The Market, Energy, And Political Page, Part 4, T+9 -- May 17, 2018

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Wow, talk about a perfect storm: for a number of reasons the price of oil is rising faster than anticiapted. That alone should make investors in oil the oil sector very happy. But, now, remember, we have a president in the White House who is pro-US and pro-oil. And unlike the Bushes, who were also pro-US and pro-oil, the current president actually gets things done. And doesn't take two terms to do it. In fact, he's getting things done in the first 18 months that past presidents have not been able to accomplish in eight years. But I digress.

So, we have oil prices rising faster than expected, for any number of reasons. We have a president in the White House who is pro-US, pro-oil, and gets things done.

But there's more.

The Trump tax cut. This is not trivial.

So, with the Trump tax cut what did pundits say we would see? Share buybacks. Increased dividends. Increased investment.

Announced today, Phillips 66 boosted its dividend by 14%; will trade ex-dividend on May 18 -- that would be tomorrow.

Wow. 14%.

From the linked article, Philips 66 is forecasted to report earnings of $8.56 per share for the next year, which is more than double compared to the Company's annualized dividend of $3.20 per share.

EOG: on a down day for the market, EOG up almost $5.00/share.

UNP: keeps moving up despite cost of energy going up.

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Whoo-Hoo

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From The Goldman Sachs Archives

In no particular order.

February 9, 2016 --

October 15, 2015 -- 

January 7, 2016 --

September 11, 2015 --

September 11, 2015 --

I do not recall WTI ever, ever, ever coming close to $200 in the past couple of years. I thought there was a non-trivial possibility that oil would hit $20. It did not.