Notes From All Over -- Part 1 -- July 10, 2019

Allies: both the UK and Egypt have each "detained" an Iranian crude oil tanker, one tanker going through the Strait of Gibralter, the other going through the Suez Canal.

FWIW: yesterday the story was that "the poor global economy" and "increasingly weak demand" was capping oil prices. Today, WTI jumps 2.2%, up $1.29, and trading at $59.12 (WTI). There was a note on twitter that the Fed chairman hinted he was "open" to a rate cut. I did not know he had already spoken, but that was on twitter so it had to have been true.

The market: overnight, futures were negative -- after three days of losses in the US equity market. But apparently the twitter note was accurate: the Fed chairman wants to keep his job; says he is open to a rate cut; and, the market is up (futures).

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S&P 500: it's likely that we will see 3,000 before the end of September. The S&P closed just six points below 3,000 last week; today it is about 11 points below that "magic number."

NOG: one generally doesn't see these small companies trading before the market opens, but NOG is up 2 cents in pre-market trading; JAG is not yet trading. Let's see what CVX is doing -- with two days of good news: hmmm, not trading yet (7:58 a.m. CT). Later: I see JAG is off to a great start, up almost 3%; NOG up 2%; CVX up 1.6%. I guess all that talk yesterday about a global slowing economy was based on "news releases" sent out by sell-side analysts. WTI right now (8:46 a.m. CT): continues to creep upward, now at $59.44.

Politics: if it's true that Senator Susan Collins rejected a fellow GOP senator's offer to boot Brett Kavanaugh, it speaks volumes about Ms Collins. A patriot. Someone with some integrity.

Gold: geee -- just the other day I was told gold was overbought and time to sell -- LOL --

Lessons learned: one thing I've learned through the "milliondollarway" blog, there are buy-side analysts and sell-side analysts, and for each facts don't really matter. Small movements in commodities one way or the other can mean big bucks for both groups of analysts. Meanwhile, I'm content with my "buy and hold" philosophy, and sticking to my plan.