Notes From All Over -- Clearing Out The In-Box -- The Later Evening Edition -- January 27, 2021

I'm not checking the market until next week ... at least not on purpose. It's hard to avoid the market entirely but I will do my best. There's just too much craziness going on. I might check on GME. I don't want to miss the house of cards crashing. If not: "Houston, we have a problem."

Some random thoughts. 

First, something completely off-topic but lost in all the clutter of GME and AAPL today. 

Hinkley Point C. First two links : here and here.  

How did "we" miss this? From wiki:

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is a project to construct a 3,200 MWe nuclear power station with two EPR reactors in Somerset, England. 

The site was one of eight announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 a nuclear site licence was granted. On 28 July 2016 the EDF board approved the project, and on 15 September 2016 the UK government approved the project with some safeguards for the investment. 

As of October 2020, Hinkley is the only one of the eight designated sites to have commenced construction. 

Items of note:

• 2010: the Bakken was just reaching its stride
• UK was closing its coal plants and replacing them with nuclear plants, though windmills were getting all the attention
• ten years later: this is the first of eight and it is still under construction
  
• anticipated price: £20.3 billion
• anticipated completion date: 2025
  

Now this from The [London] Guardian: behind schedule and running over budget. LOL.

• project delayed
• delay will likely add another half-billion pounds to the total cost
• could delay start date by another six months
• reason for delay? Covid-19 (see linked article for explanation)
• launch is now anticipated for summer of 2026
• number of workers limited on site due to physical-distancing requirements: 5,000
• holy mackerel: limited to 5,000 workers at any one time!
• this is the second major cost increase for Hinkley in under two years
• back in 2019 -- well before Covid-19 -- EDF Energy said that delays would increase the cost of the nuclear plant by £2.9 billion
• so, now we're up to almost £4 billion in increased costs for a £20 billion project (my figures)
• the Guardian's figures: costs have risen by £5 billion in the last five years; it will cost almost double the amount to build as first thought in 2008, and it will begin generating electricity almost a decade later than the original start date of Christmas, 2017
• thank goodness for global warming; the Brits would be freezing by now
• interestingly enough: none of this extra cost is carried by British taxpayers. The rising cost of the project will be shouldered by EDF Energy, which agreed to a guaranteed price of £92.50 for every megawatt-hour of electricity produced by HPC. That price remains unchanged by the delays.

Much more at the link. My hunch is that most folks can see what's going on.

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Miscellaneous

Mergers, acquisitions: I was once told that when there were mergers and/or acquisitions, it was not uncommon to find one or both of the companies involved in a bit of financial trouble. Obviously that's not always true, but it must be considered.

Apologists for Tesla were falling all over themselves today trying to find/report the silver linings in Tesla's cloudy 1Q21 earnings report today. Remember, the P/E of Tesla is approaching 1,700, and "everyone" says Apple's P/E of 40 is way too high (whereas Microsoft's P/E of 37 is just fine). I think it was Jay Powell, by the way, who recently said that valuations no longer matter, at least not during the pandemic, which by executive order, government employees can no longer call "Chinese flu," which to the best of my knowledge, was never a real problem in the first place. Wow, what a digression.

Where was I? Oh, yes, mergers and acquisitions. Lost in the clutter of today's hysteria: 

A google search this evening did not reveal anything. 

EV manufacturers have two problems

• acceptance by the general public;
• competition from each other (circular firing squads)

This popped up in my e-mail earlier this week, link here:

The study based on 155 in-market consumers was published last week and concluded that three in five consumers found the F-150 pickup truck appealing — which Cox attributed to familiarity. 

The respondents were shown images of each vehicle, without brand and model indicators and minus product details. 

Curbside appeal: Ford was popular among those surveyed in terms of appeal, winning over 59% of the respondents. General Motors Company GM 5.14% Hummer Electric Vehicle took second place at 41%. 

Amazon.com, Inc and Ford-backed Rivian came ahead of Tesla at 39%. 

The Elon Musk-led automaker’s Cybertruck came in at the last spot at 19%. 

Willing to consider: In terms of consideration, Ford led the pack at 45%, with three-quarters of respondents likely to consider the vehicle. Tesla came in second at 32%, Hummer at 28%, and Rivian at 25%. 

“Tesla and Rivian R1T scored well with younger buyers, and Rivian performed well among female buyers as well,” said Vanessa Ton, senior manager, Cox Automotive. 

