Apple Expansion; ObamaCare "Individual Mandate" Ruled Unconstitutional -- Notes From All Over, December 19, 2019

First things first: bird-watching this morning after putting out bird feed -- spotted the first woodpecker in our backyard (DFW, Texas, area). It looked like a ladder-backed woodpecker but it was too far away for me to get a photo. But this would be an unusual habitat for this particular bird. The only other likely species would be the red-bellied woodpecker but it just seemed to have a bigger red crest than what the red-bellied woodpecker had.   [Update, February 25, 2020: I am now convinced these are not ladder-backed woodpeckers in our backyard. It is very, very clear that the woodpeckers I'm watching in the DFW area have their red plumage on the back of their neck / their nape and not on the crown of their heads. This makes it most likely they are red-bellied woodpecker.]

ObamaCare: "individual mandate" ruled unconstitutional by 5th US Circuit Court Appeals in New Orleans.

Apple expansion:

• eyeing office space in Pittsburgh, New York City;
• Toronto: Apple store at Fairview Mall to nearly double in size; the new Fairview Mall store would follow in the footsteps of Apple's new Eaton Centre store in Toronto, which opened last weekend.

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The Market

Housing market "on fire." Link here. Existing home sales --

• prior: 5.460 million
• prior revised: 5.440 million
• consensus: 5.450 million
• actual: 5.350 million homes
• m/m change: -1.7%
• y/y change: 2.7%
• Narrative: Existing home sales rose strongly in October to extend a recent run that has lifted readings in this report to their best levels since early last year. For November, forecasters see a 5.450 million rate which would be little changed from October's 5.460 million. 

Jobless claims, link here:

• prior: 252K
• consensus: 221K
• actual: 234K 

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.

Market on news of the impeachment of Trump: all three indices likely to set new all-time highs, extending the Santa Claus rally. The Dow is up 60 points in early morning trading.

Early morning training:

• BA:  up half a percent; did it hit bottom earlier this week; a trading stock? pays 2.5%
• AAPL: finally turned green after opening in the red; but essentially flat;
• UNP: most interesting; opened lower; now up 50 cents; futures overnight were concerning but appears to be holding

Coal: Warren Buffett taking flak for coal plant closures. Paywall, Financial Times. Data points:

• PacifiCorp
• accelerated plans to install wind turbines, solar panels, and battery storage
• accelerating plans to retire coal-fired generators in the US west.
• Wyoming: 40% of US coal
• PacifiCorp: largest holding in Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which itself is one of the most important businesses inside Mr Buffett's famous investment company
• chairman and former CEO, Greg Abel, like successor to Mr Buffett to run BRK itself
• PacifiCorp: 
• provides power in six US states; including coastal Washington and Oregon, ban coal-fired electricity by 2025 and 2030, respectively
• PacifiCorp acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2006
• two divisions, Rocky Mountain Power and Pacific Power
• other Berkshire utilities include: NV Energy in Nevada

Noble Energy and its master-limited will voluntarily move to NASDAQ.

United Airlines: will connect tech capitals San Francisco and Dublin. I did not read the article but the company that jumps out at me with regard to this headline: Apple.