Today's Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Omicron ‘Pretty Mild’ So Far, South African Health Expert Says.
- Dutch Cluster Suggests Omicron Has a Foothold in Europe.
- China’s Developers Face $1.3 Billion in December Bond Payments.
- China Cash Flowed Through Congo Bank to Former President’s Cronies.
- Yuan Surge Shows Traders’ Faith in Hands-Off Central Bank.
- Taiwan Sees Biggest Flyby of Chinese Warplanes Since October.
- Europe’s Energy Crisis Is About to Get Worse as Winter Arrives.
- Iran, EU, China and Russia Meet in Vienna Ahead of Nuclear Talks.
- Iran Seeks to Return Oil Output to Pre-Trump Sanction Levels.
- Bears Rule Emerging Markets as Central Banks Battle New Variant.
- Virus Variant Sends Mideast Stocks Into Nosedive After Oil Slump.
- Asian Stocks Fall While U.S. Futures, Crude Climb: Markets Wrap.
- OPEC+ Likely to Be Cautious on Oil Demand at Meeting, Vitol Says.
- Markets Face Weeks of Uncertainty in Wait for Omicron Answers.
- El-Erian Says Fed Should Recognize Inflation Isn’t Transitory.
- Traders Unwind Rate-Hike Bets as New Covid Fears Spread.
Wall Street Journal:
- Financial Climate Risks Are Minimal. A new Fed study finds that banks aren’t threatened, contrary to Biden regulatory claims.
- Did Jamie Dimon Hit a Nerve? Jokes about Communist Party longevity are no laughing matter in China.
- Taliban Covert Operatives Seized Kabul, Other Afghan Cities From Within.
- Airlines Avoid Thanksgiving Pitfalls as Daily Passengers Top Two Million.
- More Countries Find Omicron Cases as Israel Shuts Borders.
- Companies Respond to New Covid Variant With Concern, Confusion.
- Black Friday Rout Shows Dangers of Margin Borrowing.
- Eurozone Inflation Likely Hit Record High in November.
- Actor Jussie Smollett’s Criminal Trial to Begin After Years of Delay.
- Your Favorite Restaurant Might Be Taking Delivery Off the Menu.
- Anthony Fauci sparks new fury as he goes political and he didn't stop there.
- Security guard killed protecting bystanders from looters as smash-and-grab crimes rage nationwide.
- Rampant smash-and-grab theft part of failure to prosecute criminals, tolerated by officials, experts say.
- Chinese titan lavished Hunter Biden with 3-carat gem, offer of $30 million.
- Best Buy stores in Minnesota looted, all get away.
- Looters target Home Depot, Bottega Veneta stores.
- California Apple store hit in latest smash-and-grab in broad daylight.
- Dozens of San Francisco area stores, pharmacies hit by mobs of smash-and-grab looters: 'Hurts us all'.
CNBC:
- Moderna says an omicron variant vaccine could be ready in early 2022.
- Fauci says U.S. should prepare to do anything to fight the omicron variant.
- Shoppers are buying from resale retailers more than ever. Here’s why.
- The new top job at McDonald’s, Under Armour, CVS that’s all about the customer.
- Top Wall Street analysts expect big gains from these stocks.
- Extremely strong magnitude-7.5 earthquake hits northern Peru.
- Massive inflation will likely push Fed to hike rates six times before 2024: Federated Hermes.
Zero Hedge:
- New Variant Hysteria Comes From Same Institution That Popularized Lockdowns, Previous COVID Scares.
- Omicron Is "Extremely Mild" Says Doctor Who First Discovered Strain; Numerous Mutations "Destabilize" The Virus.
- Beijing Capitulates: Urges Local Govts To Unleash Debt Flood As Cities Begin Backstopping Property Developers.
- Why Did Satya Nadella Suddenly Dump Half His Microsoft Holdings Last Week?
- Hedge Funds Suffered The Worst Week In Six Months... And That Was Before Friday.
- Futures, Oil, Cryptos Soar As Omicron Panic Fades.
- Antifa Member Who Took Axe To Senate Office Given Probation And His Axe Back.
- Biden Admin Pushes Higher Fees For Offshore, Onshore Oil & Gas Companies.
- Security Guard For TV News Crew Killed While Covering Organized Looting In Oakland.
- A Fearstorm Is Upon Us.
- Biden's "Strategic" Oil Reserve Release Will Mostly Go To China And India.