The non-traditional look of the Tesla Cybertruck didn't impress potential buyers, according to the study. 

Price, performance, design, and size matter the most to potential EV truck customers, while the brand name and work use were the least important. [I think "price" was listed first for a reason.]

“Ford leads in every attribute except tech advanced, where Hummer and Rivian are nearly tied for the lead,” according to Cox Automotive.

This is pretty interesting. A long, long time ago I posted a note suggesting that most folks buying a pickup truck are not buying them to haul things or tow things. 

Note above, repeating, the important part in red in case it was missed the first time:

Price, performance, design, and size matter the most to potential EV truck customerswhile the brand name and work use were the least important.

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Today's Market Action

Wow, talk about excitement when the market dropped 600 points today. 

This is what the 600-point plunge looked like to some:

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Microsoft

Has anyone noticed no one sues Microsoft for stealing any patented innovations? Apple? Gets sued all the time. LOL. Racial equity and justice initiative. 

By the way, this is huge and I would not have known about it except for the fact my high school granddaughters told me this was a "big deal" in their government classes: "equity, equitable, and equality" all have very different meanings. I thought about that when I saw Apple using "racial equity" rather than "racial equality." 

Whatever. 

Whatever I think of Apple, every time I hear / see the word "Microsoft," I see this graphic:

Notes From All Over -- The Early Evening Edition -- January 27, 2021

Wow, what an incredible treat. After an incredibly busy day, TCM is airing the second episode in The Thin Man series, After The Thin Man (1936). What a great way to begin the evening. And, of all things, Jimmy Stewart is in this movie. Who would have guessed? By the way, last night Cary Grant was in a 1933 movie -- I forget the name right now -- who knew that Cary Grant was in a movie back in 1933?! I did not know he was that "old." It turns out he was born in 1904, so he was 29 years old at the time. And that was his second movie. 

Ah, there it is: I'm No Angel with Mae West, and Cary Grant, 1933.

Of all things, Cary Grant also played the mock turtle in Alice in Wonderland in the same year (1933).

Anyway, a huge day. A very busy, busy day. I won't look at the market futures tonight, and am not yet sure what I will watch tomorrow. If I tune into CNBC the only show I will watch will be Melissa's Fast Money. During periods of such volatility I often stay away from the market if at all possible. 

But, wow, what a great mood. Apple is just incredible. So much to say, but I might save that for later or simply let the analysts and experts carry the day. 

I mentioned Apple increased its dividend. So did Canadian Pacific Railway. With all the pipeline issues, is it surprising to see CP increasing its dividend? Its new dividend is 74.36 cents/share but it's still paying only 0.9%. Norfolk Southern also increased its dividend (did I already post that?) to ninety-nine cents.

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.  

Among everything else I received today, I also received a great note from Vern Whitten. 

Teddy Roosevelt -  perhaps his most famous and inspirational quote.

 

For many years, my dad carried a tattered copy of this in his wallet. He was inspired by it, as am I. Recently, I printed this artistic version on heavyweight canvas and plan to offer them online.

For graduation, inspiration, and accomplishments, these make classy and unique gifts. If you'd like some, please let me know, and I will give you more details.

 Here's a screenshot of the Roosevelt quote and canvas:

Apparently Mr Whitten has had a number of folks interested in a hard copy of this and sent a copy my way to put on the blog in case anyone else might be interested. 

If interested please contact Vern Whitten: 

• Vern Whitten Photography
• www.vernhittenphotography.com
• (701) 261-7658

I have no financial / monetary / fiduciary relationship with Mr Whitten. He has simply provided a large  number of incredible aerial photographs of the Bakken for posting on the blog over the past decade. Apparently he has quite a following. 

I'm sure Mr Whitten would love to hear from you. Check out his website -- you will see a huge number of wonderful aerial photographs of North Dakota and Minnesota.

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A Reward For Reading This Far

Enerplus With Seven New Permits Inside The Reservation -- The Whale Pad -- January 27, 2021

Canadian oil: I don't care for the source and I didn't read the article very closely but I'll post the link now and then come back to this. This is the most important takeaway from the article based on a quick read:

Sure, the Trans-Mountain expansion may still happen, despite strong opposition. But, as Bloomberg’s Julian lee noted in a recent column, even if in four years Biden is replaced by a pipeline-friendly president, it would be too late. 

