Most Dangerous Money Loop In History? Friday, March 27, 2026

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Link here. 

Note:

• the companies in the graphic above;
• the companies not in the graphic above.

The best way to "read" this chart is to place your cursor on one company and then zoom in to track the incoming and outgoing arrows. 

Most interesting: the relationship among CoreWeave - Nvidia - Oracle. Google that triad and you might be surprised to see all those who have also note that triad.  

Of course, all roads lead to Nvidia, but what caught my interest was CoreWeave (due to its LDCs in North Dakota) and Oracle (Larry Ellison often with the Midas touch).

See wiki.  

This is the obvious AI prompt: 

Among companies that finance, design, build, rent, lease, or sell (in other words, the whole enchilada), where does CoreWeave rank? There appears to be a close relationship among CoreWeave, Nvidia and Oracle. Thoughts?

Reply:

Through its deep, highly interdependent relationship with Nvidia and significant collaborations with Oracle, CoreWeave is executing a "whole enchilada" strategy focused on scaling massive AI infrastructure, backed by long-term, non-cancellable revenue contracts. 

CoreWeave’s Position in the Full-Stack AI Ecosystem 

CoreWeave differentiates itself from traditional general-purpose clouds (like AWS or Azure) by focusing strictly on AI-native infrastructure, earning a Platinum rating from SemiAnalysis as the #1 AI-specialized cloud. 

The "Whole Enchilada" Model: CoreWeave handles the entire lifecycle: securing debt financing ($29B+ bet as of Sept 2025), designing AI-optimized data centers, partnering to build them, and leasing the infrastructure to customers.

Performance Leadership: They are often the first to receive new Nvidia chips (H100, H200, Blackwell), providing bare-metal performance that is 20% higher than traditional clouds.

Scale: In 2025, CoreWeave became the fastest cloud platform in history to exceed $5 billion in annual revenue. 

The CoreWeave-Nvidia-Oracle Relationship

The relationship among these three entities is considered "symbiotic" or "incestuous" by analysts, forming a "circular" AI supply chain that accelerates AI adoption while sharing risk. 
Nvidia's Strategic Linchpin: CoreWeave is essential to Nvidia’s cloud ambitions. Nvidia acts as an investor (investing an additional $2B in early 2026), vendor, and customer.

Backstop Guarantee: Nvidia provides significant financial backing, with a $6.3 billion obligation to pay for any unused CoreWeave capacity through 2032.

Oracle's Role: Oracle provides the physical data center space and cloud footprint, partnering with CoreWeave to offer AI compute capacity, often hosting CoreWeave's hardware.
Circular Financial Flows: Critics note that Nvidia invests in CoreWeave, which in turn uses that capital to buy Nvidia GPUs. However, this structure provides a 5GW AI factory buildout target by 2030. 

Risks and Challenges

Despite its growth, CoreWeave’s model carries significant risks: 

Debt-Fueled Model: CoreWeave is carrying substantial debt ($8B+) and has $15B+ in future lease commitments.

Dependency: Its survival is entirely dependent on Nvidia continuing to prefer them for early chip allocation and backing.

Rent-to-Own Vulnerability: Rather than owning all infrastructure, CoreWeave often leases data center shells from partners like Digital Realty, exposing them to inflationary rent escalations. 
In summary, CoreWeave is at the top of the specialized "neocloud" sector, playing a high-stakes, symbiotic role in Nvidia's and Oracle's broader AI infrastructure domination.  

 *******************************

Another reply:
 

More:

Next obvious prompt: 

With regard to LDCs, there appear to be two business models. One, the large hyperscalers (AWS, META) buiild their own, top to bottom. Two, independent contrators (CoreWeave) finance, build, rent/sell to second tier LLMs -- sometimes to specification, sometimes not. At one time, Oracle was doing the same thing -- using something called the "cookie cutter" approach. Thoughts?

I asked ChatGPT that question. To conserve time / space, I won't post the reply. I will let the reader do that if interested. 

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Everything's Bigger In Texas

But for this, we need to post a new blog. Thank you for your attention to this matter. LOL.  

Global LNG Dynamics -- Global Flow -- Export And Import -- March 27, 2026

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Link here. 

