Notes From All Over -- Morning Edition -- November 30, 2020

Top story today: Chinese flu.

• huge reversal in the midwest; inexplicable:
• NFL in shambles due to Chinese flu; a Covid crisis -- WSJ;
  
• it's only gotten worse for college football
• in sudden reversal, NYC mayor opens elementary schools despite his health officials suggesting children are major source of asymptomatic spread; link at ZeroHedge but widely reported yesterday;
  

Much less brown, and where there is brown, it is lighter in color, compared to some weeks ago:

Foreshadowing: playing with his dog over the weekend, Joe Biden breaks his leg. The big question: was the dog a gift from Hillary? I was going to say the dog was no "Lassie," but I'm beginning to wonder?

Top investing story: GM says "no";

• Nikola imploding

The market: mixed at opening; now all three indices "red"

• tea leaves: profit taking -- locking in best November in years; 
• Dow drops 300 points and still above 29,600?
  
• tea leaves: market setting investors up for "Santa Claus rally"

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.

S&P Global: to buy IHS Market for $45 billion. Nice history of both companies.

Dividend stocks: "ten best" -- just for the fun of it. These "dividend" articles are dime a dozen.

Mexican Tecate beer: made by Heineken in Holland. Who knew? Wow. I'm really, really disappointed in Heineken and the mainstream press for not reporting this story for years, if the NY Post article is accurate. Wiki says the brew is made in Mexico, at least as I read it.. There must be more to the story. 

Debacle: nearly one-third of NY, NY small businesses reportedly closed -- permanently? -- in 2020. Fox Business News is reporting.

Hindsight is 20-20: going back to January, 2020. 

Apple vs Microsoft: this was in early trading -- 

Among the Dow Jones leaders, Apple (AAPL) rose 2%, while Microsoft (MSFT) moved down 1% in today's stock market. If this holds, speaks volumes about Apple's new M1 chip and Black Friday sales. 

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Flashback: SRE and Oncor

August 21, 2017, Reuters: Sempra Energy to buy Oncor for $9.45 billion in blow for Berkshire. 
March 9, 2018, press release: Sempra Energy completes acquisition of majority stake in Oncor. 

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Texas: Renewable Energy Surging

This will be America's largest solar energy project. Period. Dot. Link here. This is huge. 

When completed, the center will provide power for AT&T, Honda, McDonald’s, Google, Home Depot, and the cities of Bryan, Denton and Garland.

It's impossible to articulate how much growth there is in

• north Texas (Dallas, Ft Worth, Denton, Roanoke)
  

and, I'm assuming there is similar growth in

• south Texas (San Antonio)
• mid-Texas (Austin)
• west Texas (the Permian)
• east Texas (Houston)
• along the coast (Corpus Christi).  

Denton has really, really surprised me. When we first arrived in Texas, water polo practice and tournaments were often held in Denton. The town seemed a bit sleepy -- that was in 2013. Now, it's completely different -- expanding at breakneck speed. Yeah, they need more electricity.  

The Samson Solar Center will be located in Lamar, Red River and Franklin counties. The project involves a $1.6 billion capital investment and will support up to 600 jobs throughout the 36-month construction period.

The project is expected to benefit local economies by bringing more than $250 million in payments to landowners and supporting local communities through nearly $200 million in property-tax payments over the lifetime of the project.

Link here: https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/solar-power-booms-in-texas.

Counties of interest, Texas:

• Red county: Dallas County
• surrounding counties: Denton (Denton and part of Plano), Collin (Plano), Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson, Tarrant  (Ft Worth).
• 1  - 3: solar energy counties, Lamar, Red River, and Franklin
• 4: Bexar ("bear") County: San Antonio
• 5: Travis County (Austin)
• 6: Harris County (Houston)
• 7: Nueces County (Corpus Christi)
• 8: Midland County (Midland)
• 9: Ector County (Odessa)

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Sports

It's beyond me why Steven A. Smith celebrates boxing. Speaks volumes abut Smith. Even after a boxer is almost killed Smith still celebrates the sport. I just don't get it. Cock-fighting is illegal, but not boxing.