Investors Only. Nothing To Do With The Bakken: ATT To Buy T-Mobile

This is incredible, and, of course, subject to regulators. But no matter how big a company gets, apparently it can get bigger. Although this has nothing to do with the Bakken, it's a huge story, and may have implications for the Bakken down the road.

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March 21, 2011, 0830: With the announcement, I would have thought share price of ATT would have dropped, which usually happens when companies take on a huge acquisition.

So I am surprised that ATT is up significantly in pre-market open.

CNBC "Squawk Box" discussion brought up something I had not thought about: this puts Sprint in a box. Sprint is losing market share and had hoped to do its own deal with T-Mobile. Now, with ATT going after T-Mobile, whether it happens or not, it prevents Sprint from buying T-Mobile for at least a year. In fact, while ATT share price is rising (surprising), Sprint share price is dropping.

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March 21, 2011, 0920: Sprint is down 13 percent in pre-market open trading; quite remarkable. This just shows the importance of being diversified. I think it was less than a month ago that pundits were "talking up" Sprint. I can only imagine the "hate mail" that some investors are sending their financial advisers who encouraged them to buy Sprint. I never would have expected this (that ATT would buy T-Mobile). This is quite remarkable.

March 21, 2011, 1330: Meanwhile, the FCC has approved the CenturyLink-Qwest merger, due to close April 1, 2011. CenturyLink shares are down 1.4 percent on a huge "up" day for the market. Paying more than 7 percent dividend, this might be a company to watch by investors interested in dividends.