Triceratops Skull Found In North Dakota Badlands -- July 25, 2019

From the article:

A California college student majoring in biology just found something rare and special. In the badlands of North Dakota the fifth-year student from the University of California, Merced found the 65-million-year-old fossil of a partial Triceratops skull among plant fossils from the Cretaceous period.

USA Today reported that the dino skull was found in the Hell's Creek formation, which spans Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, where dinosaurs roamed anywhere from 100.5 to 23 million years ago.

Duran found the fossil with "experienced excavator" Michael Kjelland, a biology professor at Mayville State University in North Dakota.

This is pretty exciting.

See this post for dinosaur discoveries in the Bakken. It should be noted that this might be the first major Triceratops find in this area.

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If There's Any Song ... 

Galveston, Glen Campbell

Cass Freight Index -- July 25, 2019

See comment at this post regarding "the Cass Freight Index" and signs of recession later this year (2019). The reader suggests the Cass Freight Index fails to represent the oil sector satisfactorily.

I had not heard of the Cass Freight Index before. [Later: see comments. A reader sent me the link to the Cass Freight Index.] The index is posted here.

Google.

If anyone wants to weigh in on this subject, that is, the risk of recession later this year (2019) based on what the Cass Freight Index is showing, feel free to do so.

All I can say is what I posted just a few days ago regarding a recession: it seems "they've been talking about a recession being just around the corner for the past five years." We're still waiting.

Personally I'm not worried.

But I am curious. Any thoughts on the Cass Freight Index and recession worries?

How Far Is One Thousand Kilometers? -- July 25, 2019

Link here.

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The Literature Page

They say "behind every successful man is a woman."

My dad suggested that for many successful men it was "Lady Luck," which is ... a woman. LOL.

I digress.

William Shakespeare.

For many years doing well, but never had that "breakthrough moment" during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

If Shakespeare was surviving during Queen Elizabeth's reign, it was mostly due to lack of many competitors. Back in 1594 there had been only three permanent outdoor playhouses in London. Shakespeare's company, Chamberlain's Men, had few competitors, maybe only one or two other acting troupes of any note.

By 1603 it had been almost ten years since he had written a new play. He was washed out, a has-been. Life was passing him by. He was 39 years old; life expectancy, mid-40s.

Things worsened upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. It looked like Shakespeare and his group of merry men were nearing their end. The new king, King James I, banned plays on the Sabbath, which was the only real money-making day, the only day the minions had the day off from work and could attend plays.

It looked like the end.

From James Shapiro, c. 2015, p 21:

Then, suddenly, came news that profoundly altered the trajectory of Shakespeare's career: King James chose Shakespeare and his fellow players as his official company.

After May 19, 1603, Shakespeare and eight others were to be known as the King's Men, authorized to perform not only at the court and the Globe but also throughout the realm, if they wished to tour. It was more than a symbolic title; Shakespeare was now a Groom of the Chamber, and he and the other shareholders were each issued four and a half yards of red cloth for royal livery to be worn on state occasions.

Exactly how and why Shakespeare's company was elevated to the position of King's Men has never been satisfyingly explained. Their talent and reputation surely played no part. 

A valuable "go-between" is necessary to explain Shakespeare's phenomenal luck.

Shapiro comes close but never identifies the name of "Lady Luck."

Quick, to Brenda James' The Truth Will Out, c. 2005. Chapter Eight, Freedom and Disappointment, 1603 - 1608, and the history of Sir Henry Neville at this time solves the problem.

Sir Henry Neville was "Lady Luck," the valuable "go-between" that Shakespeare needed.

More on Sir Henry Neville later.

Huge Day For Big NASDAQ Tech Companies -- GOOGL, INTC, SBUX -- July 25, 2019

Earlier today:

• some big NASDAQ names reporting earnings today, including Alphabet (GOOGL); Amazon (AMZN); Intel (INTC); CMCSA; First Solar (FSLR); T-Mobile (TMUS); and, Starbucks (SBUX)
• also reporting: BAX; 

How did they all play out?

