McDonald's Hits New High -- June 20, 2017; Chevron Phillips Update; Capitulation

ICYMI: WTI dropped below $43 earlier today. Yesterday I first started talking about "capitulation." I haven't heard that exact word used today on CNBC but they have certainly danced around it. 

It never quits: Chevron Phillips Chemical completes part of $6 billion Gulf Coast petrochemical investment. Data points:

• expected to start up in 3Q17
• will produce at least 500,000 metric tons of product annually
• the most-recently announced units are part of the company's $6 billion US Gulf Coast Petrochemicals Project
• final portion of that investment entails the construction of a new ethane cracker in Baytonw, which is expected to be complete in 4Q17

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Notes To The Granddaughters 

I was going to write about McDonald's this past Sunday but simply ran out of time, ran out of energy.

Maybe I can do that now.

Two weeks ago, after swimming lessons for Sophia, her dad took the three of us to a high-end restaurant for breakfast. Unfortunately, at 11:05 a.m. the restaurant was no longer offering the breakfast menu. That was fine. We had a nice lunch.

One week later, after swimming lessons for Sophia, she and I were hungry for breakfast. Her dad was not with us; he was working. I took Sophia to our local McDonald's. I believe it was her first time ever in a McDonald's and her parents would probably "die" if they knew I took her for breakfast there.

I ordered coffee, a hash brown for me; and, then a stack of pancakes and apple juice for Sophia. While fixing her pancakes (butter and syrup), Sophia ate my hash brown -- without asking. LOL. She devoured the first two of three pancakes and then went to play in PlayPlace; later she came back and watched her favorite videos (YouTube) on my laptop. By that time time, I had thrown out her third pancake --- wow, was she upset. She was looking for that third pancake.

She was enjoying her video and PlayPlace so much, I went outside to get a newspaper left in the car to read. The McDonald's manager thought I was leaving, and said good-bye as I walked out the door. I stopped and said I was just going out to the car for a moment and would be back in; Sophia was really enjoying the experience.

After I got my newspaper, Sophia and I stayed there another half hour or so. We were about halfway across the parking lot when leaving when the McDonald's manager rushed out after us, carrying a little fluffy gift for Sophia: a Ty-branded big-eyed fluffy little "thing."

To say I was impressed would be an understatement.

I have found that any individual McDonald's takes on the "flavor" of its neighborhood. I dread going into a McDonald's in the inner city of a city like St Louis, but in the more "high-end" neighborhoods of north Texas, they are incredible.

By the way, every McDonald's employee that day was wearing an employee-shirt with "UberEATS" emblazoned on the front.

And, yes, I just checked, McDelivery is available in my zip code.