Making America Great Again -- January 15, 2018

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EPD: hikes dividend, "banks on transportion" -- Zacks -- well this is nice. 

Enterprise Products Partners L.P.’s EPD board of directors has announced an increase of 3.7% on an annual basis in its quarterly cash distribution.

The current dividend yield is 5.85%, lower than the industry’s yield of 6.20% but higher than the S&P 500 index’s 1.63%.

CVX: I could be wrong but I think CVX is at an all-time high. At this link, it shows CVX at the close at $133.60 on Friday vs $130.55 back in June, 2014. This is somewhat surprising considering that:

• there seem to be many more E&P companies now than years ago
• oil is nowhere near its $140 high -- or whatever it was
• it's unlikely oil will get anywhere near $80 -- much less $140 -- any time soon
• CVX market share has to have decreased over the years -- as for all majors
• reserves may have decreased over time (I don't know) 
• global demand is forecast to increase this year (2018) but not by all that much

And yet, CVX appears to be at an all-time high.

In my mind, only one thing can account for this: Trump policies, including the tax bill. [Later: okay, this, too: a weaker US dollar -- see XOM article below.]

Enbridge: to re-open shut-in line along the gulf but it's the last paragraph (in bold red/black) in the note below that caught my attention-- from Zacks --

Pipeline operator Enbridge ecently announced that it is planning to restart operations at its Garden Banks gas pipeline in early February. The 1 billion cubic foot per day (Bcf/d) pipeline will begin operations for some producers.

The pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico was shut down following a fire outbreak on Nov 8, 2017.  The incident resulted in stalling of operations on most of the platforms in the region, including Enchilada and Salsa platforms, operated by Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A and the Baldpate and Conger filed platforms, operated by Hess Corporation HES. Enbridge is separating its pipeline from the damaged platform Enchilada and expects to finish the task by the coming month. Production at the site was disrupted due to the unavailability of pipeline. Both Shell and Hess are yet to provide dates for restarting operations at the site.

Per the forecasts of the Energy Information Administration, oil production level in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to be flat in 2018 year over year. From 2019 onward, production in the region is expected to rise as seven new projects will come online.

XOM: from Investopedia --

Exxon Mobil Corp. shares could be headed much higher, and it will have rising oil prices to thank.

Shares have the potential to increase by nearly 20% over the longer-term from its current price around $87.50, to $105. That is because the stock is nearing a technical breakout from a multi-year downtrend, on the strength of surging oil prices.

WTI crude oil could see its price climb by nearly 18% to roughly $76, from its current price around $64.50. The rise in oil is being triggered by improving global economics, tightening supply, and weak a U.S. dollar.

MAGA: Wage hikes, bonuses, and benefits after the Trump tax bill was signed at this link.

RAM: the new 2019 Ram pickup.

Volkswagen: Volkswagen delivers record sales in 2017, more than half in China -- from 24/7 Wall Street. So what's going on in western Europe where

• US sales: up 5.2% y/y
• China sales: up 4.2% y/y
• EU: sales down 2.9% y/y
• but get this, in December, y/y, Canadian sales were up 54% 
• December deliveries in China were up 12.9% year over year to 342,100 units, a new record for the month and the best-ever monthly total in the country

Making Tibet great again. I assume these are Tesla pickup trucks being delivered to Tibet. It also helps explain why Musk Melon uses "delivery data" rather than "sales data" for the monthly auto report.

Just the 100: another interesting Forbes list.