• GOOGL: jumps 9%; up $103/share; sales beat expectations; 
• AMZN: shares down about 1.5%, hardly concerning; "Amazon reports disappointing Q2 results"
• INTC: shares jump 5%; up $2.65 to trade at $54.81; beats on 2Q19 results; raises guidance
• CMCSA: shares down a percent; earnings beat; revenue light as video subscriber loss grows
• FSLR: delays report; will report August 1
• TMUS: shares down 1.5%; strong earnings trumped by silence on Sprint merger deal
• SBUX: up 6%; soars to all-time high on strong earnings
• BAX: reported earlier; shares up 1.5% today; boosts full-year outlook after topping 2Q19 estimates

Remember all the hand-wringing in anticipation of 2Q19 earnings? Hogwash.

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.

AMZN: reason for disappointing earnings? The company is making things even better for customers -- hey, that costs money. Costs associated with same-day delivery cut into earnings. Motley Fool notes that Amazon's revenue growth is accelerating. From Yahoo!Finance --

Amazon's revenue rose 20% year over year -- an acceleration from 17% growth in the first quarter. This puts Amazon's revenue growth rate back in line with growth seen in the company's fourth quarter of 2018. Revenue for the period was $63.4 billion -- at the high end of management's guidance for revenue during the period to be between $59.5 billion and $63.5 billion. 

In addition, the top-line figure was ahead of analysts' average forecast of revenue of $62.5 billion. Helping drive this growth was 37% year-over-year growth in Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue and an acceleration in the company's online stores revenue.

Online stores revenue rose 16% year over year to $31 billion. This is up from 12% growth in the first quarter of 2019.

Starbucks? Every Starbucks strategy is working.

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The Sports Page

Surfin' USA, The Beach Boys, 2012 (for Sophia in California this weekend)
A 3-song medley, BeeGees (see comments)

ONEOK Announces Additional Infrastructure -- July 25, 2019

If I can find the post from sometime earlier this week suggesting that we were about to see some announcements along this line, I will post the link.

Until then, a huge "thank you" to a reader for sending me this article. I had not seen it.

From a press release, ONEOK announces plans to expand natural gas and NGL infrastructure. Data points:

• North Dakota / Bakken / Bear Creek:
• a 200 million cfpd expansion of the Bear Creek natural gas processing facility
• Dunn County, ND
• $405 million project
• to be completed in 1Q21
• Mid-Continent NGL fractionation expansions totaling approx 65,000 bpd and additional NGL infrastructure capacity between the Elk Creek and Arbuckle II
• $150 million project
• 15,000 bpd expansion to be completed in 3Q20
• 50,000 bpd expansion to be completed 1Q21
• why? In expectation of accelerating volume growth from the Williston and Powder River basins, additional infrastructure will be constructed to increase connectivity between the Elk Creek and Arbuckle II pipelines.

More on the Bear Creek expansion:

ONEOK's Williston Basin natural gas processing capacity will increase to more than 1.6 billion cubic feet per day following the completion of the Bear Creek expansion. The expansion is expected to produce approximately 25,000 bpd of NGLs in ethane rejection, resulting in 225,000 bpd of raw feed contracted since the announcement of the Elk Creek Pipeline.

More at the link including expansion plans for the Permian.

Natural gas processing plants in North Dakota are tracked here.

At that link, there is a "Bear Creek II," 200 million cfpd, 2021 -- that may, in fact, represent this newest announcement. ONEOK calls is an expansion; ND regulators list it as a new project, co-located at existing Bear Creek I, it appears.

Call me naive, but this would suggest to me that ONEOK does not agree that the North Dakota Bakken is reaching peak production. 

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Natural Gas Records

Six New Permits By Multiple Providers -- July 25, 2019

Active rigs:

$56.02	7/25/2019	07/25/2018	07/25/2017	07/25/2016	07/25/2015
Active Rigs	58	64	60	32	73

Six new permits, #36784 - #36789, inclusive:

• Operators: Kraken Development III (3); MRO (2); Whiting
• Fields: Sanish (Mountrail); Reunion Bay (Mountrail); Foreman Butte (McKenzie)
• Comments:
• Kraken has permits for a 3-well Double Eagle pad in section 33-154-92, Sanish oil field;
• MRO has permits for a 2-well Senness / Oates pad in section 27-151-93, Reunion Bay oil field
• Whiting has a permit for a single USA Federal well in Foreman Butte, Lot 1 / section 6-150-102

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 34355, 176 (no typo), XTO, Bobcat Federal 14X-35E2, Bear Creek, t4/19; cum --;
• 35206, 1,627, Slawson, Stallion Federal 1 SLH, Big Bend, t7/19; cum --; 

Resurveyed: The Oasis A. Johnson pad in section 33-153-97, McKenzic County re-surveyed; six wells permitted for the pad.