OpenClaw -- A Deeper Look -- Copilot On Steroids -- In Fact, It's Not A Copilot -- It's The Pilot And Entire Crew -- March 27, 2026

Locator: 50336OPENCLAW. 

AI prompt: 

OpenClaw seems to be a lot like Copilot but just much, much more involved with your "stuff." Is OpenClaw the ultimate "EDGE" app?

Reply: 

From Yahoo!Finance: link here.

If you’ve been tracking the latest AI news, you’ve likely heard of something called OpenClaw. Or maybe it was called Clawdbot or Moltbot. They’re all the same thing.

OpenClaw is an AI agent platform developed by Peter Steinberger in November 2025, designed to give AI models the ability to do things in the real world. Steinberger originally called it Clawdbot, a take on Anthropic’s own Claude AI model, but changed its name to Moltbot before ultimately landing on OpenClaw.For a platform that’s just a few months old and has had three names, OpenClaw has quickly skyrocketed in popularity among AI boosters, developers, and enthusiasts.

In February, OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) snatched up Steinberger, hiring him to help develop the company’s personal agents. Nvidia (NVDA) had Steinberger on its GTC pre-show panel on March 16, 2026, and the popular lobster-claw logo is turning up as some not-so-stylish headgear fans wear at tech meetups around the world.

If you’re not up on the artificial intelligence race, though, everything you’ve just read might as well be in a different language. If you find yourself asking what the hype is all about, or what in the world I’m talking about, I’ve got you covered.

The story continues at the link. 

META's Hyperion -- Seven New Natural Gas-Fired Plants -- 5.2 GW -- Estimated Cost -- $16 Billion -- AI Providing More Jobs -- March 27, 2026

Locator: 50335HYPERION. 

Link here. 

Meta Platforms is funding the construction of seven new natural gas-fired plants, totaling 5.2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, to power a data center in Louisiana, according to a March 2026 report. While specific total cost figures for this 7-plant, 5.2 GW deal were not disclosed in the immediate reports, similar massive projects, such as a 5.2 GW plant in Texas, are estimated at $16 billion, approximately $3 billion / GW.

As a rule of thumb, I've been using $2 billion / GW. I may have to "up" that. 

Tea Leaves: We Have A Deal -- TSA Employees About To Get Paid -- March 27, 2026

Locator: 50334B. 

The best thing about the price of oil and the Strait of Hormuz: we've quit talking about the Fed. 

Tea leaves: TSA impasse about to come to an end? We'll see. I'm hopeful.

Iran: Trump may yet thread this needle.

"Iran's statement this morning: the strait is closed.  

Earthquakes: what's more likely to happen in the next ten years? A massive earthquake / tsunami taking out chip factories in Taiwan or China taking Taiwan?

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $96.65. Back again to where we were. What happened? Just when things seemed to be getting better. Up $2.17; up 2.30%. If this holds, CVX should have another stellar day. CVX is my proxy for BIG OIL; MPC is my proxy for refiners; and, LNG (Cheniere) is my proxy for natural gas exports. By the way, speaking of MPC/refiners, hurricane season is just around the corner. [Early morning trading, $97.33.]

New wells reporting:

• Sunday, March 29, 2026: 51 for the month, 155 for the quarter, 155 for the year,
• 42216, conf, CLR, Louisville FIU 4-7H, 
• 42052, conf, Petro-Hunt, Tinjum 159-91-31C-19-1H, 
• 41477, conf, Hunt Oil, State C156-90-3-36H-5, 
• 41476, conf, Hunt Oil, State C 156-90-3-36H-4, 
• Saturday, March 28, 2026: 47 for the month, 151 for the quarter, 151 for the year,
• 42245, conf, CLR, Addyson 7-23H, 
• 42215, conf, CLR, Louisville FIU 3-7H, 
• 42189, conf, BR, Abercrombie 8-8-12 MBH, 
• 42053, conf, Petro-Hunt, Tinjum 159-91-31D-19-2H, 
• 41503, conf, Hess, RS-Sorenson-155-92-0105H-1, 
• 20595, conf, Devon Energy, Wahus Federal 152-97-13-24-1H, 
• Friday, March 27 2026: 41 for the month, 145 for the quarter, 145 for the year,
• 42246, conf, CLR, Charleston 8-22HSL, 
• 42054, conf, Petro-Hunt, Tinjum 159-91-31D-19-2H, 
• 41501, conf, Hess, RS-Sorenson-155-92-0105H-3, 

RBN Energy: "311" gas transportation: what is it, why is it, and how does it work? Link here. Archived.