The ironic twist is that consensus among analysts has it that the United States will continue to need millions of barrels of Canadian oil during these four years, despite the strong green energy agenda of the new administration. 

The question for Alberta’s oil industry is pretty simple: should they soldier on, pump more oil, and pay more to ship it south by rail, always risking a derailment that could lead to a curb in this export option, too, or should they maybe diversify?

The US still needs heavy oil, not much, but some. There are three sources:

• Mexico: declining
• Canada: doesn't know what it's doing
• Saudi Arabia: watching (and excited)

Quick: tell me what "NEOM" is -- there was just an incredibly irritating commercial for "NEOM" on "Fast Money." Yes, I know the answer. Curious if anyone else does and wondering why NEOM is advertising on "Fast Money." It's a very, very slick commercial that will play well to soccer moms but not to savvy investors.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs, MRO now has four active rigs in North Dakota:

$52.85	1/27/2021	01/27/2020	01/27/2019	01/27/2018	01/27/2017
Active Rigs	13	55	65	57	38

Seven new permits, #38091 - #38097, inclusive --

• Operator: Enerplus
• Field: McGregory Buttes (on the reservation)
  
• Comments: Enerplus has for seven whale pad wells in SENE/NESE 5-148-93,
• 38091: SENE 5-148-93, 2170 FNL 291 FEL, Three Forks, B1;
  
• 38092: SENE 5-148-93, 2205 FNL 291 FEL, middle Bakken,
  
• 38093: SENE 5-148-93, 2240 FNL 291 FEL, middle Bakken,
• 38094: SENE 5-148-93, 2275 FNL 291 FEL, Three Forks, B1;
• 38095: NESE 5-148-93, 2611 FSL 291 FEL, middle Bakken,
• 38096: NESE 5-148-93, 2576 FSL 291 FEL, Three Forks, B1;
• 38097: NESE 5-148-93, 2541 FSL 291 FEL, middle Bakken,

All horizontals will be running from the east to the west, on 1280-acre spacing.

Note: in a long note like this there will be content and typographical errors. In addition, I often misread file reports. If this information is important to you go to the source.

If that is accurate, there are two wells of interest, both running west to east in the same drilling unit:

• 21751, 770, Enerplus, Humpback 148-93-06B-05-4H TF, McGregory Buttes, t8/12; cum 247K 11/20;
• 21752, 656, Enerplus, Beluga 148-93-06B-05-3H, McGregory Buttes, t2/13; cum 232K 11/20;

Four permits renewed:

• Lime Rock Resources (2): two Garfield permits in Mountrail County;
• Resource Energy Can-Am: a Marauder permit in Divide County;
• Whiting: one Lapica permit in Mountrail County

Apple -- AAPL -- Finally Increases Its Dividend -- Racial Equity And Justice Initiative Reason For Apple's Incredible Results -- January 27, 2021

New dividend: 20.5 cents/share, payable February 8, 2021, to holders of record February 11, 2021 (sic). I doubt the "pay date" is after the "record date" but with Apple it appears anything is possible. [Later: as surmised, it was a typo at the source. The NASDAQ.com site has it correct: the date of record is February 8, 2021, with a pay date on February 11, 2021.

Tim Cook cites "Racial Equity and Justice Initiative" as key to record results. As well as ... nope, it was just due to "racial equity and justice," apparently something Apple was not doing under Steve Jobs. 

I could be wrong, but ....

• revenue: $111.44 billion vs $103.12 billion ... if this is the pandemic, long live the pandemic ...
• quarterly profit of $28.8 billion ... if this is the pandemic, long live the pandemic ... 
  
• EPS: $1.68 vs $1.42 ... if this is the pandemic, long live the pandemic ....
• iPhone revenue: $64.68 billion vs $60.33 billion ... if this is the pandemic, long live the pandemic ...
• service revenue: $15.76 billion vs $14.89 billion ... if this is the pandemic, long live the pandemic ...

The stock was down 1% following the announcement. LOL. GameStop (GME) was up 140%. [Later: AAPL fell another two to three percent after hours.]

Link here.

I was wrong. I thought AAPL would move $15 dollars after the announcement. I just didn't know which direction. 

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.   

With regard to the quarterly revenue results they had to re-draw the graph, extend the "y" axis. LOL. Apparently this is only the second time in history that any company has reported quarterly revenues in excess of $100 million, and that was Walmart. More remarkable was the fact that Apple did this with margins approaching 40%.

