Saturday, February 21, 2026

Focus: Black Swans -- February 21, 2026

Locator: 50021BLACKSWANS.

Focus, link here: black swans. 

Updates

Later, 2:06 p.m. Central time: on January 30, 2026, I asked whether Satya Nadella's job was on the line. It would take a lot for the board to remove Nadella and I don't think his job is on the line, but once your business model -- a subscription model -- comes into question, and your most visible product -- Copilot-- appears not to be a hit among consumers, a CEO has a lot of headwinds to weather.  

Original Post 

AI investing

  • AI: too much debt in the short term spooks investors;
  • AI: upsets need for security software.

AI prompt: AI investing. Somehow analysts suggest AI eliminates need for security software companies. Is that why software companies plummeted in the market this last week? 

Reply

The bigger question has become: is AI going to be a much bigger "disruptor" than previously "believed"? 

Another question: does a "shoot first, ask questions later," offer some interesting investing opportunities? 

By the way, here's a huge counter-argument: 

  • folks in general do not trust AI / chatbots"
  • "everyone" agree AI / chatbots are somewhere between 90% ad 95% accurage
  • do you trust AI to find security risks? 
  • to what extent can companies like CrowdStrike, Okta, and Cloudfare use this to their advantage?

But I think there was more to it that that

AI prompt: Per your earlier reply, the significant decline in software and cybersecurity stocks around early-to-mid February 2026 was largely driven by investor panic over the disruptive potential of Artificial Intelligence. Separate from that, I believe, was the cocern investors have regarding Microsoft's 1) subscription model; and, 2) its poorly accepted Copilot. Your thoughts? 

Reply (and it is a long reply): 

AI prompt: And finally, one last question along this line: it appears to me that agentic AI may be more disruptive than previously thought. Not too long ago, the question was whether AI / agentic AI is a "bubble"? Now it appears that not only is AI / agentic AI NOT a bubble but it may be much more disruptive than previously "believed." Again, your thoughts. Looking for an AI inference reply.

Response: after three attempts to get a narrative reply from Google, I gave up. Google only provided links to articles, the old Google search method. These were the first two hits:

Focus On Dividends -- Ferrari -- RACE -- February 21, 2026

Locator: 50020DIV.

Link here

History

Will increase dividend from $3.43 (annual) to $4.26, payable May 5, 2026. 

€3.62 = $4.26 (February 21, 2026).

$4.26 from $3.43 = 24% increase in its annual dividend? 


 

US LNG Export Terminal Update -- February 21, 2026

 

US LNG export terminals status 2025 - 2026:

From November, 2025:

Today, update, February 21, 2026

Friday, February 20, 2026

Iran - Trump -- Rambling -- February 20, 2026

Locator: 50019IRAN.

An earlier note: February 18, 2025.

Now, my hunch:

  • the decision has been made
    • who have we not seen in the past week? Hespeth.
  • to withdraw all that US firepower now would be a huge TACO event
  • it's interesting to read the mainstream media 
    • the journalists are missing a huge, huge story with regard to what the military is doing while "waiting."

The only thing I can advise: check in on Fox News every four hours. More often as the situation changes, but right now? Every four hours. Remember: 

  • 10:00 p.m. in Washington = 6:30 a.m. in Tehran.
  • 2:00 p.m. ET: prime time for Mideast events begin; 
    • whatever happens, it will be choreographed for the American public 

One may want to google: has any president announced major hostilities while giving the SOTU address?

The most boring story right now: tariffs.

********************************
An F-16 Interlude

Link here

******************************
The Lancer B-1

Link here

End-Of-Day Reporting -- February 20, 2026

Locator: 50018B.

Bakken, middle Three Forks, second bench, link here

Bakken, middle Three Forks, second bench, link here

WTI: $66.48.

Active rigs: 24.

Five new permits, #42724 - #42728, inclusive (two were SWD wells and not included below:

  • 42724, conf, Spotted Hawk Development, Poseidon 21-18H, NENW 18-150-91, Van Hook, to be sited 546 FNL and 1321 FWL;
  • 42726, conf, WGO Resources, Myers 1-9, SWSE 9-139-104, Fisher Run, to be sited 1022 FSL and 2117 FEL;
  • 42728, conf, Phoenix Operating, Akemi Ferrari 14-11-2 2H, SWSE 14-160-98, Skabo, to be sited 350 FSL and 1366 FEL.