Head Fake? China Says It Hasn't "Agreed" To "The Deal" -- December 13, 2019

Head fake: prepare for market volatility.

Politics: how I learned to stop worrying and love the Dems --

• nothing has so united the GOP as this farce 
• across the board -- never-Trumper GOP reps are furious
• even some Dems are getting cold feet
• remember: most important to Pelosi: bipartisan vote, meaning at least one Republican would vote for impeachment; that may not happen; some Dems may actually vote against impeachment
• cathartic: this is really, really needed -- once and for all these attempts to get rid of a duly-elected president might come to an end; nah. But it's sort of like the last bit of ammo for the Trump haters; by Valentine's Day it's all history; Nadler's last stand;
• it certainly lessens the stain of impeachment going forward; won't mean much going forward for future presidents; red badge of courage;
• once this is all over, his Dem opponent will keep saying that President Trump was impeached; much of American will think the Dem opponent is "crazy." They will say Trump was not impeached; a lot of folks don't understand concept of impeachment
• at worse: "Hey, the president was impeached." "Yeah, and found not guilty. Just like Bill Clinton." 

North Korea: am I missing something? We haven't heard a peep out of Rocket Man in the last couple of days, and just last week he said he was preparing a "Christmas present" for president Trump.

Futures:

• WTI: trending toward $60
• Dow: could open up 100 points
• all three major indices could hit all-time highs
• no one ever seems to talk about the Russell 2000: yesterday's close -- 1,632; 52-week range, 1,654
• AAPL: pre-market trading, up another half a percent; up $1.52; could open near $273
• TSLA: could also open up another $2.62; up 0.73%; trading near $362; Jim Cramer has pretty much said, "go all in" -- that was my takeaway when I saw him "live" (on CNBC) two nights ago

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.

Continuing:

• EW: up another dollar
• OXY: up 16 cents but still well below $40; and way below $64 where it was just before announcing the Anadarko deal (if I recall correctly)
• CVX: up very, very slightly, but nice to see

Fractional shares:

I had a leisurely conversation with my Schwab broker yesterday, VP-Financial Consultant; talked about a lot of things; forgot to ask about "Robinhood" and fractional shares. Apparently Schwab will also offer that -- fractional shares. Possibly limiting it to certain stocks. But get this, link here:

Robinhood will allow customers to buy as little as one millionth of a share, with purchases rounded to the nearest penny.

One millionth of a share:

• 0.1 share: one-tenth
• 0.01 share: one-hundredth
• 0.001 share: one-thousandth
• 0.0001: one-ten-thousandth
• 0.00001: one-hundred-thousandth
• 0.000001: one-millionth

BRK-A: $338,800 / share
one-millionth of a share: 34 cents
one-ten-thousandth of a share: $34

Of course there's little reason to buy BRK-A when "B" is available. But Amazon, others.

Disclaimer: I often make simple arithmetic errors.

Gold: in the "old"  days I would buy one-ounce gold bullion. Now, one can buy 1/10th ounce at a time.