OMG! Second-Straight Month" -- That Would Be Two Months In A Row; Two Consecutive Months; Two Back-To-Back Months -- March 12, 2016

The March, 2016, Director's Cut is out. It has the North Dakota oil and natural gas production for the month of January, 2016. I will get to it later. There are a couple of surprises: okay, maybe just one.

"North Dakota Oil Production Falls For Second Straight Month" from The Wall Street Journal, front page, section B:

Reflecting sharp drop in prices, production fell to the lowest level in 18 months.
North Dakota on Friday said crude-oil production fell 2.65% in January to the lowest level in 18 months, reflecting a sharp drop in prices, as the number of drilling rigs active in the state fell to the lowest level in more than a decade.

Oil production in January, the latest data available, fell to 1.12 million barrels a day, down from 1.15 million barrels a day the previous month.

That was the lowest level since the 1.11 million barrels a day produced in July 2014, and a second straight month of declines.

"Key Formula for Oil Executive's Pay: Drill Baby Drill," from The Wall Street Journal:

Bonuses at many energy companies based on higher oil production, reserves; shareholders seek change.

Markets have been waiting for U.S. energy producers to slash output during a period of depressed crude prices. But these companies have been paying their top executives to keep the oil flowing.

Production and reserve growth are big components of the formulas that determine annual bonuses at many U.S. exploration and production companies. That meant energy executives took home tens of millions of dollars in bonuses for drilling in 2014, even though prices had begun to fall sharply in what would be the biggest oil bust in decades.

The practice stems from Wall Street’s treatment of such companies’ shares as growth stocks, favoring future prospects over profitability. It has helped drive U.S. energy producers to spend more unearthing oil and gas than they make selling it, energy executives and analysts say.

Rush to Cuba. "ATT, Marriott, and Starwood Poised to Sign Deals With Cuba," from The Wall Street Journal:

White House officials express hopes business deals can be set before Obama visits Havana on March 20.

With just over a week until Mr. Obama’s March 20 visit, three companies— AT&T Inc., Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Marriott International —are expected to announce agreements with Cuban government-run entities, according to company and U.S. officials. The three are among a roster of U.S. companies trying to negotiate deals to do business in Cuba.

They will be among the first high-profile deals notched since Mr. Obama said in December 2014 that the U.S. would move to restore ties with Cuba after more than 50 years of Cold War enmity. Since then, the Obama administration has loosened travel and trade restrictions for a variety of industries, betting that closer business ties between the U.S. and Cuba will cement the administration’s policy of normalization.

"US Import Prices Fell 0.3% in February," from The Wall Street Journal:

Global economic weakness, strong dollar, cheap oil may continue to curb U.S. inflation.
Falling import prices are continuing to offer a check on overall U.S. inflation, though there are signs the pressure from abroad may be easing.

Import prices decreased 0.3% in February from the prior month after falling a revised 1% in January. It was their eighth consecutive monthly decline; economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected import prices to fall 0.7% from January.

Import prices were down 6.1% in February from a year earlier, the 19th straight annual decline but the smallest annual drop since December 2014.

“Prospects of higher oil prices and slower dollar appreciation should help keep this improving trend intact,” Wells Fargo Securities economists Sam Bullard and Sarah House said in a note to clients.

The latest monthly decline partly reflected falling prices for imported fuels. The price of imported petroleum fell 4.0% from January and was down 38.5% from February 2015.

Prices for non-petroleum imports decreased 0.1% in February from the prior month and were down 2.9% on the year.

But excluding both fuels and food, import prices ticked up 0.1% last month from January, their first increase since May 2014. They fell 2.5% from February 2015.

"Port of Los Angeles Imports Surged In February," from The Wall Street Journal:

Container volume jumped 30% from February 2014 as trucking companies also see reported accelerating shipping demand.

Logistics and transportation businesses got a healthy bump in February as import volumes through the nation’s largest ports posted records and freight shipments picked up after slowing for several months. But analysts warn the growth may only be temporary.

The Port of Los Angeles handled a February record 372,744 loaded 20-foot containers-worth of imports—a jump of 46.6% from February of last year, when West Coast ports were plagued by congestion as dockworkers completed contract terms with port operating companies after months of negotiations. Exports grew 11% to 146,488 containers.

February’s import volume in Los Angeles also was 30% higher than the same month in 2014—evidence that the strong dollar and steady consumer demand are pulling more goods from abroad. In contrast, loaded export containers at the Port of Los Angeles in February were flat compared with February in 2014.

The neighboring Port of Long Beach, the nation’s second-largest container port, reported similar trends in February.

Domestic freight activity also appears to be picking up. The monthly Cass Information Systems Inc. freight index report by showed volume jumped 8.3% from January to February. Spending to ship goods also expanded 6.3%. Compared with last February, however, freight shipments were down 2.6% and expenditures fell 5.1%, according to Cass, which said the first half of 2016 would be “sluggish.”

“The robust turnaround this month signals improvement, but current economic conditions do not support a robust rebound,” the report’s author, Rosalyn Wilson, wrote, pointing to volatile energy markets and weak foreign economies.

Black lives matter! Hands Up, Don't Shoot. "Cities grapple with rising murder rates," from The Wall Street Journal:

A continuing rise in homicides in some cities during the first two months of 2016 is rattling officials hoping last year’s spike in killings was an aberration in the decadeslong decline in the country’s murder rate.

This year, Chicago has seen 109 murders through March 11, almost double last year’s total during the same period. Los Angeles has tallied 51 murders through March 9, a 21% increase from 2015.

The growing body count appears to be driven by renewed gang feuds and surging violence linked to the drug trade, law-enforcement officials said.

In other cities, the upward trend has reversed. New York City homicides dropped from 64 in 2015, to 48 this year through March 9.

While the murder rates in most cities are nowhere near the levels they were in the 1990s, police chiefs are watching the numbers closely to see if the 2015 increases continue.