Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- November 13, 2019

First things first: AAPL went ex-div last week. Will pay tomorrow, November 14, 2019.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, career, travel, job, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Politics: I believe I read last night/early this morning, while statistically within the margin of error, Buttigieg now leads in Iowa. Monmouth poll, 10/25 - 11/11:

• Buttigieg: 22%
• Pocahontas: 18%
• Biden: 19%
• Sanders: 13%
• One wonders if Iowans finally decided they like their private medical insurance.

Hillary: Buttigieg's surge could be "moment of truth" for Hillary. She said yesterday that "many, many people" are asking her to run (again). It is noteworthy that every time there's "movement" in the DNC primary, Hillary has a press release disguised as a news story ready to go. Dates to watch:

• March 3, 2020: Super Tuesday -- California is the key; Super Tuesday accounts for about 40 percent of total delegate allocation. Other states favorable for Hillary on Super Tuesday and later in March: Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, Washington, Arizona. 
• March 17: Arizona, Florida, Illinois -- if one candidate sweeps these three states, there will be immense pressure on the other andidates to exit the race 
• April 7: Wisconsin
• April 28, 2020: New York, CT, DE, MD, PA, RI -- "the NY primaries may be the last big delegate day of the race. if one candidate dominates every state late in the primary, party leaders will likely move to get behind that person and seek to bring the race to an end." -- NY Times

From twitter this morning:

• Chevron will exit its 45% stake in its Philippines' offshore play, further scaling back its presence overseas
• Beijing verbally told all regional customs authorities to suspend coal imports; the country's receipts appear set to exceed the limit set for 2019
• IEA cut its forecast for EU natural gas demand for 2040 by 22 billion cubic meters, with the EU bloc also to become increasingly import dependent as domestic output plunges -- actually, with the closure of the Groningen field, it won't take until 2040 for EU's natural gas production to plummet;
• Trump's speech yesterday? pretty much a nothing-burger

Disney: if you want to see how Bob Igor is monetizing the Disney name, visit your local Barnes and Noble and visit the children's display for "Frozen 2." I mentioned the other day that DIS was the new momentum stock. There are others.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, career, travel, job, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.