Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Fast And Furious -- November 17, 2020

Firster things firster: "blogger app" fixes another glitch. Wonderful. Slowly but surely. They must be listening to their users. I wish they would get rid of the "<p>" function; causes nothing but problems. It was supposed to enhance the "<br />" function but not working. 

First things first: Walmart earnings surge. Links everywhere, here's one. Best article was at Fox Business but blogger app blocks that site. 

Mainstream media -- US retail sales disappoint: up 0.3% vs anticipated 0.5%. Oh, well. It could be worse. But really, 0.3% vs 0.5% -- background noise, at best. Means nothing. Wait until panic buying sets in ahead of second wave. Later: see first comment.  

Mainstream medial -- seldom take revisions into account: after those revisions, October sales printed 0.9% higher than September sales were reported at a month ago...almost no reports take those revisions into account...see comments.

Is Buffett becoming a trader? Dumps "hold-forever" companies and buys vaccine companies during pandemic. Link here.

Most inexplicable move ever? After holding for 20+ years, Warren Buffett dumps stock just before $10/share special dividend -- and he would have known it was coming. Link here

Maybe Warren saw this coming: Amazon starts selling prescription drugs to Prime customers. Is Amazon Prime Costco's number one competitor? If you think so, then maybe it was smart to get rid of Costco. On a day that the Dow is plummeting -- down 400 points -- COST is up 2.2%, up over $8/share.

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

NFL
: point after TD (PAT) missed in last night's professional football game! Say what? High school kids in Texas can kick PATs.

Non sequiturs

  • Disney is in deep trouble; California will "deepen," extend lockdowns; this is really, really bad news for Disney -- they will go more than a year with a closed theme park;
  • ATT (T): some movers and shakers see opportunities;

For ATT (T) shareholders, what are we supposed to do, "sit around and wait for you?"

Do You Believe in Life After Love, Cher

Love her or hate her: this was a great disco song. Melody, beat, and lyrics.

Dueling rockets: Elon Musk with successful launch; European Vega suffers major failure, costs $400 million in French/Spain satellite losses. Oh, oh. Link here.

Second thoughts? College basketball tournament in Sioux Falls, SD, seemed like a great idea some months ago. Now so much any more. Scheduled for next week. Can you spell "debacle"? If the tournament goes on as scheduled, it's clearly all about the Benjamins. LOL.

Hedy West, 1967: "We'll be controlled by manipulated fear." Link here

Dr Faust, 2020: even with 90% vaccinated, we will still need to wear masks and remain socially isolated for the next ten years. Paraphrased. 

Looking for love in all the wrong places: why I love to blog. This article would have made no sense to me had it not been for RBN Energy. Is the world's top fertilizer the missing element in super batteries? Link here

They're reading the blog: just yesterday I suggested this was not the time to sell energy holdings. Now these from same writer:

Apple:

Dog-bites-man story: new stats reveal massive NYC exodus amid coronavirus, crime. So where are they moving? The Hamptons and New Jersey. This speaks volumes. Folks aren't moving far from "home." This is all about schools, crime rates, and ability to work from home. Time for New York state to pass 25% luxury tax on elites who choose to work from home.

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New Yorkers Flee

Where they are relocating (New Jersey? Are you kidding me? A New Yorker moving to New Jersey? This is like a Norwegian moving to Sweden):

1. East Hampton, NY 11937: 2,769
2. Jersey City, NJ 07302: 1,821
3. Southampton, NY 11968: 1,398
4. Hoboken, NJ 07030: 1,204
5. Sag Harbor, NY 11963: 961
6. Scarsdale, NY 10583: 812
7. Water Mill, NY 11976: 577
8. Greenwich, Conn. 06830: 558
9. Yonkers, NY 10701: 567
10. Jersey City, NJ 07310: 434
11. Port Washington, NY 11050: 414
12. Westhampton Beach, NY 11978: 409
13. Princeton, NJ 08540: 395
14. Woodstock, NY 12498: 392
15. New Canaan, Conn. 06840: 389
16. Great Neck/Manhasset, NY 11021: 380
17. Hampton Bays, NY 11946: 344
18. Darien, Conn. 06820: 326
19. Mount Vernon, NY 10550: 325
20. Long Beach, NY 11561: 323

4 comments:

  1. retail: September's seasonally adjusted sales were revised from the $549.3 billion reported last month to $551.9 billion, while August's sales were revised from $539.0 billion to $543.4 billion, and those changes managed to cause the August to September percent increase to fall from up 1.9 percent (±0.5 percent) to up 1.6 percent (±0.3 percent), so some sites reported a downward revision to September sales....

    my figures show the total $7.0 billion upward revision to August and September's retail sales should increase the previous estimate of the personal consumption expenditures contribution to 3rd quarter GDP by about 0.52 percentage points, assuming the distribution of price adjustments in the revised figures is similar to that of those originally published...

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I reminded folks in main body of blog to check the comments.

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    2. the point i should have made was that after those revisions, October sales printed 0.9% higher than September sales were reported at a month ago...almost no reports take those revisions into account...

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