MacRumors link here. Data points:

• gross margin: 39.8% compared to 38.4% a year ago (of all the numbers, this is the most important number after the "big" numbers
• international sales: 64% of total revenue
  

I can't wait to read the social media comments from Samsung employees and Apple haters. LOL. Typical comments:

• no excuse not to fix the bugs in their software
• this is what happens when you don't include a phone charger

Unless I missed it, MacRumors failed to mention the importance of racial equity and justice initiative. 

More links as Bloomberg, Forbes, Reuters catch up. I'm mostly interested in more information on how the racial equity and justice initiative pushed Apple's recover revenue to over $110 billion. 

Adjectives and adverbs used in headlines:

• Apple reports record-breaking 1Q21 earnings ...
• Apple demolished 1Q21 earnings estimates ...
• Apple smashes 1Q21 earnings forecast on surging China sales ...
• Apple's iPhone 12 delivered a record $111.4 billion quarter ...
• A ridiculously good quarter ...
• An extraordinary good quarter ...
• The bar was set high ... jumped over the bar ...
  

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Fast Money On CNBC

The panelists blamed this all on GameStock. That may be but the actual turn in the market happened immediately after the Fed's chairman Jay Powell spoke. 

Let's see how long it takes any of the panelists to mention Jay Powell and the Fed.

At eight minutes into the program, the Fed has not been mentioned. 

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. 

First outside analyst: "buying opportunity."

Twenty-two minutes into "Fast Money": still no word about Jay Powell. The host came close mentioning at twenty one minutes into the program that the ten-year Treasury actually dropped today, coming closer to 1% again.

Cheap money. 

I didn't see the full two hours of "Fast Money" today (the second hour due to the fact Jim Cramer is on vacation) so it's possible Jay Powell's comments were mentioned but if so, I missed it.

During broadcast it was mentioned that the server driving GME banned the Reddit stream that was driving GME down but not for "financial comments" but due to "hate speech." Shortly after that ban was announced, GME dropped 25%.

"I Have Not Met With President Biden Yet" -- Jay Powell -- January 27, 2021

That was the only good thing Jay Powell said. LOL.

I see Steve Liesman, CNBC, is all grins and smiles. I'm not listening to CNBC. It's on mute while Sophia is on Webex and "at school." 

"I have not met with President Biden yet" was on the CNBC crawler. I guess CNBC thought, also, that was the only worthwhile thing Powell had to say.

Before Jay Powell spoke, the Dow was paring back its losses and trending in a good direction, down "only" 350 points.

After Jay Powell spoke, the Dow plunged, dropping almost 600 points, and trending in a bad direction.

I didn't hear his speech but I saw the crawler and it's pretty obvious Powell and I are watching the same movie: the Covid-19 "thing" isn't going away any time soon. And the executive and legislative branches have exactly the wrong ideas on how to respond to the challenge.

As noted earlier, I will post the CDC vaccination rollout numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays. Yesterday's numbers were not particularly encouraging, and I'm a very, very optimistic person by nature.

The ten-year Treasury is down two basis points and barely above 1% -- that's the number that brought on all the hand-wringing two weeks ago. 

The Dow is trending toward a thousand-point loss; meanwhile GME is up 130%, up almost 200 points and trading at 339. 

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.

EIA's Weekly Petroleum Report -- January 27, 2021

Link here. 

Weekly EIA petroleum report:

• US crude oil inventories dropped by a whopping 9.9 million bbls;
• US crude oil in storage now stands at 476.7 million bbls, about 5% above the five-year average for this time of the year;
• US crude oil imports little unchanged; about 5.1 million bbls per day last week, decreasing by 1.0 million bpd from the previous week
• refiners are operating at a pretty decent (considering all the headwinds) 81.7% capacity;
• distillate fuel inventories decreased by 0.8 million bbls; about 8% above their five-year average;
• jet fuel supplied was down 28.2% compared with same four-week period last year; 

Despite the good numbers, WTI is flat, trading at $52.79. [Later: see first comment. This statement not needed. LOL.]

Did We Mention That Trump Single-Handedly Eradicated Seasonal Flu This Year? -- January 27, 2021

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Webex Attire

As mentioned earlier I will be meeting with "my" broker later this afternoon on Webex. I am debating which "look" is the better (photos by Sophia):

By the way:

The patriot cowboy hat was about $9.99 from Walmart some years ago for a Halloween party.