EIA Dashboards: Bakken And Eagle Ford -- July 25, 2019

Folk are paying for research from analysts telling us that:

• the Eagle Ford is in "permanent decline"; and, 
• the Bakken is approaching peak production.

Well, duh. There's a worldwide glut of oil and WTI is barely selling at breakeven prices. What does one expect? Operators are "holding back." In addition, there are takeaway constraints in the Bakken and the really, really big problem in the Bakken is excess flaring that forces operators to hold back production.

But even worse, it appears analysts who tell us that the Eagle Ford is in "permanent decline" and the Bakken is approaching "peak production" haven't even looked at the most recent EIA dashboards:

 

EIA dashboards:

• natural gas storage 
• EIA pdf, Bakken: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/pdf/bakken.pdf
• EIA, pdf, Permian: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/pdf/permian.pdf
• EIA, pdf, Eagle Ford: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/pdf/eagleford.pdf

Screenshots today (because these are dynamic links):

Notes From All Over, Part 3 -- July 25, 2019; Another Great Jobs Report And It Won't Even Get Any Coverage

Jobs. Link here to first time unemployment claims --

• prior: 216K
• consensus: 219K
• actual: 206K
• so, first time unemployment claims drop by 10,000; consensus was for a jump of 3,000
• won't even get mainstream media coverage

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US Natural Gas

From twitter:

 
Natural gas fill rate, link here. Even with the glut of natural gas production in every oil and gas basin in the US, the country cannot keep up. Note the leveling off of the infill rate when it should be increasing:

 
From twitter today:

Notes From All Over, Part 2 -- July 25, 2019

The road to Europe isn't going to be lined with wind turbines, folks. From NewsEurope --

• with all the "stuff" that should positively affecting wind, Europe actually installed less onshore wind energy in 1H19 compared to same period last year
• 1H19: new 2.9 GW wind installed in Europe; 
• 1H18: new 3.3 GW wind installed in Europe;
• installations were particularly poor in Germany, which had its worst first half of the year since 2000
• Germany will pick up the 2H19 but as a whole will be lower than historical levels
• of all European countries, France has the most onshore installations with 523 MW
• France: 523 MW for the entire 1H19, and that was the biggest in Europe? give me a break -- in Williams County alone, one county in North Dakota --

From Geoff Simon's top ND energy stories this past week:

Work set to begin on Williams County wind far, Tradewind Energy; 300-MW Aurora Wind Farm; northeaster Williams County; up to 121 turbines spanning 44,000 acres; centered five miles northwest of Tioga; range in size from 2.0 to 4.8 MW; includes construction of a 20-mile 345 KV transmission line; will terminate at Basin Electric Power Cooperative's Tande Substation east of Tioga in Mountrail County; $385 million.

And that's on top of existing wind farms in Williams County.

From the linked NewsEurope article:

“With France, which had a good first 6 months, Spain, Norway and Sweden will now have to help pick up the slack in the second half of the year,” Tardieu said. “The EU has set a renewable energy target of 32% for 2030 and is talking about a net zero economy by 2050. The rate of installations we’ve seen so far this year won’t get us there,” he argued.

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The Wildlife Page

Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- July 25, 2019; Tesla Battery Sputtering?

Talk about a steal: reported earlier. Apple, Inc -- you know, the smart phone company -- is in talks to buy Intel's 5G modem division for $1 billion. More on this story here. But $1 billion?

• Apple: 
• market cap: $960 billion
• revenue: $260 billion
• cash: $80 billion
• INTC:
• market cap: $240 billion
• revenue: $70 billion
• cash: $12 billion
• Apple could buy Intel -- yes, the entire company -- just as easily; stranger things have happened.

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The Book Page

Wow, this turned out to be a great book. Finished it yesterday, now going back and re-reading, taking notes.

The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, James Shapiro, c. 2015.

Put me back in my Shakespeare phase which occurs about every three or four years.

