So, let's see:
"Enterprise steals the show." -- oh, my, I had forgotten that one.
Then, of course, Enbridge.
And that was it. Okay.
I did not read this article, and I won't, but it's probably a good article. I bought CHK when it hit bottom, fired its flamboyant CEO (who I really, really respect and would follow anywhere just for the roller-coaster ride), and (CHK) began selling assets. I have not been disappointed. The article's headline: don't get upset by the price drop in Chesapeake Energy due to the Seventy Seven Energy spin-off. Personally I would like to see a story on the origin of that name. This is the rumor (which I doubt is true): Chesapeake Energy has seventy-seven wholly-owned subsidiaries, and racked and stacked them for selling. This particular subsidiary was at the bottom of the list, as it were, not in quality, but just simply at the bottom of the list, #77. I doubt the validity of that rumor. Even the WSJ failed to provide an explanation.
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North American energy firm, Williams Companies Inc. announced the closure of its previously declared purchase of the remaining 50% general partner interest and 55.1 million limited partner units in Access Midstream Partners LP.
The acquisition has given Williams Companies full GP ownership and 50% LP interest in the Oklahoma City-based partnership. It has also enhanced its transportation and midstream businesses as Access Midstream holds a strong portfolio of natural gas pipelines and gathering assets in the Marcellus, Barnett, Utica, Haynesville, Eagle Ford, Mid-continent and Niobrara shale regions.
The benefits from the acquisition would be reflected in Williams Companies’ third-quarter dividend, which is expected to increase 32.0% to 56 cents per share. The projected annualized dividend for 2014 and 2015 is $1.96 and $2.46, respectively. From 2015 through 2017, the company plans 15% dividend hike.
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The market holds its gains, up slightly in early morning training (10:16 a.m. CDT) and WTI crude oil is still above $105.
The big story, without a doubt, it the surprising jobs report: ADP estimates 179,000 new private jobs added in June*, which is the fastest hiring since 1999. Some folks recall that ADP underestimated in their previous report and some now think that this number is a slight "overshoot." The analysts had expected somewhere between 179,000 and 200,000. The best news is that the market apparently likes this number: it's going in the right direction to justify a strong earnings season, but not strong enough (jobs report) to allow the Fed to do much to upset the apple cart. Speaking of apples, which of course leads to apple pie, I assume everyone has heard by now that Michelle reassured reporters that contrary to her husband's remark, the White House pastry chef is not putting crack cocaine into the pies. (I could be wrong, but most crack addicts do not have a weight problem: memo to Michelle.)
Back to the pipeline story above: EPD is trading at new highs today, and pays almost 4%. Some profit taking at EEP as it drops 3%; EEP pays over 6%, and has gone from $26 this year to over $37. Enbridge, the wind energy company, is up slightly today. Bakken operators: OAS has been on a tear the past couple of weeks and is up again today, nearing it's all-time high. KOG is solidly above $14, something many of us thought would not happen, but flat at the moment. Still looking for a huge story; can't find one. So, we'll move on.
Politically, the polls suggest the president has the worse polling numbers in ... well, ever since they started taking polls. It was George Bush's fault that everything broke, and now the people are upset that the king's men (literally) cannot put it back together again. Hey, it takes time. And a lot more money.
*The ADP Employment Change Index on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added 179,000 jobs in May, which was below the forecast of 210,000 jobs and the April figure of 220,000. Some comments:
- 179,000 jobs: below the forecast of 210,000
- 179,000 jobs: below the April figure of 220,000
- 179,000 jobs: well below the magic number of 200,000 (any number below 200,000 = economic stagnation; although this could change when government figures are added in at the end of the week
- peak construction hiring in the summer; 179,000 is disappointing
- all-in-all: a number that made Wall Street happy (memo to self: insert a smiley face here) but didn't do much for Main Street
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A Note to the Granddaughters
It's taken a year, but we have pretty much figured out the highways and byways (the frontage road system) in the Grapevine, Texas, area. It's really quite incredible; Texas has the best highway system in the world, at least in the world I know, including Germany.
