This Will Be Short And Sweet -- July 15, 2015

Tweeting now:  President Obama says during El Reno prison visit: 'These are young people who made mistakes that aren't that different from the mistakes I made' - @jbendery. Comment: fortunately the statue of limitations has run out. It also explains why President Obama has not said anything about the woman shot in the sanctuary city of San Francisco by a 5-time deported illegal alien -- he apparently never shot and killed anyone. But it does beg the question: exactly what laws did he break?

An interesting (dismal?) perspective on status of McDonald's restaurants. I saw this story earlier this morning and then the story seemed to have disappeared. It took quite awhile to find it again. It turns out this story was originally posted on April 17, 2015, and was re-posted erroneously, or was being re-cycled. Regardless, it helps me connect some dots which I will get back to later. [Update, 9:12 p.m. central time: the story was there all the time; I just couldn't find; linked by Drudge. And yes, there it is, saying it was posted "11 hours ago." Same story as the April 17, 2017, story with some editing. CNBC recycling their stories for some hidden agenda?]

In the Los Angeles Times: grocery chain Haggen laying off workers as it struggles in Southland.

Haggen Inc., the supermarket chain that bet big on California, is laying off employees and cutting worker hours as it struggles to make headway in the highly competitive Southland grocery market.

The Pacific Northwest chain this year bought 146 Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions and Safeway stores, including 83 in California, mostly in the south. It has spent the last few months converting them to the Haggen brand and keeping most of the store employees. 

Haggen, which has about 10,000 employees overall, did not specify how many workers would be affected, nor did it confirm that there have been layoffs. Local employees said some workers have been laid off, including store clerks.

Haggen is introducing its brand to California at a time when grocers are facing heightened competition for food shoppers. Analysts said Southern California is one of the nation’s most competitive grocery markets, though statistics aren’t publicly available.

Farmers markets are springing up all over the Southland. Smaller chains, including Trader Joe’s, also have been expanding while big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target have been scaling up their food offerings.

Online players Google and Amazon.com also have been pushing grocery delivery. Last month, German discount grocer Aldi said it planned to open 45 Southland stores starting next March.

Many, many story lines. Southern California is also known for a lot of "job actions" against employers over the years. There is a new Wal-Mart across the street from the huge shopping mall in Torrance. I never thought there would be a Wal-Mart in that area. The grocery store chains in the southland have historically done everything possible to keep Wal-Mart from coming in.

 

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Check out Cummins: huge dividend increase. I'll get back to this later, if I remember.

Check out Netflix: also a huge story. This has been one of my favorite stories to follow on the blog. I do not invest in Netflix. You may have to google "Netflix dashes past 65m subscriptions" to get aritcle.

Jobs: first time unemployment applications plunge by 15,000; now down to 281,000. The four-week figure rose 3,250 to 282,500.

Citi posts highest profit in eight years due to cost cutting.

MDU to impose fee on customers who install solar/wind with intent to sell electricity back to utility.

That typhoon off the western coast of Mexico / south of Baja California seems to be moving farther south, perhaps a bit farther off to the west, away from the coast.

Weekly NG fill rate: 99. In the East Region, stocks were 65 Bcf below the 5-year average following net injections of 57 Bcf.

Gasoline demand, at the link scroll down:

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Back To The Bakken

Active rigs:

	7/16/2015	07/16/2014	07/16/2013	07/16/2012	07/16/2011
Active Rigs	74	192	189	213	178

Niobrara: June, 2015, production down 4% month-over-month, but still 19% higher than year-over-year. Huge story line.

RBN Energy: NGL Prices and Petchem Margins In a Low Crude Price World.

Massive infrastructure investments in petrochemical steam crackers and export terminals for propane, butane and ethane are in the works. But the market has changed since the investment decisions for many of these facilities were made. Instead of the low ethane prices the petrochemical market is enjoying today (about 19 cents/Gal), prices could ramp up to 50 cents/Gal by 2020 as new steam crackers and ethane export facilities come online. If ethane prices increase and crude oil prices remain below $65/bbl, the feedstock cost advantage of ethane versus naphtha that the new petrochemical facilities expected likely would not materialize. Lower crude oil prices would also cap production growth of all NGLs, limiting the volumes to be exported through the new terminals. Today we review Part 2 of our Drill Down Report on NGL Infrastructure.

Another great post by RBN Energy. A very negative outlook for NG bulls.