Notes From All Over -- Billings, MT; BLM Ratings Plummet; Jim Cramer Best Televised Trading / Investing -- July 21, 2021

First things first: Billings, MT.  -- intersection of I-25/90 and I-94.

• geographical location:
• intersection of I-25/90 and I-94
• smack dab midway between Minneapolis and Seattle/Portland 
• south-north: Albuquerque - Denver - Casper - Billings
  
• full list here;
  
• has been a story now for quite some time;
• finally, The WSJ picks up the story: Montana boomtown -- Billings -- jumps to number one on WSJ/Realtor.com Housing Market Index;
• link here;
• the index reflects how the housing boom has ignited homebuying activity in smaller to midsize cities around the U.S. 

The top 20 cities in the ranking have an average population size of just over 300,000. In the latest index rankings published on Tuesday, smaller cities dominate. 

The No. 2 metro area is Coeur d’Alene, the lakeside Idaho city that held the top position when the index premiered in April.

Fort Wayne, IN, Rapid City, SD, and Raleigh, NC, round out the top 5.

Coeur d'Alene: I go through this area at least once every year on my way to Flathead Lake, MT. Incredibly beautiful. Coeur d'Alene is more than a geographic location -- it's becoming a meme.

Rapid City: that has to be a surprise for a lot of folks but folks like me who visited Rapid City every year, and now seldom get back, would be surprised how big this city has become. Sprawling? Yes. Every farmer / rancher in eastern Montana/Wyoming, and western Dakotas have four to five kids. One stays behind to run the farm / ranch; the other four move to Rapid City. 

• Rapid City and Raleigh each jumped by about 100 spots from the previous quarter.
  

Others of note on the list:

• Portland-South Portland, MAINE: #6
• Waco, TX: #7
• Austin-Round Rock: #35
• Santa Cruz - Watsonville, CA: #45. At one time I came close to thinking about moving to this area. Sometimes I wish I had. But generally not.
  
• Salt Lake City: drops way down; now at #69; hard to believe Rapid City and Salt Lake City on same list;
• Bend-Redmond, OR: only metropolitan area in Oregon to make the top 100 list; at #87;
• Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR/WA: drops; now at #169

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BLM

BLM Finals:

• Milwaukee Bucks win in six. Decisively.
• James Harden confused; frustrated;
• ratings for game 5 plummeted; link here; also, at Breitbart: https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2021/07/20/nba-finals-game-5-ratings-crash-nearly-50-from-2019/.
  
• 2019's game 5: 18.4 million viewers
• 2021's game 5: 9.6 million viewers
• down almost 50%
• eager to see ratings for game 6;
• later: ratings
• NBA: spins the story -- best ratings ever -- in Milwaukee viewing area
• well off the 2019 numbers; link here. 
  

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Covid-19

Japan: debacle -- the 202One Olympics a $20 billion bust for Japan; link to The Wall Street Journal;

• majority of Japanese just want "it" to go away
  

NBC: worst nightmare -- after alternate female gymnast tests positive, worse nightmare for NBC -- if Ms Simone Biles were to test positive -- remember, asymptomatic or not, they are all tested daily.

Australia:

• Australia looking to maintain draconian shutdown / isolation measures
• yesterday, reports .... drum roll ... one Covid-19-related death
• link here;
• that's fine with me; in energy, Australia is a direct competitor with the US; let them shut down;

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Frothy?

Market:

• I sure hope folks took advantage of the sale we had on Monday, July 19, 2021
  
• yesterday: best day since March, 2021;
  
• pre-market trading suggests another great day today;
  
• KO: fantastic earnings;
• JNJ: beats earnings; raises full year guidance; link here;
• up 1% yesterday; futures, up another 1% today;
• Virgin Galactic got clobbered; link to Barron's; what happened; we've been writing about this for the past week;
• Apple:
• "Flexgate" class action lawsuit against Apple dismissed by California federal judge; link here;
• Airpods 3 mass production to kick off in August, 2021; link here;

James Cramer:

• for political junkies, whether you liked him or hated him, if you were a political junkie, you needed to listen to Rush Limbaugh every day;
• for traders and investors, whether you like him or hate him, traders and investors need to listen to Jim Cramer every day
• best business hour on tv: 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. CT, CNBC "Squawk something" -- extemporaneous conversation -- not scripted -- thoughtful, restrained, informative -- David Farber, James Cramer, 
• second best hour on tv, Jim Cramer's Mad Money.  
• tips
• semiconductor ship shortage quickly coming to an end
• elective surgery "is back": look at HCA
  
•  Chipotle having no trouble with "inflation