Notes From All Over -- Early Morning Edition -- Part 2 -- December 3, 2020

Oh-oh: it's being reported that Ford-150 sales are down 46% in November as new model rolls out, or is it, as new models roll out? Apparently prospective buyers are waiting for the e-models. LOL. Let's see what F is doing in pre-market trading: up 4 cents, trading at $9.23.  Later, from a reader. I thought this story was strange -- the best-selling vehicle in the US -- sales drop 46% -- "something needs to be going on." From a reader and I bet he's right on target. Huge thanks to the reader:I noticed the reference to F150 sales being way down and that is not surprising. 

Based on what is seen at my local dealership (WI) they do not have the inventory to sell. All summer until now they have been lucky to have a half dozen F150's on the lot and last year at this time there were 50+ at all times.

The same goes for the Chev and Ram dealers in the area, very limited inventory. You cannot sell what you do not have! The supply chain appears to be very fractured.

I've heard the same thing from my son-in-law who works for a big truck manufacturing company. They have had a devil of a time getting parts due to a "broken" supply line. 

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Working From Home

The vaccine: it's too bad this is behind a paywall; it's a great story on how Moderna/BioNTech developed the west's first Covid-19 vaccine so quickly. The link is to The WSJ. I'll post some excerpts later. But this should get your attention. This was done in Europe by two Turkish physicians living and working in Turkey and had nothing to do with WarpSpeed. From the linked article:

In January, days before the illness was first diagnosed in Europe, he used this knowledge to design a version of the vaccine on his home computer.

On his personal computer. At home. He comes up with the west's first Covid-19 vaccine. Okay.What am I missing here?

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Note: there will be more typographical and content errors than usual this morning. My spellchecker and grammerly authority, Sophia ,is sleeping in this morning. She's a bit "under-the-weather" as they say.  

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The market: 

• IBD headlines:
• stimulus deal hopes revive, helping market hold gains
• CrowdStrike leads three earnings breakouts
• Tesla rises (LOL; "rises'; it's surging)
• MarketWatch:
• investors are overlooking this one thing: major bank sets 4,000 target on S&P
• NY Times:
• one percent of PPP borrowers got over one-quarter of the loan money
• Fox Business
• November bankruptcies hit 14-year low with steep drop in personal filings
• former Zappos CEO Tony Hsiah apparently died wihtout a will; billionaire apparently couldn't afford $49 LegalZoom fee
  
• Walmart+ waiving $35 delivery fee for its members during holiday season; huge;