The natural gas industry and its regulatory structures can get confusing sometimes, especially as they interact with a very active and transparent market. One regulatory topic that’s been around for a long time but has suddenly become enormously important is 311 transportation. This relates to the transportation of gas by an intrastate pipeline that is not regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission but delivers into interstate commerce. As we discuss in today’s RBN blog, 311 transportation is in the spotlight because it applies to the slew of new pipelines that have been built across Texas to get Permian gas to market.

First, a little background. “311” refers to Section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, aka the NGPA. Yes, it goes back that far. A half-century ago, the U.S. interstate natural gas market was out of gas. The wellhead price of gas destined for the interstate market had been regulated at very low levels, ever since 1954. Low prices had two consequences:

• Natural gas was very in-demand, especially after the Clean Air Act became law in 1970 and pretty much required anyone with a big boiler to cut their pollution, with gas being the cheapest way to do so.
• The producers who brought natural gas to market were deeply uninterested in selling at low prices, especially when gas that did not get into interstate markets — that stayed in the state where it was produced — could be sold at whatever the market would bear. The difference for producers was selling at $0.52/Mcf interstate or $2.50/Mcf in the intrastate market.

As a result, the interstate gas market suffered extreme, sometimes catastrophic shortages throughout the 1970s. This came to a head in 1977, when newly inaugurated President Jimmy Carter got the Emergency Natural Gas Act (ENGA) passed to fix as much as it could in short-term emergencies. One of the problems that was pointed out and addressed in that act was the ability of gas in intrastate markets to get out of their states into interstate markets.

This problem existed because, back then, if an intrastate pipeline even touched gas destined for interstate markets, it suddenly became a federally regulated interstate pipeline and had to redo everything — that is, become fully regulated by FERC (actually, FERC’s predecessor, the Federal Power Commission) under the Natural Gas Act of 1938 (NGA). This meant that during the natural gas shortages of the 1970s, gas in Texas intrastate pipelines could not leave the state, despite the rest of the country starving for supply.

ENGA provided for intrastate pipelines to feed interstates in an emergency without becoming FERC-regulated. Then, the next year in the NGPA, Congress made that permanent, creating a way to free up access from the intrastate market to the interstate market, to help keep people from freezing in New York. The new rules were written into Section 311 of the NGPA. It allowed intrastates to transport to an interstate pipeline without getting to experience the joys of federal regulation under the NGA. 

Because all this was happening under a different law than the NGA, 311 service got its own set of rules at FERC. The intrastate pipelines could continue to offer intrastate service — for example, a Texas pipeline could use its Texas Railroad Commission tariff to move the gas that remained in-state, and would use a “Statement of Operating Conditions” providing rates and terms and conditions of service on file with FERC to transport gas delivered to interstate pipelines. 

The 311 transportation rates didn’t have to be “just and reasonable” — the standard required for interstate rates — they had to be “fair and equitable.” (Admittedly, it would be hard for anyone but a FERC expert to tell the difference.) In any event, there were two ways an intrastate pipeline could set its rates for 311 service into the interstate market:

1. If it had state-approved rates (as in Texas), it could propose to FERC that it use those, and FERC would “presume” the rates were “fair and equitable” when they took effect. If the rate was challenged, i.e., the presumption was rebutted, FERC could step up and review the work of its state regulator counterparts.
2. If there were no state-approved rates (as in Louisiana), the pipeline would have to make a cost-based showing to support its proposed rates, similar to what an interstate pipeline has to do in a rate case. Once approved by FERC, these rates would be deemed “fair and equitable.”

Remember, all this was going on against a backdrop of “freeing up” the intrastate network (red lines in Figure 1 below) to help out the interstate market (blue lines). So, 311 service was a useful, but somewhat secondary thing going on in the gas market, not changing much even as the market as a whole changed profoundly through restructuring and the Shale Revolution.

Constellation Has A Three-Mile Island Problem -- March 27, 2026

Locator: 50333NUKE. 

