Headlines II -- December 3, 2023

Locator: 46234HEADLINES.

ENB line 5: won't "happen" in my investing lifetime but gives regulators and lawyers plenty to talk  about. Link here.

US Supreme Court: to take tax case. For taxpayers, it's a no-lose situation. In worse case, taxpayers break even; in best case, SCOTUS rules IRS illegal; may re-define definition of income. LOL. Will the ObamaCare ruling be back in play?

Too little, too late: over the weekend, after it was announced that Alaska Airlines would be booted from the S&P, Alaska Airlines announced it would buy Hawaiian airlines. To remain HQ'd in Seattle. Alaska CEO will remain CEO. $2 billion. 

BRK: most interesting factoid coming out after the death of Charlie Munger, considered the man behind the throne: not discussed by anyone. 

Death of Charlie Munger, man behind the throne, and BRK shares remained absolutely unchanged. Speaks volumes. Would the same occur if Bob Iger had stepped down? If Elon Musk had stepped down? If Tim Cook had stepped down? Jensen Huang, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg?

Apple: to hit the $3-trillion-market-cap threshold again, shares only need to move 1 percent from Friday's after-hours trading price.

Apple: most under-reported story? Apple throws in the towel on developing its own 5G modem. 5-day move for QCOM -- inconsequential. 

Apple: Arm is now the 600-lb gorilla. ARM? The story is fascinating ... I will have to come back to this -- but owe the move to ARM to some high school kids and their science project years ago.

College football: FCS championship -- of the eight teams still in contention -- 

South Dakota State, South Dakota, North Dakota State; and Montana. A fifth from the same geographic region: Idaho. The others Greenville, SC (Furman, midway between Charlotte and Atlanta); Albany; and Villanova, northwest of Philadelphia.

Inflation or fraud: price of eggs. Now we know. 

The egg suppliers include the family company of its former Chair John Rust, who’s running for the U.S. Senate in Indiana.

In a written statement on the verdict, Rust said the jury’s decision “will be appealed.” The jury found that the egg suppliers exported eggs abroad to reduce the overall supply in the domestic market, as well as limited the number of chickens through means including cage space, early slaughter and flock reduction.

John Rust, Republican running for US Senate. Not a surprise. What is a surprise: his politics.

OXY: in talks to buy Permian producer CrownRock. Joins CVX-Hess and XOM-PXD. OXY-CrownRock not announced over the weekend. Is BRK's C-suite pre-occupied?

Nuclear: for those interested in nuclear -- and I'm not -- Idaho National Laboratory will be in the news this week, though no one will pay attention.

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US Public Pensions

US public pensions: 1,000 largest. Change (I assume y/y, 2022 / 2021), rounded to nearest full integer. Again, this is change in assets under management; it is not the return on investments, if that makes sense. -- I assume the annual prospectuses are readily available:

• By size, assets under management:

• Federal Thrift: 19%
• California Public Employees: 17%
• California State Teachers: 21%
• NY State Common: 18%
• NYC Retirement: 18%
• Florida State Board: 19%
• Texas Teachers: 21%
• Washington State Board: 25%
• Wisconsin Investment Board: 19%
• Boeing: 10%
• NY State Teachers: 18%
• North Carolina: 14%
• California University: 22%
• Ohio Public Employees: 17%
• ATT: -6%
• IBM: 6%
• Virginia Retirement: 22%
• Raytheon Technologies: 9%
• Michigan Retirement: 25%
• New Jersey: 26%
• Minnesota State Board: 20%
• Kaiser: 22%
• Others of interest:
• JP Morgan Chase: 30%
• Microsoft: 51%
• Morgan Stanley: 37%
• Arizona Public Safety: 44%
• Amazon.com: 64%
• Coca-Cola: 42%
• NYU: 49%
• Longshoremen ILWU-PMA: 42%
• New Hampshire Retirement: 67%
• Harvard University: -8%
• Vanguard Group: 87%
• Alaska Air: 50%
• Charles Schwab: 48%
• Facebook: 72%
• I will arbitrarily stop here.

Ford: EV plans -- The WSJ -- a story --- Marshall, Michigan --

The project seemed like a slam dunk when it was announced earlier this year: a $3.5 billion Ford Motor facility slated to create 2,500 jobs by the time production was to begin in 2026.

It was a chance to show that a state-led version of the Biden administration’s strategy of using government subsidies and incentives could put an auto-related plant in a northern state that has seen its automaking dominance diminish.

But the president’s plan to jump-start the U.S. economy by supporting domestic production of green technologies has hit roadblocks: Electric-vehicle adoption isn’t going as fast as some had forecast, the industry has recalibrated, and there has been local opposition to fast-tracking such projects.

The political payoff has been slow in coming because results are likely to take years.

After the fanfare of the February announcement of the plant, Ford quietly signaled in September that it would pause the project. When work resumed on the BlueOval battery plant in November, it was for a scaled-down version, a reflection of what is happening in the roller-coaster EV market. In an unsettled economic and political landscape, the prospect of needed jobs didn’t guarantee community acceptance.

The plant would use licensed technology from the Chinese battery manufacturer CATL to make EV batteries under Ford’s name in Marshall. The city has approved the initial site plan, and officials said that there are no remaining barriers to the plant. Proponents said it would bring well-paying jobs and likely investment from ancillary companies and suppliers, not to mention the restaurants, housing and entertainment that would likely pop up.

Fake EVs: the hybrid fad will gradually fade away, too.

Cybertruck: can you imagine what it will cost to repair even minor damage from a fender-bender?

EVs:

• for traders: awesome opportunities:
• for investors with 30-year horizon: plenty of time to pull the trigger

California solar: plummets -- link here. Plummets? An understatement. Unless a mandated requirement for all house sales (existing and new), solar in California is dead. Recession? Nope, a depression.

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11 

Darlene Love.