Notes From All Over -- Part 2 -- Alabama And Japan: Making America Great -- July 10, 2019

Sell in May, go away. Not this year. All three indices hit all-time records last week. It looks like we may see new records today. S&P 500 is less than 2 points from an all-time high and 3,000 points. Wow, wow, wow. Dow up 165 points at one point; now up about 126 points.

Later, here it is, time to go buy Sophia a new pair of shoes:

US deficit: apparently no one cares. 

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NOG:

• an interesting pure-play Bakken barometer
• acquired producing assets in last three months which accounts for increased guidance for 2Q19
• 1Q19: huge non-cash loss due to hedging, 1Q19; adjusted, earned 7 cents/share; forecast, 12 cents/share; NOG trading as high as $2.90 on April 23, 2019;
• 2Q19: most recently I've seen earnings estimates of 13 to 14 cents for NOG; NOG currently trading about $1.90/share

EPD: appears to have hit an intra-day high.

Politics, another one bites the dust: British ambassador to the US -- quits over leaked tapes.

Worthless metric: monthly automobile sales.

• Note: automobiles. The "automobiles sold" metric is meaningless. The "vehicles sold" metric is not meaningless. It's no longer about automobiles for those investing in "automobile" companies. It's now all about SUVs and pick-up trucks. If on a small truck chassis, it's very possible existing and future CAFE standards are / will be more generous for SUVs than for automobiles. 

Toyota: to build a new SUV, not a new car, at their Alabama (US) plant. Link here.

• a new sport utility vehicle at a $1.6 billion joint venture assembly plant in Alabama rather than produce Corolla cars
• announced in January 2018 would build the factory in Alabama with Mazda Motor Corp
• the shift was due to "a growing consumer appetite for light trucks and SUVs" 
• still expects to start production in 2021
• last week, the company said U.S. Corolla sales fell 5% in the first six months to 152,868, while overall Toyota car sales fell 8% 
• its U.S. SUV sales only fell 1% over the same period
• this article says Alabama is #5 among US states producing "cars and light pickups."
• this article says Alabama is #9 of ten