Locator: 48510BRK.
Locator: 48509SUPB.
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Results Photos
In standup paddleboarding, Kiri came in fourth, behind the fastest woman in Texas.
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Photos
Locator: 48508PERSINV.
A reminder: historically, the months of August and September are the worst months of the year for investors who hope to pay more for shares.
The chartist: a wild day on Wall Street yesterday -- not the least of which, Warren Buffett runs a trillion-dollar mutual fund!
The close: not too bad considering many folks feel the US is headed for a recession --
Choose your fighter, link here:
QQQ, the top ten, it's amazing, some folks on social media still don't get it, read the comments at the link:
When you're already the best, growth comes from sales, not innovation.
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Disclaimer
Briefly
Reminder
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Personal Investing
For The Archives
I first started buying NVDA a couple of years ago, and then quit adding to my position shortly after starting it. The run-up was becoming excessive.
Cramer might have suggested at some point to take half of my NVDA profits "off the table" and play with the "house's money."
I didn't sell, but on August 5th or whenever it was, with the huge reset, I bought more. Then ignored the market for about two weeks.
Immediately after NVDA reported earnings (actually the next morning because I don't trade after-hours), I took all the free cash I could find and bought more NVDA head-over-heels, as they say.
Actually, it was Sophia that was guiding me. She's responsible for all the investing now.
Oh, by the way, that reminds me. For the first time in my life, listening to Sophia, I am taking my "tax-loss harvesting" to a new level.
And then this article:
From the article:
It might surprise you that index funds such as the $562 billion SPDR S&P 500 Index EFT Trust (the first exchange-traded fund to track the US large-cap benchmark index) or the $248 billion Vanguard S&P 500 ETF have portfolios that are concentrated almost 20% to three companies: MSFT, AAPL, and NVDA.
I have never understood bonds. Maybe Sophia will figure it out.
I've never subscribed to the 60/40 portfolio -- again, because:
I have a rolling 30-year investment horizon.
I've also never understood the rationale for a traditional IRA over that of a Roth IRA, but that's a "story" for another day, though I have talked about it more than once on the blog.
I digress. Back to that 60/40 stuff. If one likes 60 (equity) / 40 (bonds), why not consider 60 (growth stocks) / 40 (value stocks with dividends).
Some energy stocks have paid over 6% year-over-year for decades. And reinvesting those dividends in those same companies have resulted in some huge positions. I'm not convinced those have been particularly great investments but the investments have never affected my quality of life, and have never caused me to lose any sleep. And now, Sophia has a pretty big position in energy companies that are paying 6% today and way, way, way more than that based on the original price paid 30 years ago.
As mentioned not too many days ago, I was negatively impressed with the select group of high-rollers at the most recent quarterly Schwab quarterly chartbook briefing -- and they spent valuable time quibbling over 4.3% vs 4.2% returns on bonds. It seems no one was paying attention to the elephant in the room, QQQ.
This is the type of question I would have enjoyed: does Schwab have an ETF like the QQQ? Link here.
The first question I would have asked: how can two "ETFs" with 94% correlation have such amazing different results? Assuming I'm interpreting that correctly. Are the results the same if "adjusted" for fees?
Locator: 48507ARCHIVES.
Time to clean up the office, fortunately I have the Bat Cave:
Prepare to prepare dinner, roast beef, to slow cook over 8 - 10 hours:
Reminder: salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce.
Painted rock garden: see this post for background. Now, another such mini-painted-rock garden has popped up. At the corner of Parr Park Road and Barberry Road, Grapevine, TX, just down the hill from Bryson Dechambeau's new house.
Bryson's house, maybe a year ago under construction; still not finished:
Locator: 48506ISRAEL.
I believe this is the second article I've posted with regard to Silicon Valley and "the military."
Must read.
Where you come from matters in the quest for Silicon Valley investment money, be it the sandstone arcades of the Stanford University campus or the graffitied offices of early Facebook. Venture capitalists are now coveting a new class of founders—those who served in a specialized unit of the Israeli army.
Members of Unit 8200, known for its advanced cybersecurity and cyberwarfare capabilities, have founded dozens of cybersecurity companies. Others have become influential venture capitalists in their own rights and are mentors to entrepreneurial graduates.
There are at least five tech companies started by Unit 8200 alumni publicly traded in the U.S., together worth around $160 billion. Private companies started by ex-8200 soldiers are worth billions more.
The largest, cloud-security company Wiz, in July came close to signing a $23 billion deal to be bought by Google. It would have been Google’s biggest acquisition ever. After the talks fell apart, Wiz Chief Executive and 8200 veteran Assaf Rappaport told employees he wants to hit $1 billion in revenue before planning a public-market listing.
Wiz and the 8200 alumni are targeting a massive business problem—how to keep big companies secure—with skills and an intensity they learned from their time in the military. They and the companies they’ve built have become hot commodities as more industries move huge amounts of business documents to the cloud—which is constantly under attack from opportunistic hackers. While Unit 8200 alumni once talked about their service in hushed tones, they now tout it in press releases to attract clients and investment money for their startups.
Palo Alto Networks, the biggest publicly traded cybersecurity company, and itself a product of the 8200 pipeline, has purchased several companies led by alumni of the unit in recent years. Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital, two of Silicon Valley’s most storied venture-capital firms, have recently hired Israel-based partners.
And so much more at the link.
Locator: 48505MUSIC.
Locator: 48439TOPSTORIES.
Top story:
Top international non-energy story:
Top international energy story:
Top national non-energy story:
Top national energy story:
Focus on fracking: current link here. Generally updated late Sunday night.
Top North Dakota non-energy story:
Top North Dakota energy story:
Geoff Simon's quick connects: link here.
The market in a nutshell: At the close --
Locator: 48500B.
WTI: $73.55.
Active rigs: 41.
Five new permits, #41085 -- #41089, inclusive:
Two permits renewed:
One producing well (a DUC) reported as completed:
There are two thoughts with regard to AI:
I'm in the second camp.
Big story today on CNBC: Apple OpenAI ARM.
Today: over at The WSJ -- link here.
From the linked article:
Apple AAPL and Nvidia are in talks to invest in OpenAI, a move that would strengthen their ties to a partner integral to their efforts in the artificial-intelligence race.
The investment would be part of a new OpenAI fundraising round that would value the ChatGPT maker above $100 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that venture-capital firm Thrive Capital is leading the round, which will total several billion dollars, and Microsoft is also expected to participate. It couldn’t be learned how much Apple, Nvidia or Microsoft will invest into OpenAI this round.
To date, Microsoft has been the primary strategic investor in OpenAI. It owns a 49% share of the AI startup’s profits after investing $13 billion since 2019.
As the dominant global maker of chips that power ChatGPT and other AI models, Nvidia has long worked closely with OpenAI. Apple in June announced OpenAI as the first official partner for Apple Intelligence, its system for infusing AI features throughout its operating system. The new AI will feature an improved Siri voice assistant, text proofreading and creating custom emojis.
And, yes, for Apple, AI is all about creating more emojis.
Word search on the blog for Apple OpenAI ARM:
OpenAI: former head of NSA joins board. Who-hoo.
Jim Cramer not "here" today. Today: David Faber and the "Brit guy" -- my least favorite, Wilfred Frost.
Wilfred Frost: Frost assumed his current role after stepping back from his anchor duties at CNBC in February 2022. Now, if only Brian Sullivan would "step back." And while they're at it, replace Phil.
Cramer's first hour: a mix of fact, factoids, opinions from various sources -- often not cited -- while listening to Cramer's first hour on CNBC.
PCE: not only "in-line," but actually better than expected. The Fed: the 25 bp rate cut all but guaranteed. Whether it's 25 bp or 50 bp will be based on the employment numbers. Tea leaves suggest a cut of 25 bp. Begrudgingly by some governors. But they will go along to get along.
A reminder: historically, the months of August and September are the worst months of the year for investors who hope to pay more for shares.
Futures one-half hour prior to open:
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Disclaimer
Briefly
Reminder
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The Self-Study Page
Years ago I put together a self-study program on the US Civil War based on US Grant's memoirs. Target audience: middle school grandchildren. As far as I know, I never put it on-line; hard-copy / binder only.
Now, I'm ready to put together a similar self-study program on dinosaurs. This page is still in progress but would be the basis for a dinosaur self-study program. By the way, this whole subject will benefit greatly from AI but that's another story for another day.
A third self-study program: Greek dramatists. I have several sites on this subject, one example here.
I also have a "personal finance" page designed for high school students but no link; intended for two grandchildren right now.
Locator: 48497PEAKOIL.
WTI: $75.96.
Sunday, September 1, 2024: 76 for the month; 132 for the quarter, 456 for the year
40477, conf, CLR, Clover 5-10H,
40460, conf, Slawson, SnakeEyes 6-20-29H,
Saturday, August 31, 2024: 74 for the month; 130 for the quarter, 454 for the year
None.
RBN Energy: oil explorers plan for production growth in US Gulf of Mexico.
Crude oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is poised for a growth spurt through 2030 even as producers brace for a host of challenges, not least from forecasts that global oil demand will subside in the long term. But while the GOM’s supply accounts for a relatively small portion of total U.S. production, exploration and production companies (E&Ps) haven’t lost interest, in part because the Gulf offers key crude grades in high demand. In today’s RBN blog, we examine what is stoking the renewed interest in developing the GOM.
Locator: 48496INSANITY.
First the Nvidia earnings:
Now, Spotfiy: link here (does not work on Firefox; works on Safari, Chrome). Spotify has never had a profitable year.
But their investors are doing great!
Locator: 48495PCE.
up 3-tenths; better than expected (2-tenths)
prices came in as expected; everything with a 2-handle
consumer expenditures: just fine; up 0.4% vs 0.5%
this comes on top of a 3% GDP in 2Q24
market surges
incredible
everything as expected or better than expected
JPow and the Fed has "stuck the soft landing"
confirm that the inflation trend is as expected
"mission accomplished"
"time to take a victory lap"
"Fed will now focus on the other side of their mandate"
"the concern now: is the Fed acting too slowly to head off the downside risk?"
I'm getting tired of listening to "woe is us" Heritage Foundation.
there's probably a reason Brian Sullivan doesn't have his picture on the CNBC hall of fame.
Rick Santelli hasn't changed in all the years I've watched him
CNBC crawler: tech looks "to take off today"
Locator: 48494MEMO.
Happy Birthday, Warren Buffett -- turns 94 years old, Friday, August 30, 2024.
Locator: 48492B.
Weekly EIA petroleum report, link here:
Gasoline demand, link here:
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Back to the Bakken
WTI: $75.75.
Active rigs: 41.
Five new permits, #41080 - #41084, inclusive:
Four permits canceled:
One producing well (a DUC) reported as completed:
Locator: 48491GDP.
Earlier I said the "big story" today was Apple. That's still true, but the revised GDP for 2Q24 was an even bigger story.
Two screenshots, 2Q24:
Locator: 48490DOCKETS.
Thursday 09/26/24 Supplement
Thursday 09/26/24
Wednesday 09/25/24 Supplement
Wednesday 09/25/24
September hearing dockets.
The NDIC hearing dockets are tracked here.
As usual this is done very quickly and using shorthand for my benefit. There will be factual and typographical errors on this page. Do not quote me on any of this. It's for my personal use to help me better understand the Bakken. Do not read it. If you do happen to read it, do not make any investment, financial, job, relationship, or travel plans based on anything you read here or think you may have read here. If this stuff is important to you, and I doubt that it is, but if it is, go to the source. These are cases, not permits.
Thursday, Supplement
Four continued cases
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Six pages
The cases:
Wednesday, Supplement
Three continued cases
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Twelve pages
The cases:
Locator: 48489AAPL.
I might come back to this later. But I'm simply overwhelmed with so much Apple (AAPL) news.
I don't think folks are following this story close enough.
There's a reason that AAPL is up over $5 today.
Off the net until later tonight. Except to post on other blogs.
Locator: 48488INTC.
Intel (INTC) vs Nvidia (NVDA).
I believe this has been posted at least once before.
Locator: 48487AAPL.
Tag: Apple, Berskshire.
BRK-B hit a new 52-week high today.
It was my understanding that Warren Buffett had about 790 million shares of AAPL as of July 22, 2024, but then shortly after the first of August, it was reported that Warren Buffett slashed his Apple holdings by half.
So, it's my understanding he holds about 400 million AAPL shares -- needs to be fact checked. AAPL is up $5.27 today = x 400 million = $2.108 billion.