From the blog, last October 21, 2025 (it seems a lot longer ago -- but less than a year wow -- so much has happened since October, 2025) -- the link:

Constellation Energy: cover story in Barron's this week. Really amazing. Link here. Includes an interactive map.

That Barron's article is incredibly long for a business article.  

At the time, the lede:

But now. "oh-oh." Link here.

2031? That's five years from now.  

Holy mackerel -- I had a long conversation with ChatGPT about two weeks ago and the chatbot predicted this -- that the hold-up on all these midwest-to-East-coast AI projects would be PJM. Wow. 

It's all about the infrastructure -- in this case, transmission lines. 

Everywhere I look, AI is not leading to a loss of jobs; quite the contrary. Any doubt on that? Take a look on the TSMC story in Phoenix, posted just a few days ago.

That reminds me, one of my best posts ever on why TSMC chose Phoenix -- link here. 

And one of my favorite clippings sent to me by a reader:

Wow, that was quite a rabbit hole.

TSA Pay -- Holy Mackerel -- If The Story Is Accurate -- I Love the Way The New York Times Spins This Story -- Now Asking Why Trump Didn't Do This Five Weeks Ago -- LOL -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50332TSA. 

Link here. 

From The New York Times:

No executive order, emergency or otherwise, would be required to access those funds, which were enacted into law last summer, but Mr. Trump appeared eager to claim credit for releasing them. It was not clear why he had waited more than five weeks after the Department of Homeland Security was shuttered to direct that they be used to pay T.S.A. employees. 

Well, why not? Mr. Trump appeared eager to claim credit for releasing them -- it appears he is releasing them. LOL. 

NPR calls it an "extraordinary act." 

TNYT: should have been done five weeks ago.

NPR: it would be an extraordinary act.

Okay. 

It would be extraordinary if Trump moved funds from DOD to Homeland Security.  

Iran: by the way, Trump reminds reporters who are calling this "excursion" a "war": "it's not a war. Only the US Congress can 'declare war' under the War Powers Act." Paraphrasing.  Playing 5D chess. Trump has two weeks to get things done with being distracted by Congress. Members have gone home for two weeks. 

Market: could this be the best of both worlds? Peace breaks out and the market surges. But WTI remains at $100 for an extended period of time. Can the market surge with $100 oil? Yes, I think so.

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TSA -- ICE 

We'll never see this story in The NYT. It gets tedious.

March Madness Meltdown:  

***********************
The Strait

It looks like President Trump is getting ready to declare "Mission Accomplished" and let the GCC and Iran sort this out. 

Looking more and more like a "Truce -- Korean Outcome" -- a TKO.

Instead of North Korea (China) and South Korea (US), we now have GCC (US) vs Iran (China). 

Wow. 

Meanwhile, the Pentagon (i.e., Mr Hegseth) is considering another 10,000 GI’s being sent to the Mideast to give the President more options.  

March Madness -- Sweet 16 -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50331SPORTS. 

How in the world does a coach not know that he's a man short on a basketball court -- ????

Five doesn't seem that "high" to count.

***********************
More March Madness 

I Would Love To See Beth's Analysis -- The Only Way Nvidia Gets To $20 Trillion Is By Taking A Lot Of Other Companies With Them -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50330NVIDIA. 

Link here. 

Three New Permits -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50329B. 

Operation EPIC FURY: Trump extends deadline for ten days.

TSA: US Congress heads home for two weeks. Truly amazing the Democrats would treat "my fellow Americans" this way. Since the Democrats all agree Iran posed no imminent threat, by default that makes the US Democrats the #1 threat to America's national security. 

********************************
Back to the Bakken 

WTI: $93.62.

Active rigs: 25.

Three new permits, 

• 42791, conf, CLR, Langved FIU 7-2H1, Beaver Lodge, SWSE 2-155-95, to be sited 420 FSL and 2592 FEL; 1920-acre spacing;
• 42792, conf, CLR, Langved FIU 7-2HSL, Beaver Lodge, SWSE 2-155-95, to be sited 420 FSL and 2560 FEL; six-section spacing (3840 acres);
• 42793, conf, Oasis, Rooster 5601 12-8 5B, Tyrone,  NENW 8-156-101; to be sited 528 FSL and 2162 FWL; 1920-acre spacing.

