Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- November 14, 2019

Locator: 10001M.

First things first: Apple, Inc., was scheduled to pay its quarterly dividend today. Tim Cook owns around 900,000 shares. If so, he should receive a check for about $700,000 today. At one time, he still may be, the largest AAPL shareholder was Arthur Levinson without around 1.2 million shares of AAPL. Steve Jobs accumulated more wealth from Disney than from Apple. Whatever. How did I get on this track? Time to jump off.

Weekly EIA petroleum report: due out at 9:30 a.m. CT. Link here. API reported a slight build yesterday; my hunch today -- a huge build will be reported by EIA. LOL. I just made that up. I have no idea what the EIA will report.

The Linton-DAPL hearing as reported by Reuters. 

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

Oil quickies:

• Icahn continuing his proxy fight with OXY; CEO committed to maintaining dividend; 
• OXY forms Permian JV with Ecopetrol, data points:
• Ecopetrol: Colombia-based
• 97,000 net acres of Occidental-owned Midland Basin properties 
• Ecopetrol's first foray into the Permian
• 51-49 split 
• Baker Hughes signs long-term Saudi Arabia contracts; broke ground on its first manufacturing site in Saudi Arabia

Consider the source: OPEC's Barkindo -- "shale producers are concerned that their slowdown is becoming a 'fast deceleration'" -- CNBC -- November 13, 2019. That's very, very possible but I sure wouldn't consider OPEC my best source on this. Nor CNBC. And when CNBC leads with rig count I know they do not understand tight oil. Later: now we get this, corroborating my initial thoughts --

Market: this market just refuses to retreat. Day after day of record highs, and even today, no sign of major pullback At least not yet. Well, there we go. When I wasn't looking the Dow just moved into the green.

• AAPL: down two cents;
• SRE: down a penny;
• D: up 37 cents; 52-week high was $83.73
• UNP: up 35 cents; now at $175.89; 52-week high was $180.54
• EW: down one percent
• BAX: down 16 cents

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The Movie Page

TCM -- Turner Classic Movies -- channel 68 here in the DFW (TX) metropolitan area -- has done it again. The line-up is obviously very, very well planned out.

Yesterday, the US House opened televised "witch hunt" proceedings -- just after Halloween -- so coincidental. I can't think of a better movie than Dr Strangelove to show at this time, and guess what, in prime time last night: Dr Strangelove. I have never watched the whole movie straight through. I do think the oft-seen trailer with Slim Pickens riding a nuclear bomb ruined an otherwise incredible movie. Without question, George Patton aka George C. Scott, was over the top. He should have won Best Actor that year. 1965 -- Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady -- won. At the time, the movie was seen by many as a "pinko" movie -- their words, not mine. But after seeing it again last night, it was all about the characters and writing. The plot hardly mattered. It easily could be seen as a Coen Bros film.

One digression: the scenes inside/outside the B-52 really were quite good. I particularly enjoyed the scene arming the bomb; compare that with the switchology in Apollo 13. 

But watching this movie in context with the Trump witch trials is / was priceless.

By the way, the other day I was talking with my wife about AFI's top 100 films vs the films that seem to be household names -- movies that come up in conversation more often than others. For example:

• Casablanca, Mary Poppins, Dr Zhivago, Gone With The Wind. 

On the other hand, some movies on the AFI list and some movies not on the list that people seem not to mention much but are incredibly good: 

• Lawrence of Arabia; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Patton come to mind.

I personally think Tinker, Tailor is the best movie ever.

So, what distinguishes the movies on that first list (names that come up often in household conversations) and those on the second list (movies not talked about much in casual conversation)?

Answer: a strong female lead. Quick, name an actress in Lawrence of Arabia. In Tinker, Tailor (yes, there was one). In Patton.

Even AFI's #1, Citizen Kane. I don't associate a strong female lead with that movie. But then again, I've never seen it.

And we move on.