Thesis:

• This was a tumultuous year for Shakespeare:
• a Scot was in his third year as King of England
• more and more talk of union with Scotland
• another religious war seemed likely (Protestants vs Catholics)
• the plague continued to be a huge problem; closed London, theaters
• Gunpowder Plot could have re-written European / British history; this was akin to US Secret Service finding small nuclear device in basement of White House put their by Russians or Chinese
• Shakespeare himself directly affected by effort to purge Catholics from England
• The only cultural artifacts created during the first decade of King James’s reign that still matter 400 years later (p. 131):
• Shakespeare’s play
• King James Version of the Bible
• Fifth of November

After several years of no production, Shakespeare all of a sudden has King Lear, Macbeth

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The Train Wrecks: Post-Mortem

Now that the train wrecks are over, it will be interesting to watch the post-mortems.

Although this had nothing to do with the Bakken -- for which I profusely apologize -- it is one of my favorite posts -- and kept me interested in blogging.

Now to watch the post-mortems. Already, Drudge has moved on. The banner this morning: Jeffrey Epstein on suicide watch. Well, duh. "Found mysteriously injured in his cell overnight."

Fox News: "distraught Dems, mainstream media turn on once-mythic Mueller after bumbling performance. What amazes me is that after weeks of preparations, working closely with Mueller, Nadler et al didn't see this coming. Here are the five big takeaways as noted by Fox;

• who really ran the investigation; obviously it was not Mueller
• Mueller continued to talk "exoneration"; even he knows that doesn't exist in US jurisprudence
• Mueller was forced to clear up confusion as to why did didn't indict Trump (Fox got this one wrong)
• Mueller lied, saying he did not meet with Trump for the job of FBI director (perhaps he did not lie; perhaps he forgot; early Alzheimer's still on the table)
• Mueller said Russian election interference is an ongoing issue that will continue in 2020 (worthy of Mad Magazine) 

With that list, I can honestly say there was only one takeaway: Mueller's legacy gone in a flash.

My five takeaways

• Mueller's legacy gone in a flash; Mueller shows signs of early dementia; couldn't answer even basic questions; quality/content of answers had hallmarks of early dementia; he won't be appearing any late-night talk shows;
• Pelosi wins; Trump wins; Nadler loses; pencil-neck loses; the latter really are as dumb as the president suggests
• rising GOP star: John Ratcliffe (any doubts? listen to his five minutes of fame "speech") 
• it's not over 'til it's over
• this isn't over

Others are now tiptoeing around Mueller and pre-senile dementia.

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Post-Mortems: Tesla

Updates

Later, 12:26 p.m. CT: link here. 

Later, 12:22 p.m. CT:

Later, 11:59 a.m. CT: from Barron's:

Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch reiterated an Outperform rating, lowering his price target to $356 from $437. We increasingly believe the success of Tesla, both medium- and long-term, is dependent on its ability to drive cost out of its battery pack and optimize range to support gross profit per vehicle and volume of sales,” Rusch wrote. Ben Kallo of Baird reiterated an Outperform rating and a $355 price target.

Comment: this is the sad little news. This is not the "1969 moon shot." This is not the "Manhattan Project." There is no silver bullet for a better, cheaper battery. There is a reason that Tesla lost money on storage this past quarter. The technology is simply not there. Batteries will not be exponentially improved; costs will not come down. Believe what you want but those are the facts. Limited range and high cost is still the rule for batteries.

Original Post

Down 14% in early-morning trading.

Headlines:

• "Tesla plunges on loss and co-founder's surprise departure"
• "Elon Musk's latest sales promises have analysts scratching their heads"
• "Tesla shares sink as Mush changes tune on profit"

From Zacks:

• earnings/revenue:
• EPS: loss of $1.12 vs estimate of 54 cents; note: before the earnings release, the estimate was 40 cents; now, that has been mysteriously changed to 54 cents; though in fairness, estimates were all over the map
• net loss: $408 million compared with year-ago net loss of $717 million -- so things are getting better
• revenues increased to $6.35 billion from $4 billion; but missed Zacks estimate of $6.38 billion
• production/deliveries:
• 2Q19: record deliveries -- 95,356 vehicles
• 2Q19: record production -- 87,048 vehicles
• surpassed previous records set in 4Q18
• total automotive revenues increased 60% year-over-year
• most interesting:
• energy generation and storage revenues decreased from $375 million to $368 million year-over-year

You know, looking at those numbers, Tesla actually did quite well.