Approved for re-entry:

• 40177, Five States Operating, RH 1-16H, SESW 9-138-99, Rocky Hill, Stark County; 320-acre spacing.

Four permits canceled:

• KODA Resources: four Bock permits, Divide County. 

War In The Mideast? What War?! AI Companies Can't Seem To Move Fast Enough To Build New LDCs! Meanwhile, The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran Are Using Those Dollars to Build Missiles That Often Go Nowhere; The Definition Of Insanity -- March 26, 2025

Locator: 50328LDCS. 

LDCs are tracked here. 

Ohio: link here. Link here.

Another great example of AI.

Beth posts on x that SoftBank is ready to announce a $10 billion LDC but fails to mention location.

My favorite chatbot:

Again, in Ohio.

Wiki doesn't mention this story, in Piketon, Ohio, yet. Link here. But AI does.

LDCs: Bragging Rights For Largest -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50327LDCS. 

AI prompt:

As of April 16, 2025, AI says the largest data center in the US is owned by Meta Platforms, located in Prineville, Oregon. Is this still accurate? 

Reply: 

AI prompt:

META's LDCs: will Hyperion or El Paso be bigger?

Reply:

In the old days, $2 billion was the price to entry (for new LDCs). Now, $10 billion? 

META To Expand Its El Paso Facility From $1.5 Billion to $10 Billion -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50326META. 

LDCs are tracked here. 

Holy mackerel. Folks have no idea how big AI is.

META's LDCs:

• as of April 16, 2025, AI says the largest data center in the US is owned by Meta Platforms, located in Prineville, Oregon. Out in the middle of nowhere, northeast of Bend, Oregon.
• Meta's Richland Parish Data Center, Louisiana: link here. 
• Meta's El Paso Data Center, El Paso, Texas: link here. $10 billion.

This is META's El Paso, Texas, project, from AI, just moments ago.

Breaking: META now plans to spend $10 billion on this data center, up from $1.5 billion. Link here. 

Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Articles -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50325WIKI. 

Wikipedia bans AI-generated articles. The bigger question is whether Wiki human editors / contributors are allowed to use AI for research?

I don't know why and I don't care (why Wiki has banned AI-generated articles). One of the problems I have with Wiki is that Wiki is often not current. Chatbots have a similar problem but chatbots are much quicker to update information. Wiki is slow to update information. 

Bottom line: I trust AI-generated information a whole lot more than what I generally read on the front page of The New York Times. 

***************************
AI vs Wiki

AI prompt: using only wiki sources, what does wiki have to say about the US government announcement that it is investigating three medical schools?

The answer is "intriguing," to say the least:
 

AI prompt: what three medical schools are being investigated by the US government? 

AI reply: 

And, there you have it. 

Wiki will complement other sources, such as chatbots, but, over time, will become less relevant. 

*************************
AI

Generally, AI is only as good as the AI prompt.  

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The Bakken

Wiki: the most recent price analysis -- accessed March 26, 2026 -- "As of January 2015, estimates varied on the break-even oil price for drilling Bakken wells." 

2015? Eleven years ago? 

Meanwhile, from AI:

This gets tedious.

By the way, the chatbots I use include the links. Even to those New York Times links that I don't trust. LOL.

Ticker: PSX -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50324PSX. 

Shortly after posting the graphic below, WTI surged again. Now trading above $95.

WTI Surges -- March 26, 2026

Locator: 50323B. 

IOC: Olympic Committee bars transgender athletes from competing in women's events. This will trickle  down to colleges and then to high schools.

Trump's Iran ultimatum: expires Friday night. Tomorrow, about 36 hours from now. [Later, extended for ten days.]

Updated: EVs that were canceled or delayed in 2025 / 2026. Link here. 

********************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $94.16. Up $3.84; up 4.31%.

Natural gas: has hardly moved (here in the US) this past year -- today -- still under $3.00. 

New wells reporting:

RBN Energy: Iran War roils pricing just after US E&P returns hit four-year lows. Link here. Archived. 

The upstream oil and gas sector has been periodically roiled by dramatic price swings triggered by world events over the last five decades, including the 1970s oil embargo, the 1990-91 Gulf War, the late-1990s Asian financial crisis, the 2008 financial collapse, the onset of COVID in 2020, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and now, the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. The subsequent nearly $40/bbl surge in crude oil prices has taken attention away from the just-released year-end 2025 reports that showed U.S. E&P profits and cash flows have been steadily squeezed by the decline of realizations to a five-year low. In today’s RBN blog, we analyze the impact of bottoming oil prices on earnings and cash flows as the industry girds for an unpredictable 2026.

