Fire Sale? Apple Could Take Possession Of Sapphire Ovens -- October 7, 2014

Active rigs:

	10/7/2014	10/07/2013	10/07/2012	10/07/2011	10/07/2010
Active Rigs	192	182	190	194	153

RBN Energy: update on the widened Panama Canal. Will come on-line about same time US LNG exports begin, 2015 - 2016 time frame.

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The Wall Street Journal

Hard to believe this would be the top story in The WSJ: Supreme Court passes on gay marriage. Did anyone expect differently?

GT Advanced, the sapphire screen maker that has experienced delays in building a plant in Arizona to service Apple, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Apple could take possession of the ovens. It's an interesting story -- it all started Apple calling in a loan?

Apple vs Samsung? Samsung profits plunge on weak smartphone sales. Third-quarter operating profit may have halved from a year earlier.

Motorola and Bristol-Myers Squibb cast off billions in pension burdens. So, how do they do it?

Motorola Solutions Inc. MSI -0.89% and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. are the latest companies to cast off billions in pension burdens, fueling a trend that could weaken the government’s ability to protect the payouts other employers have promised millions of retired workers.

The two companies recently disclosed separate deals that will shift a combined $4.5 billion in pension obligations to insurer Prudential Financial Inc., PRU -0.66% which will take over paying benefits to 38,000 retirees. The deals are good for the two companies’ balance sheets.

What’s more, joining the dozens of companies that have shed their pension plans lets Motorola and Bristol-Myers stop paying millions in yearly fees to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the government pension insurer. The problem: the growing number of these pension dropouts threatens the agency’s resources for insuring the plans of those that remain in the system.

“This has identified a fundamental flaw with the pension system,” said Brad Belt, a former executive director of the PBGC. “Inevitably, there’s going to be a taxpayer bailout [of the PBGC] in the future.”

More expensive coffee? Coffee beans soar to 2 1/2 year high. Dry weather i Brazil to blame.

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For Philadelphia school teachers, a lesson in new math and ObamaCare:

In a surprise move Monday, the commission that governs the financially troubled Philadelphia public-school system canceled the teachers union contract and decided educators must contribute to their health insurance for the first time to free up money for classrooms.

“We can’t say to students, ‘We would like to give you millions of dollars to improve schools, but the PFT won’t let its members pay for some of its health insurance,’” School Reform Commission Chairman Bill Green said, referring to the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

Like this is the end of the story. Stay tuned.

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ISIS continues to advance. The question in Washington: is President Obama's heart in this war? Probably not. [Update: shortly after posting that, I see Panetta has said the same thing -- Obama has given up.]

We may not have (many) boots on the ground yet, but now we have Apache helicopters fighting ISIS. Mission creep.

Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Japanese and American scientists who invented those LED lights. Seems a bit of a letdown from what Einstein was doing back in the early 20th century.

Not good: Germany's factory order dropped. And then the usual surprise -- ""German manufacturing slumped unexpectedly in August, in the latest sign that growth in Europe's industrial powerhouse is sputtering. Merkel's energy policy front and center.

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The Los Angeles Times

Some scientists fear Ebola could spread more easily than generally assumed. And again, back to OPEN BORDERS/OPEN ARMS.

Syrian border town about to fall to Islamic State, Turkish leader says. If that's in the written intelligence report, hopefully President Obama is reading it today.

Police in Ferguson can't forbid protestors to stand still, judge rules. 

But most important: "the one 'Twin Peaks' question that must be answered." Something tells me this won't become "must-see."

Twin Peaks Theme, Angelo Badalamenti