After a day of relief, the US/China trade concerns continue to weigh on US stocks.  China has threatened retaliatory measures against US curbs on Chinese shipping.  China sanctioned five US entities of the South Korean shipping and shipbuilding company Hanwha Ocean Co.  This comes after the US announced in April plans to curb China’s shipbuilding industry.  China had also levied tit-for-tat retaliatory levies on American-owned ships arriving in Chinese ports.

Meanwhile, the US government shutdown continues, which is holding up the distribution of key economic data.  This includes the September jobs report, the consumer inflation report, and likely retail sales and producer prices reports.  The data blackout will likely place more significance on Fed chair Jerome Powell’s talk at the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) annual meeting.

Silver continues to hit new all-time highs as a physical shortage and rising demand for delivery in London is causing a short squeeze.  Some traders are sending silver bars on transatlantic flights to profit from the higher prices in London.

Nvidia (NVDA) plans to begin shipping on Wednesday their DGX Spark, the world’s smallest supercomputer.  Nvidia is targeting smaller businesses and developers, giving them a way to access AI computing without renting AI data center services or buying their own AI servers.  The DGX Spark is a new class of computer Nvidia is rolling out with third-partners including Dell (DELL) and ASUS.

Q3 earnings officially start today.  Earnings before the bell include America Movil (AMX), BlackRock (BLK), Citigroup ( C ), Ericsson (ERIC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM), The Goldman Sachs Group (GS), and Wells Fargo (WFC).

The government shut down continues and thus, the economic calendar is bare.

Fed speakers include Fed governor Michelle Bowman @ 8:45am ET, Fed chair Jerome Powell @ 12:20pm ET, Fed governor Christopher Waller @ 3:25pm ET, and Boston Fed’s Susan Collins @ 3:30pm ET.

Volatility continues to rise although as expected, the ES worked a range yesterday after the large overnight gap higher.  Corporate earnings could bring out the bulls this morning.  The ES 5-day average daily range has expanded to 107.75 points, however it’s highly unlikely the index will move that far today.

Whale bias is bullish into the US session open on lighter than recent overnight large trader volume.