As shown in Figure 1 below, crude oil prices (gray line and right axis) rapidly gained momentum in late 2020 after plunging to just $16.55/bbl in April of that year, breaking the $50/bbl level in January 2021 and building to a peak above $100/bbl in March-July 2022. U.S. producers, which after decades of reckless spending transitioned to a model that prioritized free cash flow, basked in record returns that were passed along to shareholders. However, prices steadily retreated, lingering in the $70-$80/bbl range from 2023 through the first couple months of 2025 before declining more rapidly in the second half of the year. The average WTI price for December dipped to $57.85/bbl, the lowest since January 2021. (Prices have surged since the start of the war with Iran, settling at $98.23 on March 20.)

Amazon's Spring Sale Started Today -- Will Last Seven Days -- March 25, 2026

Locator: 50322AMAZON. 

You don't have to have a Prime membership to take advantage of the Amazon Spring Sale.  

AI prompt: what percent of Amazon's retail business comes from Prime members vs non-Prime members? With all the perks one gets with Amazon Prime, it's amazing all the folks that buy from Amazon who are not Prime members.

Reply:

Amazon Prime: 180 million Americans.

Apple: installed base of more than 2.5 billion active devices, an increase of 150 million installed active devices from a year earlier.

Covid Cicada -- A New Variant -- March 25, 2026

Locator: 50321COVID. 

Link here. 

Link here. 

Variants and genomic surveillance. Link here. 

Now today being reported in some media outlets:

MacBook Neo -- March 25, 2026

Locator: 50320NEO. 

Tag: Apple AAPL MacBook Neo 

Clearing Out The X-Files -- March 25, 2026

Locator: 50319TECH. 

Note: Apple is tracked here. For the first time ever, I've added an operating system to the page. 

Apple: 

Apple deal with Google gives Apple full access to Gemini inside its own data centers. It also gives Apple the ablity to distill that system into smaller models for its own use. Link here.

The wave of accelerated deployment of AI infrastructure will only intensify the memory hunger of the entire AI ecosystem.

Apple's AI endgame: why waiting for Siri could make it a winner -- Jonny Evans, Computerworld, link here.

While rivals chased hype, Apple built the platform. IOS 27 may be the payoff. 

IOS 27, link here. 

iOS 27 is a mobile operating system planned for release by Apple Inc. in 2026. It is scheduled to be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2026 and officially rolled out to users in September of the same year. 

The iPhone 18 series will come pre-installed with this system. iOS 27 will debut a new Siri chatbot, internally codenamed 'Campos.' This chatbot is built on the Google Gemini 2.5 Pro model and supports intelligent conversations through voice and text input. 

In iOS 27, Siri's functionality will be further enhanced, featuring continuous multi-turn conversation capabilities and deep integration into the Health app and the system. 

The development focus of this system is described as a 'Snow Leopard-style update,' emphasizing underlying performance optimization and stability improvements, while also providing software adaptation for the rumored foldable iPhone.

Apple sales:

Oracle:

Only Oracle has two representatives on the newly formed President's Council of Advisors on Science & Technology. Link here.

The initial members of the newly formed President's Council of Advisors (link here). Note who isn't mentioned:

• Marc Andreesen, Mosaic;
• Sergey Brin, Google;
• Safra Catz, Oracle;
• Michael Dell,
• Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo;
• Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase (crypto);
• Larry Ellison, Oracle;
• David Friedberg, link;
• Jensen Huang, Nvidia;
• John Martinis, quantum computing, Google Quantum AI Lab;
• Bob Mumgaard, fusion energy;
• Lisa Su, AMD, 
• Mark Zuckerberg, META

******************************
NCAA Women's Basketball

UVA is the first "Four Team" to ever make the "Sweet 16."

Link here.  

UVA Cavaliers (21-11), ranked 10th, beat Iowa Hawkeyes (27-6), ranked 2nd.

Two overtimes. In the second overtime:

• Cavaliers: 18 points
• Hawkeyes: 10 points

Final, not even close: 83 - 75.

