YOLO. FOMO. Short Squeeze. Earnings. Jobless Claims. And All That Jazz -- April 15, 2021

US markets: Dow and S&P 500 close at all-time records.

Quick look:

• WTI: up slightly; closes above $63;
• pipelines:
• OKE: up 1.7%; up 88 cents; closed at $52.39; hit an-time intra-day high of $52.53;
• WMB: up 0.8%; up 19 cents; closed at $23.84; close to an all-time high;
• ENB: up 0.6%; up 22 cents; closed at $37.31; closed at a 52-week high;
• EPD: down 0.785; down 18 cents; closed at $22.96; still close to an all-time high;
• others:
• BRK-B: up 0.6%; up $1.61; closed at $269.14; hit an intra-day 52-week high of $269.28;
• AAPL: up 1.9%; up $2.47; closed at $134.50; well below its 52-week high of $145;
• WMT: up 0.6%; up 84 cents; closed at $140.16; well below its 52-week high;

Retail sales: surged. Link here. Some people think it could have been much higher -- suggesting ... well, suggesting something ...

Retail sales—a measure of purchases at stores, at restaurants and online—jumped 9.8% in March, 2021. 

The gain in consumer spending—the biggest driver of economic activity—came as the government began distributing hundreds of billions of dollars of stimulus funds to households. 

It was the largest monthly gain since last May, 2020, during the initial recovery from lockdowns early in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ten-year bond: 1.574% -- down 0.062. 

Branson, MO: "all clear" as of April 16, 2021.  

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$63.46	4/15/2021	04/15/2020	04/15/2019	04/15/2018	04/15/2017
Active Rigs	17	35	64	61	51

No new permits.

Nine permits renewed:

• BR (5): five Mazama permits all in McKenzie County;
• Enerplus (4): four permits, all in Dunn County: Gnu, Addax, Camel, and Genet;