The straw hat was $5.99 at a service station in New Mexico on my way to a family wedding in Tucson, Arizona. One of my best buys ever.

GME: A $4-Stock A Year Ago Is Up 140% Today; Up $210 Today; Trading At $360 -- January 27, 2021

GME was trading at $3.50 / share on March 1, 2020, less than a year ago.

Right now, GME is trading at $351.

Up $205 dollars so far today.

Up 140% so far today. 

Fascinating. 

Bottom line: little guys outsmarting the hedge funds. 

Some say it could go into the thousands. Bottom line: 98% of all outstanding shares were shorted a week ago. Now those holding borrowed shares (the shorted shares) can't find shares to buy to close out their positions.

No Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today -- January 27, 2020

Oh, oh: last week I said the "tipping point" was the UAL earnings report and the comments / guidance by the CEO. Today: Southwest Airlines makes new voluntary leave offer to cut costs. The reason this is newsworthy and very, very scary: LUV was the single airline doing all it could to "protect" its employees. This is not good. 

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. 

Oh, oh: new administration to ban new leasing permits on federal lands, waters for one year. Does anyone know if the Missouri River / Lake Sakakawea is federal or Amerindian sovereign. If the former, not good news for the Bakken. Even if one acre in a 1280-acre drilling unit is in federal waters, the drilling unit is "dead." My hunch: NDIC will allow drilling units with some very strange acreage, such as a 1145-acre drilling unit to make sure the drilling unit is only BLM and not federal waters. I don't know. Just thinking out loud. 

Oh, oh: new administration to ban new leasing permits on federal lands, waters for one year. Not to worry. That's the least of our problems for the next four years.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$52.99	1/27/2021	01/27/2020	01/27/2019	01/27/2018	01/27/2017
Active Rigs	12	55	65	57	38

No wells coming off the confidential list today.

RBN Energy: US propane prices spike, then ricochet. What's next in 2021?

Things move fast in today’s propane market. Two weeks ago, Mont Belvieu propane was going for almost 95 cents/gal, up 86% from the mid-November price of only 51 c/gal. Midcontinent propane assessed in Conway, KS, spiked even higher, doubling over the same time frame to more than a dollar per gallon. But last week some air came out of the balloon, with Mont Belvieu and Conway prices pulling back to the low 80s.

That didn’t last long either. This week, Mont Belvieu is back up to the high 80s c/gal. What gives? Is the market simply being bounced around by vacillating weather forecasts? Or is there more to it than that? Could it be that we are seeing symptoms of an export-driven transformation that is making propane markets behave quite different than they have in the past? Today, we’ll consider these questions and where the propane market may be headed in 2021 and beyond.

Game On! Why I Love To Blog -- Reason #38 -- January 27, 2021

Called it! Less than a week I called it. The tipping point: the UAL earnings report and comments/guidance by its CEO. 

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. 

Boeing: oh-oh.

Down: down almost 500 points at the opening; now Down only 350 points.

GME: absolutely fascinating. Up 112% again today. Up $170, trading at $318. This is fascinating. The little guys are out to destroy a couple of (or more) hedge funds. What's happening? Hedge funds that borrowed shares of GME can't find any shares of GME to buy so they can close their positions. This little company which was apparently about to go under last week is now worth almost $22 billion in market cap. Headquarters located just up the road from where I live along a little non-descript frontage road. 

Link: only link I plan to post on this page -- SeekingAlpha explaining GME.

Jobs: the Biden administration doesn't care, but CNBC will religiously and breathlessly report the numbers every Thursday. The Biden administration will extend the federal ban on leasing for a full year. Those working in those departments will receive full pay to come in, shuffle some paper, go home.

Belk department store: to file for bankruptcy. Will be blamed on Covid. Hardly.

AAPL reports today. Both AAPL and MSFT sport 40 multiples (P/E). CNBC keeps saying AAPL too pricey and yet Apple may report record revenue for any company at $100 billion, whereas everyone is excited about $40 billion for MSFT.  Not complaining. Just noting. -- That was a not-ready-for-prime-time-reply to a reader who sent me a note earlier this morning.

AAPL: independent research suggests Apple doubled its telephone market share in India last year. 

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.

