’s Shooter —They Say DNA Was on a Towel… But NOT the MURDER WEAPON? Something’s Off. Why are we being shown grainy Bigfoot footage of the alleged shooter but ZERO clear shots of him carrying a rifle? Why is Kash Patel dodging the one question we all want answered — where’s the footage, the rifle, the ballistics? (video)

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.75% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 64.0 -.5 basis point.
• China Sovereign CDS 38.25 +.6 basis point.
• China Iron Ore Spot 103.5 USD/Metric Tonne -.3%. 
• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.95 +.06%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 36.35 -.08%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 84.9 +.6%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.09% +1.0 basis point.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 19.3 -.4%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.16%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.09%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.13%.

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 mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher.  The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.