The BIG STORY and the THEME this week in the energy sector has been: panic among the Washington (DC) incumbents.
The price of gasoline has finally caught the attention of the Washington (DC) incumbents, both parties, and the governors of "selected" states.
First up: Maryland lifts the gasoline tax for 30 days. So, a gallon of gasoline will drop from $4.35 to $3.99. Three-ninety-nine sounds a lot better than anything that starts with a four-dollar handle.
But look at this: the Biden administration plans to resume plans for federal oil and gas development. Reported by Reuters. I don't even want to read the article; I didn't want to be disappointed. The headline was enough. Greta is arranging a support group meeting this week for herself, Bernie Sanders, Pocahontas, and Occasional Cortex.
Russia: has proposed tax relief for the oil industry.
Mexico: will halt plan to cut exports. Wow, huge story. Pemex will not meet export-cut target to boost domestic supply.
Market: wow, I'm in a great mood. That very small part of my overall portfolio that I manage all by myself -- is at an all-time high, but just barely. Once oil stocks catch up with the price of oil, and once AAPL gets back to $175, I will be able to retire. Again.
Bad news: it's clear that no matter how the west wants to "spin" the valor of the Ukrainian people, Putin plans to take the whole country.
Halliburton: suspends future business in Russia.
High oil prices have not spurred new drilling in the US oil patch. The sustained production is due to DUCs being completed. Link here. No acceleration of US shale rig counts despite oil price being over $100 / bbl. Labor, frack sand, and pipes are issues. And it's not the drilling that matters; it's the frack spreads.
Permian employment: the number of oil workers in the Permian has jumped by 20% in the past week.
Bullish: tech majors like AMZN and NVDA have "reclaimed" their 50-smas, a positive trend signal. ["50-sma" = 50-day simple moving average.]
Travel: US booking sites seeing strong demand for 2022 travel.
Porsche and Apple extend partnership.
And that’s just beginning.
Query.... I'm still down about 2% on the year. Can I retain you as my investment advisor? I'm willing to pay double the cost of an annual subscription to the "Million Dollar Way".
ReplyDeleteBesides, it would probably be tax deductible (I get my current tax advise from Hunter....)
LOL. You would never, never want me as your investment advisor. LOL. It's a quirk of fate, right now, purely serendipity.
DeleteI have one "fund" that I have never done anything with since the 1980s. I bought as much energy as I could afford in 1984, put it in one brokerage account, reinvested dividends automatically and forgot all about it. Never did a thing with it. Except pay taxes on the dividends. Over the years lost money on paper, but now, of course, doing well. So, maybe up for the year, but over the decades, really, really, really a poor "fund."
A second fund is over-weighted with AAPL. I got in very, very late, but right now it's doing well.
And then, my other self-directed investments are doing well only because of dividends. If you hold dividend-paying stocks long enough ....
But, wow, lots of taxes -- so it's a snapshot in time. Right now, doing well, but I certainly won't beat the market, but I keep a very small part of my overall "portfolio" in my "self-directed" funds simply to keep me interested.
I would have done a lot better simply investing in Vanguard or BRK but, wow, talk about boring.