Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- October 4, 2019

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, career, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Two cents worth: I cannot believe how much I love this pullback.

Apple: so much happening -- I mentioned the other day that Apple is going to do very, very well with the iPhone 11 --

• Apple to increase iPhone 11 output by up to 10% -- Bloomberg -- and it's only been out for a couple of weeks? Announced less than a month ago? Consumer Season (aka, Christmas) is just around the corner.
• technical analysis: AAPL is on the verge of a breakout this fall. Fall? It's already winter in Montana. Buy point is $225 for some analysts. If AAPL hits $225 this winter, "Katy, bar the door." [Note: I pay zero attention to technical analysis except to watch the headlines. LOL.]

******************************************

Costco

Updates

October 7, 2019: Jim Cramer on Costco. I agree completely. Said the same thing to my wife after read the story. Looking at Costco's share price over the past few days, it doesn't look like many investors bought the "negative story" on Costco -- see original post.

Original Post

Didn't see this coming: Costco quarterly sales miss estimates amid fierce competition.  Reuters.  Key words as one scans the article:

• competitive grocery space (no one beats Costco; no one)
• Amazon
• Walmart
• expanding internationally, opening first warehouse in China about two months ago
• record membership sign-ups in Shanghai
• will open second Shanghai store in 2021: 25 million
• NYC: 20 million
• Chicago: half that
• number of Costco stores in Manhattan: 1
• total revenue rose about 7% to $47.50 billion vs estimates of $47.57 billion
• you have to be kidding -- that's the miss?
• then this: earnings came in at $2.69; 15 cents above expectations
• that was the very last line in the story
• I can think of a lot better headlines for this story than Costco sales miss estimates
• two cents worth: I cannot believe how much I love this pullback

Tanker rates:

Most ridiculous headline over at Yahoo!Finance today: why Schwab's commission-free trades present a danger to investors.

Wind, Germany, from a reader. From the Clean Energy Wire:

• Welt Online wrote that the German wind industry was “threatened by decline,” having shed 26,000 jobs in one year. After years of rapid growth, Germany’s onshore wind power's expansion has almost come to a standstill in the first half of 2019, when only 35 turbines were added
• the reader also noted this: solar is beating wind in Germany right now
• Berlin is at the same latitude as New Foundland, yet solar beats wind
• worth re-posting:

This will kill manufacturing in Germany.