Big takeaways:

• investors most spooked by missing numbers albeit not that big a deal
• the big news spooking investors: co-founder walking away without explanation; surprised everyone 

Gingrich:

• Mueller did not have detailed knowledge of the subject matter
• Mueller failed to answer more than 200 questions
• Mueller was frequently not familiar with citations from his own report
• on several key points, Mueller contradicted his own report and his own letters to Attorney General Barr
• laughable that Mueller could randomly assemble a hard-line anti-Trump group of Democratic prosecutors without asking their political beliefs; there was not a single pro-Trump Republican lawyer in the room
• the more I (Gingrich) watched Mueller, the more I came to the conclusion that he had been a figurehead (Rush and the rest of us figured this out in minutes; we did not have to watch hours of testimony)
• the real question: who driving the team and who was writing the report? Dirty little secret: We will never know.

Only One Well Coming Off Confidential List Today, Looks Like It Might Be A DUC -- July 25, 2019

US markets:

• yesterday, a reader noted that both the NASDAQ and the S & P 500 hit new all-time highs
• I mentioned, then (yesterday) that if one had taken BA, CAT, and AAPL out of the Dow, the Dow would have been trading up 140 points
• today, two of the three are green again; the NASDAQ is down slightly in pre-market trading
• some big NASDAQ names reporting earnings today, including Alphabet (GOOGL); Amazon (AMZN); Intel (INTC); CMCSA; First Solar (FSLR); T-Mobile (TMUS); and, Starbucks (SBUX)
• also reporting: BAX;

BAX: must have had a good report; up almost 2% in pre-market trading; let's see -- forecast 81 cents EPS; actual (adjusted), 89 cents; 

NOV: to discuss restructuring in 2Q earnings call.

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

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Back to the Bakken

From twitter this morning:

Manufacturing stage: this was forecast about four years ago, that the Bakken would be in the "manufacturing" stage at which time production would level off. Nothing to see here. The Eagle Ford in "permanent decline" is interesting. I don't follow the Eagle Ford closely enough to be able to comment.

One well coming off confidential list today -- Thursday, July 25, 2019: 43 for the month; 43 for the quarter;

• 35178, SI/NC, MRO, State Etta 44-36H, Killdeer, no production data,

Active rigs:

$56.75	7/25/2019	07/25/2018	07/25/2017	07/25/2016	07/25/2015
Active Rigs	58	64	60	32	73

RBN Energy: how rising baseload demand for gas is reshaping seasonal patterns, part 2.

After sustaining a record pace since March, natural gas storage injections have been slowing dramatically and are projected to fall below the 5-year-average rate over the next few weeks. While weather has factored heavily into the swing in storage activity, increased baseload demand for gas in the power sector has amplified the effects of weather anomalies and electricity demand seasonality on overall gas demand. As a result, gas demand volumes have diverged from historical levels on a temperature-adjusted basis. Today, we examine the changing historical relationships of power burn and storage injections to weather and electricity demand.

We started our analysis with a look at gas storage injections relative to the 5-year average and noted the large deviations this spring. Storage injections in April were 180 Bcf above the historical average for that month. The above-average injections continued in May and June but closed the gap to less than 80 Bcf above the 5-year average in May and to about 90 Bcf higher in June. The high injection rate in part can be explained away by weather, which along with record production, contributed to a particularly weak supply-demand profile in April. The weather in April warmed faster and earlier than it normally does, with national average temperatures coming in above the 10-year rolling average for most days of the month (including as much as 10 degrees above average on April 8). The result was a sharp, 17-Bcf/d month-on-month drop in residential/commercial (res/comm) demand — the 5-year-average change between March and April was about 12 Bcf/d. Power and industrial demand also fell, by 1.4 Bcf/d and 1.6 Bcf/d, respectively, for a net drop in domestic demand of about 20 Bcf/d. Then, mostly cooler-than-normal temperatures followed through May and June, when power burn for air conditioning typically ramps up, prolonging the overall bearish supply-demand balance.

Four Train Wrecks All In One Day: Mueller, Madoff, Musk Melon, And Munster -- July 25, 2019

Disclaimer: This is not an investment site. Don't make any investment, financial, job, travel, career, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you have read here.

Disclaimer: I am an avid Trump supporter. I don't take him literally, but I take him seriously.

