Unemployment Claims Surge 10,000 -- The Spin Continues, May 21, 2015

Jobs: the spin never stops. Unemployment claims surge 10,000, "slightly more than expected," but the news is that "we're" still below 300,000. On the other hand, at the beginning of a summer construction season -- and the claims should be dropping, not surging. At 274,000, it's the highest number ... OMG ... in a month. But the four-week average fell by 5,500 to 266,250, the lowest since April, 2000. So, we'll see. The market's reaction: muted. We're up slightly. Oil remains in a trading range between $58 and $60.


Active rigs:

	5/21/2015	05/21/2014	05/21/2013	05/21/2012	05/21/2011
Active Rigs	80	188	188	209	178

RBN Energy: natural gas supply and demand this summer.

Natural gas fill rate: 92 (dynamic link here). 

Weekly gasoline demand: slight rise (dynamic link here).

Weekly petroleum report at this dynamic link. Imports rose slightly. One wonders if California accounts for much of the imports as well as the Saudi-owned refinery along the US gulf coast.

Speaking of gulf, the PGA Colonial Golf Tournament will be delayed due to heavy rains in the DFW area. This morning, the course was pretty much underwater.

ISIS: Two "words" one does not like to see in the same sentence:  "ISIS" and "expands." Reuters is reporting the JV Team is one step closer to taking Libya:

Standing guard at his frontline post, Libyan soldier Mohammed Abu Shager can see where Islamic State militants are holed up with their heavy weaponry less than a kilometre away.

The militants have effectively taken over former dictator Muammar Gaddafi's home city of Sirte as they exploit a civil war between two rival governments to expand in North Africa.

Speaking of ISIS, the JV Team has taken full control of Palmyra and now controls one-half of Syria. The sparsely-populated one-half. Link here if interested; I'm not.

Wall Street Journal has an in-depth article on what it means that ISIS has taken Ramadi.

They say the cause of the Santa Barbara pipeline spill could be released today. My money is on the ground shifting. This is a major problem in southern California. The pipelines south of San Pedro are above ground, and very, very short segments to minimize breaks. A "state of emergency" has been declared.

The Los Angeles Times is asking why David Letterman got the "finale love" that was denied Jay Leno. I did not read the article, but the answer is obvious. I loved watching David Letterman in the early days but after about 2006 (maybe earlier) lost all interest. But like Rush Limbaugh, love him or hate him, it's quite an accomplishment to last decades in front of a microphone. (I don't necessarily include that former CNN talking head who is now doing infomercials on the weekend.)

Every summer we take our two granddaughters out to southern California; one of the highlights of that trip is multiple trips to Huntington Beach to go swimming. Today it is being reported that thirteen (13) young great white sharks were spotted close to shore off Huntington Beach. Memo to self: wear lots of shark repellant before swimming this summer.

And finally, this article in today's LA Times: cold weather is much more serious than extreme heat. I did not read that article either; just surprised to see the LA Times print it. Glad to see some scientists think earth is getting warmer, not colder.

Remember the Amtrak engineer who said he was cooperating fully with authorities: it took a court-ordered subpoena to get a hold of his cell phone records. This was the Amtrak accident along the northeast corridor that killed 8, injured 200. To put that in perspective, not one person has been killed in the US due to Bakken CBR.