- After 'Red Friday' Rout, Will The Fed Slow Their Roll?
- World Medical Association Chair Demands National Lockdowns, Compulsory Jabs, Fears COVID "Variant As Dangerous As Ebola".
- UK Health Authority Slammed By Watchdog For Misleading Claim That Unvaxx'd Have "32 Times" Risk Of COVID Death.
- World Leaders Earn Poor Approval Scores In 2021.
- Belgian Prime Minister Says New Variant Heralds Arrival Of "COVID-21".
- France Escalates Feud With UK As BoJo Waffles On Brexit "Fisheries" Deal.
- The Euro's Death Wish.
- "The Omicron Variant" – Magic Pills, Or Solving The Africa Problem?
- Israel Moves To Ban All Foreigners From Entry Amid Omicron Variant Fears.
- Bovard Blasts The Biden Crackdown On Thought Crimes.
- Is Peak Social Media Already Behind Us?
- Christmas Tree Shortage Develops As Consumers May Pay Record Prices.
Reuters:
- South Africa has administered at least 25,238,789 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 21.6% of the country’s population(one of world's lowest rates). COVID-19 infections are slightly increasing in South Africa, with 3,862 new infections reported on average each day(46 infections per 100K people reported last 7 days). That’s 19% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on July 7.
Nature:
- Why US coronavirus tracking can’t keep up with concerning variants. (April 7) Laboratories supported by the US government have doubled the rate at which they are sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genomes over the past two months. Still, the number of genomes that the country shared in the online genome repository GISAID in March represented only 1.6% of its positive COVID-19 cases that month.
TheGatewayPundit.com:
- South African Medical Association Debunks Global Hysteria – Says Omicron Variant Symptoms ‘Unusual But Mild’ – Even WHO Says No Reason to Panic.
- CDC Funded Study Shows No Significant Difference in COVID-19 Transmission Between Vaccinated and Unvaccinated.
- China Does It Again – Sends 27 Aircraft Into Taiwan’s Air Defense Zone.
- Fauci Mocks Call by Ted Cruz to be Investigated for Lying to Congress: “What Happened on January 6, Senator?”.
- It Pays to Pollute – Greatest Polluters China and India Set to Receive $2 Billion in Climate Aid.
- ‘Everything is on the Table’ – Fauci When Asked About New Lockdowns, Vaccine Mandates For Domestic Air Travel (VIDEO).
- With Tomorrow’s Due Date for US Air Force Personnel to be Fully Vaccinated – Air Force Prevents Any Airmen Not Vaccinated From Moving to a Different Station.
- VIDEO: Former Pfizer Employee Says COVID-19 Vaccine Causes Recipients to Become More Susceptible to the Virus.
- Here We Go… Two Omicron-Infected Individuals Arrive in Australia – Both Victims are FULLY VACCINATED.
- WATCH: Joe Biden Spotted Shopping Without a Mask, Despite Sign on Door Saying They’re Required.
EuroWeekly:
- EU’s most vaccinated country returns to ‘state of calamity’. Around 87 per cent of the Portuguese population of just over 10 million inhabitants is fully vaccinated, and the rapid implementation of vaccination in the country has been widely praised.
Our World in Data:
- Despite a very low vaccination rate and the Omicron variant supposedly originating in South Africa, the country is seeing very few new confirmed Covid cases. (graph)
OpenVAERS:
- VAERS COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports. 654,412 (US) Reports Through November 12, 2021.
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 indices are -1.0% to -.5% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 92.25 +4.0 basis points.
- China Sovereign CDS 53.75 +3.75 basis points.
- Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 54.30 unch.
- Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,111.0 +97.0 points.
- Volatility Index(VIX) futures 23.7 -11.0%.
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures +1.7%.
- S&P 500 futures +.77%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures +1.03%.
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
Before the Open:
Before the Open:
- (FRO)/-.16
- (KFY)/1.37
After the Close:
- None of note
Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
- Pending Home Sales MoM for Oct. is estimated to rise +.8% versus a -2.3% decline in Sept.
10:30 am EST
- Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity for Nov. is estimated to rise to 19.0 versus 14.6 in Oct.
Upcoming Splits
- None of note
- The Fed's Powell speaking, Fed's Bowman speaking, Australia Retail Sales report, Credit Suisse Tech Conference, Piper Sandler Healthcare Conference and the Stephens Investment Conference could also impact trading today.
- 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST