A Musical Interlude -- Chase Scene -- Crime Story -- December 7, 2023

Locator: 46253MUSIC.

Link here. Fast forward to 43.20. In the frame below, click on "Watch On YouTube."

I assume you all recognized the instrumental during the chase scene. If not, The Ventures, "Walk, Don't Run."

What a great country. We were overseas from 1983 to 1996 and all that time we did not have any (much) American television. We missed all this. 

"Crime Story" only ran for two years. Wow, it was way ahead of its time. It connects with "Miami Vice." Can't compare the two: apples and oranges. But both are better than the current crime shows in syndication.

Look at all the "stuff" YouTube brings up if watching a video related to this episode. Lots of memories.

I access "Crime Story" through Amazon Prime Video / Amazon's Firestick.

What a great country.

Kraken With Three New Permits -- December 7, 2023

Locator: 46252B.

WTI: $69.86. 

Active rigs: 40.

Three new permits, #40382 - #40384, inclusive:

• Operators: Kraken
• Field: Ellisville (Williams County)
• Comments:
• Kraken has permits for two Maddie wells and one Wayne well, NENE 10-158-99, 
• to be sited 435 FNL and between 340 FEL and 406 FEL

Three producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 39459, 1,279, CLR, Arthur5-12H1,
• 39328, 1,207, CLR, Arthur 6-12H,
• 31214, 0, BR, Gladstone 4-13TFH,

Map of area involving the CLR Arthur wells. Amazingly busy. The CLR Hegler / Arthur wells are tracked here.

Investing -- Rambling III -- December 7, 2023

Locator: 46251INV. 

Disclaimers apply. These notes are always done quickly; there will typographical and content errors.

NVDA: the internet says NVDA closed up 1.32%; up $5.60, closing at 430.10. Now, watching trading after the close and just ahead of AVGO's earnings, NVDA appears to be up .... drum roll ... up $11.35.

AMD, after hours: up $11.46.

AAPL: after hours, up $1.83. AAPL actually touched $198 after-hours before dropping back. I remember a  CNBC  chartist / technician some time ago recommending viewers sell AAPL because it would soon plummet. As a trader perhaps great advice at the time; for investors can’t think of a worse recommendation. I don’t think Warren or Jim Cramer have ever recommended selling AAPL.

Lululemon: revenue beat. Adjusted EPS $2.53. Guidance a bit light. LULU drops 7.5%; down $34; trading at $432.

AVGO: up $14.68 before earnings announcement. Now, up $16.12. EARNINGS: beat. Revenues: miss. Will layoff 1,300 VMWare employees following acquisition. Will raise quarterly dividend to $5.25; a 15% increase? Down 2% (yawn) after hours. So, up $18 before the close; down $ in after-hours trading.

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.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.

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UPS

A lot packed into this story; much not said. I think there are at least two stories here, in addition to the headline.

Link here.

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Texas State Park Passport

Nice Christmas present from the state!

Investing -- Rambling II -- December 7, 2023

Locator: 46250INV.  

AMZN: ditches Venmo.

NVDA: up $8 today.

APPL: have we seen the high for the day? Asking for a reader.

Bitcoin: what's driving the surge in price? A short squeeze and wow, it's getting so much worse as each day goes by. Shortsellers have lost %6 billion so far this year. Bloomberg .

WTI: another collapse. After touching $70 earlier today, now back to $68.83. Seventh week of negative numbers. Seven weeks. I wonder how Josh is spinning this.

GDP Now: for 4Q23 -- the drop from 5% to 1% has to be concerning, along with the plunge in the price of WTI, along with a number of other data points -- suggests a risk of a hard landing has increased -- previously 50 - 50, now 70 - 30.

Soft landing definition: if the Fed can reach its inflation target (2%) without causing a jump in joblessness. With that definition, we don't need to wait for six - twelve months for economists / historians to determine if the US was actually in a recession. Source.

Nasdaq is "ripping" today.

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A Tech Stock

One of my favorite tickers. Makes up an incredibly small part of my overall portfolio, but I've owned it forever, paying almost 6%; at a P/E off 19, a really, really "cheap" tech company. Most "techs" have a P/E  30 or greater.

 

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Can't Wait To Teach Judah About Investing

LOL.

I understand third / fourth generations squander inheritance.

Not gonna happen on my watch. 

My dad was the first.

I'm second generation.

Kiri and Laura, daughters, third generation.

Judah, above, is one of five in the fourth generation.

I will leave him with an understanding of investing.

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.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.

Investing -- Rambling -- December 7, 2023

Locator: 46249INV.  

Tax-loss selling: is over. Now back to a nice market today.

Chart of the day. Both companies have been around for more than twenty years. Everyone has some information that is published every year  in something called the annual report.

Market today. Cramer called it:

AAPL: wow, AAPL just opened higher; remains solidly above $3.00 trillion market cap. 

AMD: up 4%.

Both new deals -- XOM / PXD and CVX / HES -- under increased scrutiny. Shouldn't concern anyone. The question is how an investor should invest in these companies. I'm no longer interested in energy as an investment but if I were, I would be adding more of the independent Permian players right now. See disclaimers.

Buyback: look at this huge jump -- 

 CNBC interview this morning: CEO not convincing.

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.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.

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The Movie Page

Yes, it started out as a movie.

"Everyone" has seen the YouTube clip. I wonder how many folks have actually seen the pilot? I never had ... until last night. Again, an incredible series. Lasted two years. Problems for syndication. Same problems WKRP in Cincinnati had. 

By the way, speaking of streaming. Knives Out -- the second installment released some years ago is now available for free with limited commercial interruption. Not easy to find -- unless you have Netflix -- but it's out there in the wild. I found it on Pluto last night. Weird.

Following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, Glass Onion began a one-week limited theatrical release on November 23, 2022, receiving the widest theatrical release ever for a Netflix film and grossing $15 million; Netflix began streaming it on December 23, 2022.

Like its predecessor, Glass Onion received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising Johnson's screenplay and direction, the performances of the cast, and the musical score. The National Board of Review named Glass Onion as one of the top ten films of 2022. The film received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 95th Academy Awards, and received numerous other accolades. 

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13

Del Shannon.

DE: Laser-Focused On Dividends -- December 7, 2023

Locator: 46248DIV. 

Look at the rate of change in dividends. Most companies increase -- if they increase -- their dividends once yearly. Look at Deere.

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.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.

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Watching The Clock

A lawyer? Nope, a union worker, or a government worker. LOL. 

DE Raises Dividend; Used Car Prices -- DEFLATION -- December 7, 2023

Locator: 46247B. 

A day that will live in infamy: GOP wants to hand over Ukraine to Putin. EU maintains the moral high ground.

Initial jobless claims:

• 220K -- exactly as forecast (222K)
• market: not spooked; up slightly after numbers released 
• later: market must have loved the numbers; pre-market, DOW up 107 points; Nasdaq up almost 100 points
• AAPL is now nicely green
  

Nearshoring (used once before on the blog - by the way, note that Nvidia and Taylor Swift are both mentioned at that post):

• imports from Mexico now exceed those from China
• positive for UNP, other duopoly railroads
• Mexico: 2-day rail; 16%
• China: 20-day shipping; 14%

EVs: there, they said it, the fad is over. The big story: how will F, Gm, Stellantis manage?

• Luxury cars. Period. Dot. Link here.
  
• Nikola: the company is raising more money. The stock is plunging. Barron's.
  
• Tesla: smaller Model 2 could be coming out in full production next summer; Austin, TX, first; then, a new Mexico plant (not "New" Mexico, but "new" Mexico); link here.

Transitory: all that angst about "used car inflation." It's all over. It's now "used car deflation." November prices:

• down almost 6% from one year ago: deflation by definition
• down 2% from last month: deflation by definition
• and I drive past dealerships, the lots are beginning to fill up with new cars

Pipelines: mountains of troubles

• Mountain Valley: I'm beyond tired of faux environmental protestors; update in past 24 hours here;
  
• TransMountain: regulators made the right decision; pipeline company should have hired the Boring Company; the company said it was about "time" -- in fact, it was about cost -- but not to worry; Canadian taxpayers on the hook. Nice map here.
  

XOM: for the archives, Venezuela - Guyana issue on the front burner for huge oil company. XOM is now producing upwards of 700,000 bopd from Guyana (needs to be fact-checked)

NFL:

• TNF on Amazon: Patriots vs Steeler
  
• FCS: semi-finals starting tomorrow night; through Saturday
• new ranking just before semifinals begin: SDSU (1); Montana; UAlbany; USD (4); NDSU (5); Idaho; Furman, Villanova. 
• brackets and schedule here; Montana tomorrow (Friday) night; the Dakota games Saturday;
  

PGA:

• reigning Masters Tournament champion who said he would never leave the PGA, is leaving the PGA.

Thoughts on investing: link here.

• personal investing: fully invested as of yesterday; new money next week;
• I removed TMO from my bucket; never started a position; it ran counter to my investment plan
• will sell my very, very, very small position in WBD -- it served its purpose; now time to get out

McDonald's: to shift into its fastest-growth period in history. Are folks paying attention?

Of the new restaurants, 900 will be in the U.S., and the other 1,900 will be international, company operated and franchised stores in Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Australia. An additional 7,000 stores will open internationally that are operated by licensees, the Associated Press reported, with more than half of those store in China. Link here.

AbbVie: nice dividends, getting bigger. 

Amazon: Cramer's guest last night. Incredible story.

Speaking of Cramer: he needs to spend a bit of time in the tanning booths; he is starting to look like a white Al Roker. Cramer: cadaverous.

DE: raises dividend.

Crime Story: best off its genre ... ever? Link here.

How's that for a Thursday morning lineup! LOL.

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.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $70.21.

Sunday, December10, 2023: 163 for the month; 163 for the quarter, 733 for the year
39713, conf, Petro-Hunt, Dudley Dawson 148-103-2B-11-2H, 
38255, conf, Hess, EN-State B-155-93-0916H-8,

Saturday, December 9, 2023: 161 for the month; 161 for the quarter, 731 for the year
38256, conf, Hess, EN-State B-155-93-0916H-9,

Friday, December 8, 2023: 160 for the month; 160 for the quarter, 730 for the year
31770, conf, BR, Ivan 5-1-29UTFH,

Thursday, December 7, 2023: 159 for the month; 159 for the quarter, 729 for the year
39308, conf, Hess, SC-JW Hamilton-153-99-1314H-9,

RBN Energy: pending closure of Everett LNG Terminal poses challenge for New England gas supply. Archived.

The Everett LNG import terminal, a mainstay of Boston’s gas grid, is expected to close by the end of May 2024, raising questions about future gas supply in New England. The terminal’s closure is closely tied to the imminent loss of its biggest customer, the 1,413-MW Mystic generating station — the region’s largest fossil-fuel plant.

Constellation Energy, which owns both the Everett terminal and the Mystic power plant, has said it can’t keep Everett open next year when the Mystic plant closes unless another gas purchaser takes its place. WOW. Is anyone paying attention?

In today’s RBN blog, we’ll address the impacts of Everett’s potential demise on New England in the short term and on regional gas supply during future polar vortex events.