Just Idle Chatter -- January 17, 2017

One of the most interesting things for me with regard to the blog has been following the big stories over the past decade. It is quite striking.

In addition to ObamaCare, the two stories that dominated the media for most of the early years of the Obama presidency were:

• the doomsday chronicles
• cities declaring bankruptcy (a fairly recent phenomenon)
• states in severe financial difficulty
• the demise of the big box stores
• the demise of mainstream media
• the demise of unions
• the demise of the US auto industry 
• Chinese hacking federal government; millions of personnel files "stolen"
• not mentioned, because it sort of sneaked up on us, the demise of the president's party
• the Solyndra scandal

Now, before the new president is even sworn into office, in addition to all the attention to his tweets, the two stories dominating the news waves:

• all the companies rushing to Trump Tower to tell PEOTUS they plan to increase investment in the US; and, 
• the surging stock market

Just idle chatter.

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Understatement

A "talking body" (as opposed to a "talking head") over at CNBC said (1:45 p.m. Central Time, January 17, 2017) investment in the Permian is a trend that needs to be watched. Oh, really? A nominee for the 2017 Geico Rock Award. She made that observation after the following Permian deals made:

• ExxonMobil: $6 billion acquisition in the Permian; the biggest investment in US oil since 2004
• Noble: $2.7 billion; acquires Clayton Williams in the Permian
• WPX: $775 million for a few acres

In addition to the Permian, the same day the WPX deal was announced:

• Sanchez, Blackstone: $2.3 billion to buy Eagle Ford acreage from Anadarko

And, in September, 2016, Apache announced an "elephant" in the Permian:

I wouldn't mention that simply for the Geico Rock Award. There's a much, much bigger story here. This speaks volumes that this kind of money at this stage of the game is being invested in US shale by companies like ExxonMobil. As everyone knows, COP is already (through BR) heavily invested in US shale.