Covid-19 protocols have bubbled back to the top of issues after last week’s Supreme Court decision blocking Biden’s corporate vaccine mandates.  Over 34% corporations were waiting on federal guidance and now the courts have forced corporations to grapple with their own rules, balancing outbreaks that lead to labor absences with pushback from employees that have Covid concerns.  About 25% of US corporations are currently requiring vaccinations or regular testing.  Around 40% of corporations are not imposing any mandates.  The Covid safety landscape is pure confusion with constant guideline changes from the CDC, varying mask and vaccine mandates, pushback and misinformation, and political differences.

Oil is in focus as Brent nears $88/barrel, the highest in 7 years.  Houthi rebels from Yemen who are associated with Tehran have attached the United Arab Emirates sparking oil supply disruption concerns.

Airline CEOs wrote an open letter to the FAA warning of “significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies” with AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) set to turn rollout their 5G networks this week.  Apparently 5G bleeds into radio frequencies used by many modern aircraft safety systems, rendering them unusable.  UAL, AAL, and DAL are all down premarket.

Earnings include Truist Financial (TFC), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), PNC Bank (PNC) and Goldman Sachs (GS) premarket; JB Hunt Transport (HBHT) and Interactive Brokers (IBKR) post-market.

The economic calendar includes Empire State and NAHB @ 8:30am ET.

After ticking down last Friday, volatility has increased from the Globex selloff.

No Size bias as Globex volume was mixed.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell reinforced Fed’s James Bullard’s remarks that trade wars with China, Mexico, and the EU put a dark cloud over the US economy.  Powell said yesterday “as always, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion, with a strong labor market and inflation near our symmetric 2% objective.”  Fedwatch now places the probability of a interest rate decrease at 53% for July.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders will be crashing Walmart’s annual meeting at the invitation of WalMart workers.  He expected to push Walmart to raise wages higher than the $11/hour minimum wage.

Earnings today include FIVE, AEO, GILL, CPB, CLDR, SFIX, MDB, and UNFI.  The economic calendar is full with focus on the 8:15am EST ADP and 10:00am EST ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI.  Also on the calendar are Final Services PMI @ 9:45am EST, Oil @ 10:30am EST and Beige Book @ 2:00pm EST.

Fed speakers include Vice-Chair Clarida @ 9:45am EST and Bowman @ 10:00am EST.  Volatility is up again due to yesterday’s Fed induced rally.  US stocks had their largest move in over 5 months.  Size bias is long into the US session open.

US stock and futures markets are closed today for Good Friday.  We’ll resume posting on Monday, April 22.  Enjoy the long weekend!

Confusion and doubt are creeping into the markets over exactly what was accomplished during Trump and China’s Xi Jinping over Sat dinner’s trade talks.  The WH economic advisor Larry Kudlow tried to detail specifics from the meeting but only conflicted with trade talk information released by the Chinese.  The start date of the 90-day truce is in question as Kudlow says it’s Dec 1 and China said it was Jan 1.  With no agreement written down and signed, markets are a little nervous.  Meanwhile yields between the 3 and 5-year note have inverted for the first time in over 10 years suggesting that the US economy is slowing.  Nothing of significance on today’s US economic calendar.  The Fed’s Williams holds a press conference @ 10:00am EST.  Earnings include TOL, DG, AZO, MRVL, and HPE.  Volatility remains elevated, however could shrink into today’s US close as US stock markets will be closed National Day of Mourning for former US President George H.W. Bush.  Size bias is short on lighter Globex volume into the US session open.