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Amazon beat Apple in customer satisfaction, according to MacRumors.

Amazon scored highest among the 17 consumer-electronics manufacturers operating in North America. It was the only manufacturer to garner an “excellent” rating of 91 for Kindle customers. 

I don't have a Kindle and the survey really surprised me. But then, again, perhaps it shouldn't. I have never had a bad experience with Amazon. Most recent example: I have no special shipping relationship with Amazon; I always request the least expensive way of shipping, generally "regular shipping." Yesterday morning, in this library, I ordered two books from retailers that go through Amazon -- heavily discounted books, some selling for as low as 1 penny (no typo) and $3.99 shipping. Last night I received an e-mail from Amazon that the first book I ordered was already shipped (that was less than 12 hours after placing the order) and just moments ago (11:17 a.m. CT) I got a note telling me the second book had just been shipped, about 24 hours after the order was placed. I doubt B&N could do any better.

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Arch Coal misses 2013 sales forecast on rail delays. Bloomberg is reporting:

Arch Coal, the fourth-largest U.S. producer of the commodity, sold less thermal and metallurgical coal than forecast last year because of rail delays and “challenging geological conditions” at a mine in West Virginia.

Fourth-quarter shipments of coal used by power stations from the Powder River Basin coal region in Wyoming fell 15 percent compared with the preceding three months, the St. Louis-based company said today in a statement. Arch expected to make up most of the shortfall in 2014, Chief Executive Officer John Eaves said in the statement.

Output at the Mountain Laurel mine dropped 40 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter because of geological issues at its longwall panel, Arch said. A longwall machine is used by miners underground to shear coal from across an entire coal face.

Arch didn’t specify what were the geological issues. 

Perhaps it was the "anti-coal fault" stretching across the president's frontal lobe.

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Richard Zeits, over at SeekingAlpha, provides an update on Halcon.  

While the Bakken will remain Halcón's most important asset, alone it is not sufficient to "carry" the company's $4.6 billion current firm value (using $3.2 billion year-end debt estimate). In this context, a strong success at El Halcón - which is still in its infancy as a play (as a reminder, Halcón drilled its first operated well just a year ago) - is very much needed and becomes a pivotal element of the company's strategy. For the stock to exit its downward spiral, the company must demonstrate, among other things, that El Halcón will soon be able to shoulder a significant portion of the stock's valuation.

The El Halcón may not be easy to model or understand given the very early state of its evolution and lack of detailed information. This note provides well-by-well crude oil production history for the majority of the wells that Halcón has brought on production at El Halcón as of November of 2013. A total of 39 wells are presented (which I believe captures the vast majority of Halcón's wells as of November).

See also, Halcon.

Oil is up over 1.5%. The unreported story of the day, but I will write about it later this evening, if I remember.