Disclaimer: If I knew how to short stocks I would be shorting Tesla.

Two of the four train wrecks today:

• the Bob Mueller testimony; and,
• Tesla's 2Q19 earnings

I don't watch network news or business news on television any more; I haven't watched either for at least a year now. I quit listening to Scott Adams podcasts about a year ago, also. But I digress. As I was saying, I haven't listened to television business news in at least a year. I particularly avoid CNBC.

However, earlier today, about 3:39 p.m. CT, I suppose, I was watching Tesla shares plummet "live" on Yahoo!Finance and I couldn't find the actual earnings report. In desperation -- because Tesla shares were falling so fast -- I quickly turned on the television, station 43, and CNBC. Phil LeBeau was in the middle of reporting the numbers (which means that "insiders" had the information minutes before the rest of us and were dumping shares as fast as they could -- and then "the rest of us" got the news).

As long as I was watching CNBC I figured I would stick with it for about 30 minutes. It was fascinating. I don't think I've heard such unguarded talk on a business show before (except that time Jim Cramer had a meltdown). The talking heads on the 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. segment had the following comments, previously posted and posted in "real-time" as I was listening to the report:

• reporting a loss of $1.12 (consensus was for a loss of 40 cents/share)
• gross margin: 19% (second or third consecutive quarter of decline; investors hoping for 20% or better; Munster says 19% respectable considering price of Model 3)
• disaster for investors 
• revenue in line; guidance on deliveries not 
• "extreme demoralizing release from Tesla; big miss; bar pretty low; record vehicle sales; if you can't generate a profit on record high sales" -- talking head 
• CNBC: trying to reassure investors but "maximum disappointment"
• "Goldilocks" quarter and they still lost over a dollar/share
• free cash flow -- $614 million  ($136 million expected)  -- due to higher deliveries
• "Model 3: structurally unprofitable"; "S and X -- decreasing sales"
• impressed by free cash flow (but that's very temporary -- based on higher deliveries)
• interesting: CNBC hanging their hat on "free cash flow"
• and, yet, lost money on a record-setting sales quarter
• tax credit goes away completely at end of year

So, that was that. "Fast Money" came on at 4:00 p.m. and just before turning off the television, Gene Munster came on. Speaking in a professor's authoritarian manner, he said he wanted to provide some "balance" to the reporting. He made it sound like things were not as bad as 23 other talking heads were making things out to be. I honestly did not know in what universe he was living. Certainly not the same universe I or the 23 other talking heads were living in.

Then he slipped. He mentioned that he "believed" in Tesla.

Wow.

But there is much more. It is amazing what Gene Munster left out. He knows Tesla very, very well. I do not know if he was aware of "the rest of the news." This news was not reported at the time Phil LeBeau was reporting the numbers.

Tesla co-founder, the longest serving exec besides Elon Musk, is stepping down. If a reason was given, I was not able to find it. Perhaps to spend more time with his family.

But of all the news in the 2Q19 conference call, that should have been the headline: that a Tesla co-founder is stepping down. It's not hard to find the story on the internet once one knows the story, but if I had not happened to see the headline buried in the LA Times I still would not have seen it.

I wonder how many Tesla fanboys out there know that a Tesla co-founder is stepping down. It will be interesting to see if that makes headline news over at Yahoo!Finance reporting on Tesla Thursday morning, the morning after the earnings call.

I just checked. Yes, that's "the editor's pick." It will be interesting to hear what Gene Munster has to say about that little bit of news.

 Two comments about JB Straubel stepping down:

"25 other senior managers"? I believe JB Straubel is now #31.

In other news, Bernie Madoff has formally petitioned President Trump for clemency.

Wow, what an incredible 24 hours.

I'm glad I don't know how to short stocks. I'm sure I would lose bigly. Tesla will no doubt rally from here.

See disclaimers.

Cleaning Off The Desktop -- July 25, 2019

Sent to me by a reader. Undated; unlikely that both were "taken" at the same time but the point is made. My brother-in-law, who lives in southern California, will testify to the veracity of this picture:

And, Mr Berman, your point would be exactly ... what?

Pysch! On this news, WTI fell below $56.

I can't wait to see the Q&A:

"Bob, tell a bean joke. It always works for me."

10:1 rule. Take out BA, CAT, and AAPL today, and the Dow would have been trading up 140 points: