The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+65 -- May 4, 2018

CAFE standards. Why I love to blog:

• from The WSJ yesterday
• from the blog three years ago 

Unemployment

• for April, 2018, unemployment rate (U-3) drops to 3.9%; drops from 4.1% where it had been for months 
• CNBC: ho-hum -- says labor figures came in "slightly below expectations" for the second month ina  row; number of people employed increased 138,000 two months ago; increased 164,000 last month
• time to start measuring U-6 unemployment and labor force participation rate -- seriously -- we'll get back to this later

Boom: 47 states reported an increase in GDP during Trump's first full year in office; I do think this might be a record; can't wait to see the three state that failed. I assume ND would be one of the three after such a strong oil boom moving into a manufacturing state; nope, I was wrong, ND's GDP increased by 1.0%; the three:

• Kansas 
• Louisiana (that should change this year)
• Connecticut

Trans Mountain: Ottawa to "sue." Says federal government still has "some" say in how the country should be governed. LOL. This is a big deal. If British Columbia prevails, the "Supreme Court" of Canada is essentially saying that BC can go its own route (no pun intended) -- even separate from the union. That may be hyperbole; I don't think so.

AAPL: Warren buys another 75 million shares. Already owned 165.3 million. At $175/share = $175 x 240.3 = $42,052 million. Those would be American dollars, not Venezuelan Bolivars.

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 what you think you may have read here. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Disclaimer: I make a lot of simple arithmetic errors. I often see things that do not exist; I read quickly and miss important points. Sometimes it takes me days (maybe even weeks) to see where I was wrong.

Disclaimer: many of these bullets are being posted "from memory." I will come back to double-check later. Maybe.

Attention span: Americans, as a "group," have a very, very, very short attention span. The fact that the "Mueller investigation" is still the top story on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC and a dozen other networks tells me all I need to know who's behind this effort.

Kanye West: Free Speech? Not for liberals. Kanye West's music has been banned on some liberal music station. And, of course, top link: CNN.

Missiles: how many missiles did the US and its allies fire at Syria a few weeks ago? Around 120. Not one missile was taken out by Syrian/Russian defenses. Not one missed its target. One-hundred-twenty missiles against three chemical "factories" that, apparently, had been abandoned and non-operational for months, if not years. If Trump and allies were willing to launch 120 multi-million-dollar missiles on such meaningless targets, how many missiles and smart bombs do you think Kim thought Trump was ready to launch and drop on Pyongyang? Yes, I thought so.

Ford: From Bloomberg: "By not investing in next generations of any car for North America except the Mustang, the company now anticipates it’ll reach an 8 percent profit margin by 2020, two years ahead of schedule." Comment: does anyone really believe Ford's strategy is no more "cars" except for the Mustang? I don't. "Strategy" is defined as ten years out.

Ford: the company's decision to not invest in next generations of any car for North America except the Mustang was brilliant. Right now, the biggest uncertainty US automakers face: 1) US CAFE standards; and, 2) California's CAFE standards. Ford has done what it can to minimize that uncertainty by taking control. Successful CEOs minimize uncertainty. Take control.

Cognitive dissonance: at least one viewer wants Scott Adams to give reasons why Trump should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. That same viewer did not provide any justification for President Obama a) being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; and/or, b) being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Even in hindsight.