KSU Spikes -- April 20, 2021

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KSU:

Wow, wow, wow: CN makes rival bid for KSU. 

Link here. 

KSU just spiked: up $38 /share; up 15%; now trading at almost $300.

Tea leaves: all for naught. Regulators won't let it happen. 

Big story here: again, this reminds us how incredibly brilliant Warren Buffett was when he bought BNSF lock, stock, and barrel, some years ago.

Apple: special event today. Whoo-hoo. Will stream on Safari at noon, CDT. On a down day for the market, AAPL is trading flat, down 10 cents on a $135 stock following a recent breakout.

IBM: up 4% on a down day for the market; up $5.60 / share; trending toward $140.

Fire? What, me worry? Tesla recovers nicely. Up 2.5% on a down day for the market; up $17/share; trending toward $735.

Travelers: beats 1Q21 earnings estimates. raises dividend. 

• $2.73/share vs $2.44 estimate;
• bottom line increased 4% year-over-year;
• total revenue: increased 5.1% from the year ago quarter, to $8.3 billion vs estimate of $8.2 billion;
• shareholder value: 
• the company returned $613 million in the reported quarter;
• bought back almost $400 worth of company's shares
• the board approved a $5 billion share repurchase program, in addition to the $800 million that remained from previous authorization:
• dividend: increased by 4%; to 88 cents/share;

Dividends: the tea leaves suggest we are going to start seeing dividend increases "across the board" over the next few months. 

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Oil

Are we going to see another "build" in EIA's weekly data tomorrow?

WTI drops in early morning trading the day before that data is released. 

WTI drops 2.5%; drops about $1.60/bbl and is now trading below $62 but there's nothing wrong with that. I'll take $60-oil over negative-$40-oil any day, which is where WTI was at one year ago. 

Speaking of which, could Bakken light sweet go negative if the DAPL is shut down?

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West Coast Ports

Wow, how many times have we posted this story on the blog? 

Port of Los Angeles logs busiest first quarter on record. 

Consumer spending surge as we come out of the pandemic lockdowns.

Port of Los Angeles shares the San Pedro harbor with Port of Long Beach. If it weren't for the signage, one really can't tell where one port ends and one port begins.