Chevron CEO On The Bakken -- May 5, 2026

Locator: 50727B.

Tag: Bakken Chevron Permian DJ 

Link here. At the link, the transcripts.

It's Not A Bubble -- The Market Could Crash But It Won't Be Because AI Was "Fake" -- This Is Not Dot-Com Redux -- May 5, 2026

Locator: 50726MICRON. 

Profits

May 5, 2026:

News

AMD: soars 15%; earnings exceed estimates
Samsung: hits $1 trillion evaluation
Micron: zooms past $700 billion market cap
AAPL: valuation -- $4.17 trillion
Trump pauses Project Freedom (after two days): could set up huge rally
Super Micro: shares surge 18%; guidance beat; revenue more than doubles
Lucid: suspends production guidance; new CEO; Saudi major contributor; hit hard by blockade of Strait of Hormuz
Spirit: biggest corporate collapse in a decade
NYC: Citadel founder Ken Griffin will double down on Miami; moving away from NYC

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Chart

Profits

TSMC: $81 billion.
SK Hynix: $115 billion.
Samsung: $151 billion, almost double TSMC's.

AMD's income pales in comparison.

Intel (INTC)? For 1Q26, Intel reported a loss of $4 billion for the quarter. Intel is valued at one-half trillion dollars (market cap).  BRK has almost one-half trillion dollars in cash. 

Nancy Pelosi? Somewhat less.

Ilhan Omar? Whatever number she says it is. 

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Charts At the Close

AMD:

MU: 

Trump's "Berlin Airlift" -- May 5, 2026

Locator: 50725IRAN. 

Tag: Project Freedom.

Updates

Later, 6:45 p.m. CT: after just two days, Project Freedom was so successful, Trump says he will pause Project Freedom (but not the blockade) to see if Iran and US can sign some kind of agreement to keep the strait open. My hunch: Saudi was in dire straights. If the strait opens, the market will surge. The price of oil will drop like a rock.

Original Post  

Iranian blockade: day 2 -- Giovanni seems amazed --

The Berlin Airlift: 15 months -- putting things into perspective --

Four New Permits; Eleven Permits Renewed; Two DUCs Reported As Completed -- May 5, 2026

Locator: 50724B. 

WTI: $102.50.

Active rigs: 23.

Four new permits, #42899 - #42902, inclusive --

• Operators: Hess (3); Oasis
• Fields: Stanley (Mountrail); Lake Trenton (Williams)
• Comments:
• Oasis has a new permit for a Tunnock well, lot 2, section 2-153-103; 
• to be sited 749 FL and 2500 FEL;
• Hess has permits for three more RS-Piepkorn wells, SENE 11-155-92, 
• to be sited 2254 / 2320 FNL and 436 FEL.

Eleven permits renewed:

• CLR (8): eight McClintock permits, Pleasant Valley, Williams County;
• BR (3): three Clemens permits, Dimmick Lake, McKenzie County;

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 40921, npd, XTO, HBU Baptiste Federal 34X-11A, Williams County; 
• 41551, npd, XTO, HBU Baptiste Federal 34X-11B, Williams County; 

Apple, China, India, Vietnam, And Mexico -- May 5, 2026

Locator: 50723APPLE. 

Query: Does Apple have a large manufacturing presence in Vietnam?

Reply: 

Query: 

Apple has a large manufacturing presence in Vietnam. Which might be more important as a manufacting sector for Apple, India or Vietnam?

Reply: the very short answer -- 

India and Vietnam serve different, vital roles in Apple's manufacturing, but India is arguably more important for long-term growth and volume, while Vietnam is currently critical for product diversification. India focuses on massive iPhone assembly and high-value components, while Vietnam specializes in iPads, AirPods, and MacBooks, benefiting from proximity to China.

Query: why China, then increasingly Vietnam and not Mexico? Long reply; not particularly enlightening, sort of what one expected. Reading between the lines, it amounts to this:

• Asia (China and Vietnam) can react much more quickly; Mexico's workforce/government Is slow to react;
• between China and Vietnam, China is much more bureaucratic (the government) and more regulated; Vietnam is troubled less by bureaucracy and regulatory control.

Recommendation: read Malcolm Harris' biography of Palo Alto, c. 2023.