Five Minutes-- Fast And Furious -- September 16, 2020

Anticipation: weekly EIA report out at 9:30 a.m. today. Link here.

Slow, slow news day. Sorry.

Not transparent: The Bismarck Tribune used to post, almost daily, on twitter, North Dakota deaths associated with coronavirus. After we began posting "something screwy going on in Fargo," those updates have disappeared. Apparently, the data didn't fit the narrative. The surge in deaths in North Dakota is in Fargo, not in the Bakken.

Talk about a blow-out report yesterday. No, not the Apple presentation, the Director's Cut. North Dakota production up 16% month-over-month; rig count drops over 9% month-over-month.

Wells are coming back on line: Williston Herald.

Iran, oil revenue, radiofarda:

• 2011: $120 billion
• 2019: "just over $20 billion" due to Trump's sanctions
• a hopin' and aprayin' for a Harris-Biden win
  

Manhattan: number of empty apartments -- record plunge in August -- from ZeroHedge.

Holy mackerel: analysts expected a reading of 6 -- instead 13.3 points. Link here. And here.

The New York Fed’s Empire State business conditions index rose 13.3 points to 17 in September, the regional Fed bank said Tuesday. Economists had expected a reading of 6, according to a survey by Econoday. The gain reverses a 14 point decline in the prior month. This is the third consecutive positive reading in the index. Any reading above zero indicates improving conditions. The new-orders index climbed 8.8 points to 7.1 in September while shipments rose 7.4 points to 14.1.

Recovery occurring faster than "we" thought: Steve Liesman -- CNBC.

Today's retail spending numbers not as good as forecast. Correlates with end of federal "stimulus" checks.

Say what? Bubba Wallace -- after all that support and exposure says he won't be returning to Richard Petty Motorsports -- RPM -- next year (2021). New driver for car 43 not yet announced. Unless I missed it, the article did not say where Bubba was headed. One reader suggested: Uber. If you recall, RPM had offered partial ownership to Bubba Wallace back in August.

The FedEx story is incredible. Expects record-after-record leading up to and through the holiday season. Stock surges. 

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. 

Facebook: how does Facebook get broken up? This story will pass, too. Jim Cramer has it right. For "small business," best bang for the buck: Facebook.