Everything we need is within walking distance, biking distance, or five minutes by car. In some case, as far as ten minutes by car. On my own, I bike to JR's Steakhouse and Grill but with my wife, we drive. Yesterday we found the shortcut to the sports restaurant through the high school's parking lot. I wrote earlier that my wife and I watched the US play Belgium in the World Cup yesterday. My wife and I had drinks (she had water; I had one Blue Moon) and appetizers (unhealthy battered mushrooms, and healthy veggies) during the first half, and then enjoyed our main course during the second period (we reviewed the menu options during the break). We would have ordered dessert had the game gone to penalty kicks.
We went by the restaurant at 2:30 to reserve our table and told them we would be back at 3:00 (we were). I believe we were one of the first to ever walk in and point out the exact table we wanted to reserve. The hostess had to ask the manager if that was okay. It was. JR's Steakhouse and Grill on Texas Highway 121, south of Grapevine. As usual, I pay the full cost of the meal, and my wife leaves the tip in cash; I then match in cash whatever she leaves for the tip. Some days, the tip can be more than half the cost of the meal. My wife's mother was a waitress.
This morning I had to take the car in for its annual safety inspection. It expired in June, but I've learned that it makes more sense to wait to the first of the new month to get the annual inspection. Everybody rushes in at the last minute. Today, there was no waiting. My favorite spot is the Jiffy Lube station on 157-South, in Euless, I guess, or Bedford -- the cities all run together in this area around the DFW airport. Wow, they do a great job. They have access to the same diagnostics as the manufacturer and are a whole lot quicker than the dealer or Firestone. I prefer Firestone for comprehensive maintenance and tires.
We have lifetime FREE maintenance on our Chrysler (obtained during the bankruptcy crisis when the dealer was offering incredible incentives to buy a new automobile) but it's actually easier to just go to Jiffy Lube to get routine stuff done. The minivan was paid off some time ago, and has all of 53,000 miles on it, so the van is in its prime of life. It's hard to believe how good American, German, and Japanese cars are these days (as long the ignition switches work). Perhaps Indian, Yugoslavian, and Korean cars are just as good; but we've never owned any cars from any of those countries.
We gave our first Chrysler minivan away some years ago (as in donated to a worthy cause, and no, we did not get a tax write off) with 197,000 miles on it. It was in perfect condition, except a new transmission was next on the list of things to get done. We bought a second Chrysler minivan in 2005 which we still have. We bought a third Chrysler minivan in 2007, the one I took in for the oil change today, sight unseen. We were in San Antonio when we drove to the dealer, and pointed way across the lot that the minivan about a mile away at the end of the lot was the one we wanted. So, yes, we saw it, but it was at a distance. The salesman asked us if we wanted to take it for a test drive, but I assumed if they were able to drive it from the end of the lot to the showroom area where we were it was fine. I wasn't going to learn much from a test drive.
Personally, I dislike automobiles. You have no idea how much I dislike them. I never drive them if I don't have to. The cars I've bought over the years, and I've bought a lot, all belong / belonged to my wife or my daughters. I have only had one car in my entire life -- no, make that two cars -- that I called my own. The first love of my life was a car my dad bought me in 1973, a Chevy Nova SS. It was incredible. Actually, that reminds me. That was not my first car. My dad bought me a 1948 Willys jeep in 1967 or 1968 which my brother got when I left home in 1969. No windows on that jeep and I drove it to high school in -30-degree winter weather in January of 1969. Ended up in juvenile court for driving with obstructed vision (ice on the windshield).
The only other car I considered my own -- well, that reminds me -- actually, there was a fourth, a Toyota Corolla back in 1980 -- that was a nice car. Some innovative ideas the Japanese came up with; but I didn't have that car long. Bought it and then we were transferred overseas, and we gave the Chev Nova away in 1983, and sold the Corolla.
No, I guess I had another car in Europe that was "my own": a brand new Saab.
Enough of this. I guess it was only in the last few years that my love affair with automobiles ended. Whatever.
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And No, There's No Crack Cocaine In The Pie Crusts -- Michelle
And, Yes, We Have No Bananas
The real question these two Turks forgot to ask: how many men and women in Peoria, IL, would even think of putting crack cocaine in pie crusts? That's the story.
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