Mass Transit Is Dead -- August 19, 2020

AAPL:

• market cap: $1.991 trillion
• outstanding shares: 4.28 billion
• AAPL: $2/share below $2 trillion milestone
• later, 10:13 a.m. EDT: AAPL at $467.20 for the intraday high; now at $1.996 trillion market cap
• appears to need to hit $467.2897 to get to $2 trillion market cap 
• if it did indeed hit $467.20, that was less than a dime below "target"
  

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.

Re-posting: shortest bear market for the S&P in history. 

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Mass Transit Is Done

Updates

August 19, 2020: from The Chicago Tribune --

As the pandemic persists and people stay home in droves, [Chicago's] Metra is falling further behind its revenue schedule.

The Chicago area’s commuter rail system upped its projected two-year budget deficit to $682.5 million at a virtual monthly board meeting Wednesday, and warned that it will have to start cutting costs more aggressively without additional federal aid like the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed in March.

Metra, which operates 11 rail lines across six counties, has seen ridership plunge to about 10% of its pre-COVID-19 level, as remote working and school remain the norm for many commuters. Train cars are still “largely empty” despite cutting daily service by more than half, Farmer said.

Metra’s annual operating budget is funded equally by ridership fares and a regional sales tax. It is getting about $480 million in federal CARES Act funding, leaving a projected $200 million revenue gap through the end of 2021.

Metra has twice increased the projected revenue shortfall since April, as more optimistic pandemic reopening scenarios fall by the wayside. The rail system is looking to reach 30% of normal ridership levels by the end of the year, but that recovery schedule is in doubt.

Original Post

Mass transit is done. That's been a constant them on the blog. Now this, link here.  

Herd immunity? A third of folks tested in Bronx have coronavirus antibodies, the WSJ.

Fast and furious:

• S&P 500 hits all-time record; first record since the pandemic started; link here. And, here, WSJ.
• Walmart flexes its scale to power through pandemic; link here;
• e-commerce business jumped 97% from a year ago, boosted by people ordering groceries online to pick up at store parking lots;
• pandemic: those that sold groceries won, and won big: Costco, Target, Walmart
• concertina wire being added to "the Wall." Have you noticed: no DNC talk about tearing down the wall; did Beto talk at the DNC convention?
• Lowes stellar quarter; now reporting: Ace Hardware reports record results; record 2Q revenue; up 35% over same quarter last year; huge;
  

Apple, Inc:

• ATT offering 64GB iPhone 11 for 50% off; need to add new line; new and current customers;
  
• Notre Dame and UNC: reverse course; pandemic; think Apple;
• Apple expands independent repair provider program; huge; many story lines here;
• Tim Cook listening to Apple consumers
•  local Apple stores unable to keep up with demand;
• people "anxious" about mailing hardware back to Apple
  
• one wonders if Tim Cook wants to cut down on this type of foot traffic at Apple stores; probably not -- that foot traffic probably leads to more sales
  
• Apple music on steroids; renames "Beats 1" to "Apple Music 1"; launches two more radio stations;
• Apple Oakridge Centre, Vancouver, BC, set to close for up to four years; link here;
  
• major redevelopment;
• will be replaced entirely; will move to an all-new redesigned space
• key word: flagship
• Apple appears to be significantly expanding its presence in BC; it addition to the two replacement flagship stores, last year it was reported that Apple intends to open a major new office facility in Vancouver
• one word: Chinese
  

Market, opening:

• Dow: up almost 40 points;
• S&P 500: opens at new all-time record; opens up 4 points; at 3,394;
• NASDAQ: up 6 points, but moving quickly;
  
• UNP: up about half a percent after yesterday's profit-taking;
• IMUX: down slightly;
• AAPL: up slightly; moments later -- AAPL just spiked -- up almost $4.00; up about 3/4ths of a percent
• JNJ: flat;
• Gilead: down 3%; FDA blocks Gilead's would-be blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug filgotinib over toxicity concerns;
  
• think housebuilding sentiment; who will move all that "home-building" stuff?

Re-posting:

Homebuilder sentiment: jumps to record high. Highest in 35-year history; matches record set in 1998. 

Builder confidence in the newly built, single-family home market jumped 6 points to 78 in August on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Anything above 50 is considered positive sentiment.

The index is now at the highest level in the 35-year history of the monthly series and matches the record set in December 1998. Builder sentiment plunged to 30 in April, when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the U.S. economy, but it recovered quickly as consumers suddenly sought more space in less urban areas.