The Market And Energy Page, T+238 -- September 15, 2017

Updates

September 15, 2017: pre-orders for all hardware announced earlier this week begin today except for the iPhone X. Early reports, in the form of comments over at Macrumors, suggest that pre-orders for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus may be doing much better than expected. AAPL shares are up over $2.00 -- surprising to see this interest so soon; usually it takes a few weeks or months. The difference this time? It looks like Apple has adequate supply of the iPhone 8. This will be the phone that parents buy for their older children, and these same parents will hold out for the iPhone X for themselves. I would be surprised if the iPhone X is not constrained (demand will outstrip supply). By having enough iPhone 8's in their inventory to meet demand will really, really have a positive effect on the July - Sept quarter, and that's what is likely driving AAPL shares today. By the way, there are very few negative comments over at Macrumors regarding any of the new Apple products which is also a good omen. It looks the Apple Watch Series 3 is going to be the star of the show.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, travel, job, or relationship decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

Original Post

Dow futures: up 9 points following another NK launch.

Minor note: if you are looking for the new Baker Hughes GE company, the ticker symbol is BHGE but on some browsers that will bring you to "Bear Newco." Confused? I was at first. It turns out that "Bear Newco" is a spaceholder name for the new company which will be renamed "Baker Hughes, a GE Company."

Economic data:

• US retail sales fell unexpectedly in August (Hurricane Harvey hit landfall August 25): data points --
• fell 0.2 percent; biggest decline in 6 months; forecast, up 0.1% (actual vs forecast hardly noteworthy?)
• motor vehicle sales tumbled 1.6%, the biggest drop since January (many cars bought at end of month when salesmen trying to meet quotas (did I mention that Hurricane Harvey hit landfall August 25?)

• In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said industrial production declined 0.9 percent in August. That was the biggest drop since May 2009 and followed six straight monthly gains.

EVs?

China oil. New China Energy star, CEFC China Energy Co, still hungry after $9 billion Rosneft deal. Bloomberg here:

• one of the world's largest oil companies
• one week after striking $9 billion deal with Rosneft has been "pegged" as a possible investor in a Russian metals and power business and a free-trade zone in Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti 

The list gets longer. From the second most trusted name in news, US News, Renaualt-Nissan-Mitsubishi bets on spike in EVs. The alliance is ramping up EV production, vowing 12 new models by 2022 and to make EV cars 30% of its overall production.

Zacks on PLUG: link here.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

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Saudi IPO May Be Delayed

On July 11, 2017,  I wrote:

By the way, about a year ago I know I wrote on the blog that I doubted we would ever see a Saudi Aramco IPO launch. I just know I wrote that. But I'll never find it. But I will spend the day looking for that post. LOL. Apparently there's a rumor out there (somewhat sketchy, I will admit) that the IPO may not happen. When I saw that, this is what I wrote in an e-mail (not ready for prime time):

With regard to the Arab IPO: I know I posted on the blog a year ago that I doubted we would ever see the IPO -- not because of price of oil, but because the KING would never go along with selling part of his kingdom AND the KING would never go along with the transparency required. I will now spend the rest of the day looking for that post. LOL. I'll never find it.

Now, today, from Bloomberg, prepare for IPO to be delayed.