T: headlines at six different sources with widely different views on T's numbers that were reported earlier today -- I thought the headlines for T were bad, but here we go, on a day that the market is down as much as 500 points, T is up 1%. Go, Ma. Some of the headlines:

• ATT stock slips ...
• ATT earnings. What happened?
• ATT posts earnings beat on solid subscriber additions

Nuclear energy: if you think the hedge funds are getting fleeced on GME, check out Hinckley Point C. 

Down as much as 500 points. The experts say it's all because of Boeing. Okay. No argument here. But let's look at a few derivatives:

• America perceived as closed for business; previously reported; China is now the "go-to" country for investing;
• the new administration following through on campaign pledges;
• what's that old saying -- something about "making a silk purse out of a sow's ear" -- anyone closely following the "vaccination rollout" knows the global economy is in deep doo-doo; we'll post the Tuesday and Friday CDC numbers each week.
  
• Fed will release "minutes" today; it will be a yawner -- except for one thing -- it won't have anything positive to say about the economy going forward;
• nah, the market was down as much as 500 points at the opening and "all" blamed on Boeing; that's all they could fit on the crawler
• by the way, I haven't looked at CNBC this morning and I have no plans to until 4:00 p.m. today; whoo-hoo!
• I did watch The Picture of Dorian Gray at 5:00 a.m. this morning; what a great movie; never miss if it when it's on TCM; Angela Lansbury pops up everywhere; Sibyl Lane; another famous "Sybil" in Fawlty Towers;
  

Investors bailed: one large research firm noted that its firms clients sold a net $5.2 billion worth of stock last week. That was the fifth-largest weekly net equities outflow -- which measures the difference between stock purchases and stock sales -- since 2008. Sales were chiefly from institutional clients but all three groups (private clients, hedge funds, and institutional clients) were sellers. If passive investing (ETFs) was excluded it was even worse: the firm's clients sold a net $8.5 billion worth of stock last year. And the longer-term picture for investor exposure to the market is even more bleak. We hear a lot these days about the FOMO trade but yet the data is clear: many investors have already missed out on a lot of the post-crisis rally. 

Meanwhile here in north Texas: another incredibly beautiful day. Just made a cup of coffee. Sophia comes over in a couple of hours for remote learning and I have a Webex meeting with my Schwab broker at 1:30 p.m. CT. Not sure what to wear. Only haircut(s) since February, 2020, were by Sophia, a six-year-old. LOL.

Television moderators: I am really, really impressed with the operation at EPSN's "First Take." I can only take Max and Stephen A for a few minutes before I have to turn them off, but this morning, I saw how really good the moderator is. Don't know her name. Will look it up later. Oh, there it is: Qerim Rose. On the fly, she is busy framing a topic for discussion, needs a fact, doesn't ask for the data, doesn't look for the data but the folks behind the scenes monitoring her every word immediately know where she is going with her question, and realize immediately the data she needs, and, literally, on the fly, tells her the number she was looking for was "55." She knew it the number of football passes she was talking about numbered "50-something" but needed the exact number and the exact number was given to her, literally in real time, literally on the fly, she didn't miss a beat and said she had just "gotten" the exact number. Color me impressed.

Oh, one last thing. What's JNJ doing? Blah. Flat. Down 0.41%. 

No, here's the last thing: Norfolk Southern raises its dividend. Whoo-hoo! A pretty good jump, also. From 94 cents to 99 cents. Whoo-hoo!

How bad was it? Boeing lost a record $11.9 billion in 2020 but everyone knew it. That was not the big problem this morning. This was the second shoe to drop: Boeing said the debut of its 777X jet would be delayed again until late 2023. I remember blogging some time ago that companies need to get rid of calling things "X" and "XL."

Yup: the UAL earnings report last week was the tipping point. Called it.

Checking In For A Few Minutes -- January 27, 2021

I'm heading back to bed. Will blog later. I got up to check the Weather Channel -- huge storms across the US. Watched the Weather Channel for a couple of minutes, then quit. Way too many ads. 

Checked GME. Fascinating story. 70 million shares outstanding. 68 million shares borrowed (or short). Up another 40% in pre-market trading. One major hedge fund finally caved: bought the shares it needed to close out their position. There's a reason -- and a legitimate reason - why Elon Musk waded in, adding fuel to the fire. Love it. I'm on Elon Musk's side on this one. If a second major fund caves today, this thing will collapse like a house of cards. Before then, it could move to "thousands of dollars/share" and become the most valuable company in the world. See this link.

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.