Before we get started, Amazon's Alexa / Fire TV Stick is an incredible combination. I assume the Apple ecosystem and other "integrated systems" can do the same thing but I don't have Apple TV, Google TV, Roku, etc. But I digress.
One can use voice commands to Amazon's Alexa to "change channels" / surf streaming services. It appears about the only thing Alexa can't do in this arena is change the volume on the TV set (one can use voice commands to change the volume on the Amazon Echo device).
Now, back to the update.
With Netflix debacle today, I need to re-visit "streaming wars" again.
On another note, competition is fierce. I don't subscribe to Netflix. It's now between YouTube and Hulu. Netflix is down 23% after-hours. Could lose as many as two million subscribers in current quarter.
Is this not great poetry .. LOL ... I started a joke ... I fell out of bed ... hurting my head ... over the things that I said .. and I finally died. -- The Bee Gees.
I don't know if folks have noticed, but crude oil (both WTI and Brent) lost about $5/bbl today.
But don't fret.
This is breaking (no pun intended): the French utility EDF finds signs of corrosion on four more reactors during checks. EDF had already found corrosion issues (euphemism for "cracks that could lead to nuclear meltdown" in five other reactors. Link at Bloomberg and if Bloomberg is reporting it, it has to to accurate
Later, 6:53 p.m. CT: DOJ will appeal the judge's decision, reversing President Biden's statement saying "it was over." The mandate runs out in two weeks. By the time this gets to court, it's a moot point unless President Biden extends the mandate again. It's my impression that judges generally don't rule on cases that are moot. Legally, this is the right thing to do. Politically, this is the worst thing Biden could allow to happen.
Meanwhile: Supreme Court rejects appeal from airman facing punishment over refusal to take vaccine; SCOTUS ruled against 35 Navy SEALS in a similar case last month. Reported by Fox, but in very small letters; easily missed.
Original Post
The White House won't appeal the ruling.
That speaks volumes about how serious they really took it. A simple filing would have put the ruling on hold. LOL.
Contributor over at The Daily Beast absolutely "lost it." Thought it worst ruling ever. This is how periodicals like The Daily Beast lose their relevance. C'mon man, think about it -- the mask mandate was to have ended already and President Biden simply extended it for two weeks. For what? Who knows?
Is that the real reason the market surged this morning?
What was it about airplanes, anyway -- cleanest air in the universe, bar none.
Cause and effect? Halliburton's Jeff Miller expects North American customer spending to increase by 35% this year, up from 25%.
Everyone else: stagflation, inflation, recession. I'm sticking with HAL.
June 18, 2015. Goldman Sachs forecasting $40-oil and possibly $20-oil.
As much as I love what I'm doing, I would rather be with my grandmother Reka fishing -- 1963 -- for bullheads in Storm Lake, Iowa. One summer, she had tallied 171 bullheads. And the summer was only 2/3rds over.
Put your headphones on. Play this loud. Wow, what a great country. Look at the masks -- Sophia would have loved to have been there, dancing and doing handstands ... and cartwheels ... this is a cover ...
Where was I. Oh, yes, Big Oil's windfall creates a quandary for the industyr.
LOL.
From Bloomberg. What will the companies do with all their cash? Probably not drill more to help lower gasoline prices. I used to think Bloomberg contributors were able to figure these things out. LOL.
Holy mackerel. Is anyone following the market today. I just took a look.
Dow 30: up 550 points;
NASDAQ: up 300 points;
S&P 500: up 75 points.
This rally is not due to strong earnings. LOL. It's all about the mask. April 19th, 2022. It's over. Over. No matter how bad it gets, we're not going back.
The three bellwethers I'm watching:
AAPL: struggling early; now a bit of a surge;
BRK-B: ditto;
UNP: wow, there we go; after weeks of being negative, turns very nice positive.
All things being equal, Bakken mom-and-pop mineral owners should see a nice jump in their royalty checks in the next month or so. Whoo-hoo! Congrats to those who benefit.
From today's Director's Cut:
Crude price, NDLS:
today: $110.75
January, 2022: $74.86
February, 2022: $86.17
December, 2021: $65.46
**************************** Fully Invested
About a month ago I tried really, really hard to diversify, but it killed me. LOL.
Now, back to buying energy.
I did buy some TSM today.
Along with KMI for the dividend, and DVN, for obvious reasons.
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.
Those managed funds, those hedge funds that refuse to invest in oil and gas ... wow ... my amateurish oiil and gas portfolio is outperforming every one of my managed funds.
