Lead Story: Washington politics are still the lead story. Will we get a Stimulus Bill Part II remains the big question of the day.

Covid-19 Statistics: With the winter holidays, we expect a number of reporting and data anomalies for the next few weeks. We urge caution in using these figures (new disclaimer from them).

Total Cases 19,267,233 from 19,072,721

Deaths 329,605 from 326,322

New Tests 1,236,471 from 1,540,320

New Cases 194,512 from 162,190 with positivity rate of 15.7% (up 5.2)

Daily Deaths 3,283

Current Hospitalizations 124,686 from 121,235

Capital Raises:

IPOs Priced: 

Secondaries Priced: None  of note.

Notes Priced of note: None of note.

Common Stock filings: TK MATW of note.

Selling Shareholders of note: SGEN  of note.

Mixed Shelf Offerings: SGEN of note.

Convertible Offering Files:  None of note.

Senior Notes Filed: None of note.

Earnings Out After The Close:

Beats: none

Flat:  none

Misses: none

News After The Close (sorted by time starting at the close):

Moderna (MRNA) to supply 40 million doses of Covid-19 to South Korea.

State Department approves arms sales to Kuwait of $4.2 billion.

First case in the U.S.  of U.K. coronavirus mutation which was found in Colorado.

Mexico looks to legalize cannabis. (WSJ)

Dividend Increase: CNXN (special)  GBCI (special)

Vectrus (VEC) wins $880 million Army contract.

Northrop Grumman (NOC) wins $250 million Defense Logistics Agency contract.

Osmotica Pharmaceuticals (OSMT) falls on FDA letter.

Raises Guidance: 

Lowers Guidance: 

Stock Buyback New Or Increase: 

What’s Happening This Morning: Futures value reflects the change with fair value. We will still indicate the fair value direction. 

S&P 500 +15   Dow Jones Industrial Average +96   NASDAQ +52    Russell 2000 +14 . Fair values are higher ex the Russell 2000. Asia mixed and Europe lower. VIX is at 24.35 from 23.41 this morning in futures. VIX closed at from 21.70 and the three month futures at from 25.15.

Gold lower, silver and copper higher. WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil Futures higher. Natural Gas is higher. $ is lower vs Euro, lower vs Pound and lower vs Yen. US 10 year Treasury price is at $137.83 from $137.86 with the yield at 0.938% from 0.943%.

Positive Sectors On Tuesday:  Consumer Cyclical of note.

Negative Sectors On Tuesday: Real Estate, Technology and Industrials of note. 

One Month Winners: Energy, Financials Real Estate and Industrials  of note.

Three Month Winners: Industrials, Communication Services, Utilities and Financials of note.

Six Month Winners: Consumer Cyclical, Industrials, Technology and Materials of note.

Twelve Month Winners: Technology, Consumer Cyclical, Communication Services and Healthcare of note.

Year to Date: Technology, Consumer Cyclical, Communication Services, Healthcare and Materials of note.

Upcoming Earnings Of: (sorted by market cap, highest to lowest with most visible names)

Today After the Close: None of note.

Tuesday Before the Open: None of note.

Earnings This Morning Of Note:

Beats: none

Misses: none

Still to Report: none

Erlanger Research Advance/Decline Chart –  Updated 12/29 Close.

Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market:

Gap Up:

IMMP +38%, DMTK +11%, EBS +8%, PLX +8%.

Gap Down:

OSMT -26%, MVIS -7%

Rags & Mags: Highlighted Stories may be clicked through to the original story. 

Stocks Making The Biggest Moves – INTC AZN CAT BABA  (CNBC)

Stimulus Bill Part II – likely to fail in the Senate. (NYT)

Chinese Covid-19 vaccine is 79% effective. (NYT)

Stock Index Trading:

Current through 12/29 close. Overall confidence stays at 100%.

Bold means a change from prior day.

Economic:

December Chicago PMI is due out at 9:45 a.m. EST and is expected to fall to 56.9 from 58.2.

November Pending Home Sales are due out at 10:00 a.m. EST and is expected to improve to -0.5% from -1.1%.

Weekly Crude Oil Inventories are due out at 10:30 a.m. EST.

Geopolitical & Related:

Investor Meetings & Conferences of Note:

 (Investor Presentation)

Sellside Conferences: None of note.

Industry Conferences: None of note.

M&A Activity:

Upgrades & Downgrades This Morning: Another very quiet day.