Saturday, February 10, 2018

The Up Jones Or The Dow(n) Jones? -- February 10, 2018 -- Weekend Note

The 100-year Dow(n) Jones Historical Market, link here.
There has been so much good economic news for the country this past week, it's impossible to keep up.

Some observations:
  • when was the last time we had a continuing budget resolution that would carry us forward for almost two full years? Good, bad, or indifferent, getting this out of the way, allows Congress to get on with other business, like the Senate confirming federal judges appointed by Trump
  • Bernie Sanders got everything he could possibly wish for in that CBR ... and he still voted "no"; Rachel and others need to go through this CBR and look at all the goodies Congress funded; a stimulus bill by another name
  • huge story: freight brokers see profits surge on shipping rush;
  • Amazon says it will take on UPS, FedEx

 Stock photo from The WSJ
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Utilities

From the linked story above, a couple of quotes, data points.

First this:
Utility holding company National Grid U.S. expects a non-cash tax credit of $2 billion in 2018 as a result of the lower tax rate, said Peggy Smyth, the company’s finance chief.
“It’s going to be returned to customers over a period of 20 to 30 years,” Ms. Smyth said. 
But then this:
National Grid’s New York customers will see first-year increases of only 1.7% for electric and 2.4% for gas rates, as opposed to the 13% and 14% originally proposed, said James Denn, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Public Service, the state’s utility regulator.
“It’s the right thing to do for our customers,” Ms. Smyth said. “We view that as a pass-through cost and to the extent that the tax rate is going down, we are going to build that into the new rates.”
It's the right thing to do for our customers. LOL.

Now if only the state would lift its ban on fracking.
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Weekend Reading For The Beach

Other great stories to savor over the weekend -- scanning the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal:
  • the Winter Olympics, figure skating, and Moulin Rouge: who would have guessed?
  • the Winter Olympics, downhill skiing, and Lindsey Vonn: who would have guessed?
  • the deadly flu no one saw coming: too focused on global warming? This is not as far fetched as one might think
  • another DOJ official steps down; this time the #3 -- she says she's taking her "dream job" -- working for Walmart -- that's only slightly better than #4 who will say he/she is stepping down to spend more time with his/her family; and, #5 who will say she/he is stepping down to teach ethics at Harvard (yes, I know, former FBI director already announced his professorship in ethics at William and Mary)
  • forget the 4% rule: rethinking common retirement beliefs
  • remember when Ray Dalio said you'd "feel pretty stupid" holding cash? How did that work out? Link here.
  • Saudi Prince sells Trump Place Apartment for $36 million; takes huge, huge loss 
  • Phil Jackson -- yes, that Phil Jackson-- sells co-op in NYC; $200,000 more than purchase price in 2014; $50,000 above asking price (not in The WSJ; from Mansion Global); two-bedroom; looks surprisingly conservative
  • Trivago is in the news: I did not know they were a Germany company; watching the Trivago ads on television (some weeks ago) -- something odd about the company, I felt; never felt comfortable with them; just a vibe, as they say; maybe my sixth sense was trying to reach me
  • the surprising good news about demographics and the stock market
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Miscellaneous

Speaking of William and Mary, from wm.edu:
William & Mary is the second-oldest college in America. The original plans for W&M date back to 1618 — decades before Harvard — ....
On February 8, 1693, King William III and Queen Mary II of England signed the charter for a "perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences" to be founded in the Virginia Colony. And William & Mary was born.
Comey will follow in a long line of distinguished William and Mary educators and supporters:
William & Mary has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its close ties to America's founding fathers. A 17-year-old George Washington received his surveyor's license through W&M and would return as its first American chancellor. Thomas Jefferson received his undergraduate education here, as did presidents John Tyler and James Monroe.
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More Miscellaneous

How big is big? Today the AP has this headline -- farthest photos ever taken, from nearly 4 billion miles away.
The NASA spacecraft that gave us close-ups of Pluto has set a record for the farthest photos ever taken.
In December — while 3.79 billion miles (6.12 billion kilometers) from Earth — the New Horizons spacecraft snapped a picture of a star cluster. The photo surpassed the "Pale Blue Dot" images of Earth taken in 1990 by NASA's Voyager 1.
The images for "Pale Blue Dot" — part of a composite — were taken 3.75 billion miles (6.06 billion kilometers) away. 
Some data points:
  • just now getting to the fringes of our solar system: the Kuiper Belt
  • flew past Pluto in 2015
  • will reach 2014 MU69 on January 1, 2019
  • the spacecraft was launched in 2006 -- and it's just now getting to the edge of the solar system ... after that empty space ... a lot like how New Yorkers picture fly-over country, I suppose
  • 2006: the North Dakota Bakken had not yet been "discovered"
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Even More Trivial Items (For The Archives)

Nasdaq to relocate headquarters from downtown Manhattan to Times Square

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Two Books For Today

The Scotch Irish: A Social History, James G. Leyburn, c. 1962
Calculus: a textbook, Hughes-Hallett Gleason, et al
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