SQUAWK BOX, MONDAY 1ST FEBRUARY, 2021

U.S. futures suffer a turbulent overnight session following last week’s heavy losses. Silver is now reportedly in the crosshairs of the short squeeze retail investors. In Washington, 10 Republican senators urge President Joe Biden to scale back his $1.9tn stimulus program but Democrats threaten to push the plan through themselves should they not receive support from across the aisle. China posts its slowest pace of manufacturing growth for seven months in January as weakening exports hamper the country’s pandemic recovery. The Burmese military has seized power in Myanmar, detaining both State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. The army has imposed a state of emergency for up to a year citing alleged election fraud last November. And in Europe, Anglo-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca has agreed to provide the EU with 9 million more vaccine doses. Following a furious weekend row between London, Dublin and Brussels, the European Commission has u-turned over its threat to implement checks at the Northern Irish border.