One-Liners Without Links -- May 16, 2022

Snake bite: Rattler's stock surged in pre-market trading this morning. Diamondback Energy to acquire Rattler Midstream for $2.2 billion. With a "B."

ARKK: took in more dollars last week than the three largest commodity equity ETFs have taken in all year. Let that sink in for a moment. In other words, there will be a gazillion mom-and-pop retail investors who will have a better 2022 than Cathie Wood. 

Repeat. ARKK took in more dollars last week than the three largest commodity equity ETFs have taken in all year. Let that sink in for a moment. In other words, there will be a gazillion mom-and-pop retail investors who will have a better 2022 than Cathie Wood. 

Chinese: due to lock downs and zero-Covid-policy, China's economy fell more than expected. Some say President Xi will be out of office before the end of the year. 

Bakken: natural gas production grew while crude oil fell in 2021.

DAPL: US Army Corps of Engineers report was to be released last week; shelved, while a Biden administration takes another look at the concerns the Native Americans have. Capacity is now up to its max, 750,000 bopd, but is not running near that full. Exact volume not known. No longer matters. New pipeline to the "national pipeline system" will make the DAPL redundant and until that pipeline is completed we have Warren Buffett's CBR.

Inshallah: stop me if you've heard this before -- Saudi Arabia to expand oil production capacity to 13.3 to 13.4 million bpd by the end of 2026 / start of 2027. There is enough ambiguity in that sentence to drive three camels through the proverbial eye of the needle.

Carbon capture: North Dakota has approved loan requests for two carbon capture projects, and suggest regulators consider four other energy projects seeking state funding. A Tesla battery plant next?

Falling, finally: "retail" diesel dropped from $5.568 per gallon on Sunday (yesterday) to $5.566 today, Monday. Now you know the data is made up.

Rising, again: "retail" gasoline sets a new all-time high today, Monday, at $4.483 per gallon.

Wrong on this one: Zeihan says Putin's War to be an endurance game between the west's ability to continue supplying the Ukrainians vs the east with vast store of materiel. It's become an endurance game between Putin and his oligarchs. Same as the US in Vietnam.

India: gasoline demand soars, as Indians use a/c in cars to stay cool.

Profound: from Saudi Arabia again, "When in our lifetimes we have been seeing refining margins of $47 to $50 / bbl, it tells you that there is no refining capacity commensurate (huge word for one with English as a second language) with the current demand and expectation of demand this summer."

Repeat from Saudi Arabia again, "When in our lifetimes we have been seeing refining margins of $47 to $50 / bbl, it tells you that there is no refining capacity commensurate (huge word for one with English as a second language) with the current demand and expectation of demand this summer."

Investing: Ross Gerber's investment firm increased its holdings in Chevron by 64.5% in 1Q22 on a shares held base, or 128.7% on a dollar basis. [For the record, I also increased my Chevron's holdings.]

The Fed: installed heavy-duty fencing around its stately building in Washington (DC). Apparently overnight.

Last holdout leaves: one of the few holdouts from the first big round of boycotts -- RENAULT. Zelensky called them out by name and RENAULT suspended production. Now they are walking away for good. Another Russian oligarch just lost his lunch.

Penultimate holdout: MCDONALDS was at the tail end of the first big round of boycotts. Now MCDONALDS is gone for good. When you've lost MCDONALDS, you've lost the war.  MCDONALDS says it will leave Russia completely after more than 30 years of operation in that country. Another Russian oligarch just lost his lunch. Literally.

Brain aneurysm: that tweet about President Xi with a brain aneurysm suddenly disappeared -- literally in front of my eyes -- from my twitter feed, seconds ago (7:38 a.m. CT). Later, there it is, back up, at 7:47 a.m. CT.

Oil: how high can it go? GS says they don't know (honestly?) but their models suggest demand destruction sets in at $125. That's easy. Adjust for inflation and look at previous top a decade ago.

Covid: vaccinated folks who subsequently get infected with omicron may be primed to overcome a broad range of coronavirus variants. At least that will be the new marketing meme. Get vaccinated. Get sick. Get real.

Hart Energy: energy's stock market boom is just the start of this supercycle. Despite the efforts of the divestiture movement, the oil and gas sector's 12-month performance clobbered that of the market as a whole. Supercycle: one word, two words, or hyphenated. Apparently one word, but I prefer two words, not hyphenated. 

Investing: I have a very small amount of cash in my brokerage account. If the market opens down, I will buy a few shares of -------; if the market is up at the opening, I will buy a few slices of ------.