Notes From All Over -- Part 1 -- September 23, 2021

Will the Dow go up over 500 points today? Asking for a friend. (Yes, it did.)

Apple, Inc:

• unable to keep up with iPhone 13 orders --- delivery times delayed. Supply or demand issue?
• iPhone 13 preorders begin shipment; but iPhone Pro shipments estimates slip to late October
• the tea leaves suggest Apple under-estimated demand for the "Pro" phone -- the most expensive ever;
• new iPad Mini begins shipping; sixth generation iPad mini

GE: the market is going absolutely parabolic; GE up another $5 this morning; I mentioned the other day, I missed this one. Later: see first comment from a reader. I feel better. I'm always humbled by my readers.

TSLA: on a day the market goes parabolic, TSLA is down. Not much, but it's down.

September swoon: LOL. The month's not over but weren't we told that September was going to be a really, really bad month for investors? Not only is the Dow up 450 points but the Dow is back to green week-over-week. To think that folks freaked out when the market was down, what, maybe 2% earlier this week when the Dow was up ten, twenty, thirty percent depending how far back one wants to go.

Investing; I had planned to buy for the fourth day in a row but I will hold off until later today, looking for some profit taking. In the big scheme of things, I really don't care. Anything I buy these days will be passed on to the grandchildren. I will never see it. They won't care what I paid for shares; they will simply be interested in the number of shares they inherit. Yes, I know. 

Investing: a great week for selling losers, re-balancing one's portfolio. On CNBC they call it tax harvesting. In addition, CNBC talking heads talking a lot about investors looking for dividends. Interesting. 

WTI: I see WTI is now up 1 percent in early morning trading. 

US ports: chicken or the egg? We keep hearing about the number of cargo ships sitting off shore, a choke point at the ports. We never hear in those reports the amount of cargo throughput these days compared to 2019. Apparently, a lot of those containers are shipped less than full, for whatever reason. 

Jobless: weren't we told that initial claims would drop once the "supplemental" unemployment benefits were stopped? That's what I thought we heard. Those "supplemental" unemployment benefits have apparently stopped in many (most?) cases and yet, first time unemployment claims came in higher than expected. So, what's the problem: the analysts misjudging or folks not returning to work? I don't know. Unemployment at 5% and yet employers can't find enough workers? What's wrong with that? Supposedly five percent of those looking for work can't find a job. LOL. It appears more and more there's a mismatch between what workers want / qualified vs what employers want / require.

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Reading Today

Sophia, second grade art. Sophia tells me they are learning about Mary Blair, a colorist / artist for Walt Disney who wanted to "move into" color whereas Disney did not want to leave black and white. The teacher's source does not put Walt Disney in a good light with regard to Mary Blair. 

I was curious. For several years I've had the "bible" regarding the Disney women on my top shelf. Surprise, surprise! Mary Blair is highly featured in the book, and based on the mini-bio, she and Walt Disney had a great relationship. Whatever.

By the way, on Amazon.com this $60.00 hardcover book is being offered for $45.

Tolkien: I'm back in my J.R.R. Tolkien phase. Not quite sure how that happened. I think I mentioned Beowulf and J.R.R. Tolkien the other day. Still reading that (again) but will spend only another day or two on it. I just started re-reading Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth, John Garth, c. 2003. 

It certainly puts Afghanistan in (the proper?) perspective. On so many levels.  

Good, bad, or indifferent, I was disappointed to see so few peace activists come out in support of Joe Biden on this one. It seems so many are quick to protest wars but then are not to be found when someone actually ends a war. Where was Cher? Where was Susan Sarandon? Where was Jane Fonda? Ironically, or interestingly, these folks were not even actively protesting for the end of this longest, forgotten war.