Extended highlights, YouTube, link here.

My Favorite Chart -- MMFs -- For Data Through February 28, 2026

Locator: 50318MMFS. 

My favorite chart. MMFs. 

Data updated March 16, 2026.

Link here. 

After the big jump in January, 2020, Covid-19) it appears that Schwab had the biggest jump (on a percentage basis), around April, 2023. Falling the most at that time, again on a percentage basis, appeared to be Morgan Stanley but I could be very, very wrong. The graph is very hard to read.  

Zooming in, one can see that mutual fund assets hit a new record:

 

US Savings Rate -- March 25, 2026

Locator: 50317SAVINGSRATE. 

Previous post re: US savings rate, link here. 

Update, link here. 

Most recent graph: 

Wow, that looks like quite a change. In fact, pay close attention to the y coordinate.

The previous three months, each month: a savings rate of 4.1%.

The most recent month for which we have data, January, 2026: 4.5%.

If the y axis had been stretched from 0 to 10.0, the change might have been unnoticed. 

But the y axis is from about 4.0 to about 5.6, so the change was much more noticeable. 

Phoenix Operating With Six New Permits; Six Permits Renewed; Price Of Oil Is Irrelevant -- In Terms Of "Accuracy" -- March 25, 2025

Locator: 50316B. 

CENTCOM: daily briefings are becoming irrelevant. They need to do better.  

UAE / Saudi Arabia: same page as Israel with regard to the war. 

***************************
Back to the Bakken 

WTI: $90.32.

Active rigs: 25.

Six new permits, #42785 - #42790, inclusive:

• Operator: Phoenix Operating.
• Oil Fields: Kittleson Slough; Noonan
• Comments:
• Phoenix Operating has permits for five Caddysack wells, NWNW 27-162-95, 
• to be sited 410 FNL and 686 / 806 FWL; spacing units for all -- 1920-acre units.
• Phoenix Operating has a permit for T Johnson Fed well, SESW 29-158-92, 
• to be sited 365 FSL and 2008 FWL; 1920-acre unit.

Six permits renewed:

• BR: four HBU Hazel permits, Haystack Butte, McKenzie County;
• Formentera Operations: two RNL1 permits, Lignite; Burke County; 

Putting "Halo Vista" Into Perspective -- March 25, 2026

Locator: 50315TSMC. 

I still get a kick out of all the folks who tell me "AI is going to take away all the jobs." This suggests otherwise.  

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Putting This Into Perspective

Hudson Yards

• Manhattan; waterfront, Hudson River
• $25 billion
• 18 million square feet
• most expensive private real estate development in the history of the US

Springwoods Village

• Spring, TX
• north of Houston, TX
• $10 billion
• multi-purpose business center

Citycenter, Las Vegas

• $9 billion
• 16.7 million-square-foot complex
• at the time the largest privately financed development in the US

Centennial Yards / The Gulch, Atlanta

• $5 billion
• 8 million square feet of mixed-use space

Water Street Tampa, Florida

• ongoing
• $3.5 billion
• downtown Tampa, mixed-use

Halo Vista is distinct because it is being built specifically as a "support city" for the $65 billion to $165 billion TSMC campus.

Thrivent -- Holdings -- EOY -- 2025

Locator: 50316THRIVENT.

Note: in any of my blogs, there will be typographical and content errors. This blog is not meant for readers other than my extended family, but I post the blog without restrictions because this is the fastest way I can get information to my extended family members. This is not an investment site. See blog's disclaimer. Please feel free to fact check. Comments are heavily moderated.     

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Disclaimer
Briefly

Briefly: 

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.

I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

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 something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.

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. 

Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution.

I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.

Longer version here.   

 

TSMC -- Phoenix -- Update -- March 25, 2026

Locator: 50315TSMC. 

I still get a kick out of all the folks who tell me "AI is going to take away all the jobs." This suggests otherwise.  

In this case, "halo" means "wrap around." This development will "wrap around" TSMC.  

The headline, link here:  

A reader sent me this link / story. Thank you very, very much.

I vividly remember the pushback I got when I posted, with obvious excitement, that TSMC would build in Phoenix. When was that?

Now, today, I asked Google Gemini whether TSMC would be the bigger company in Phoenix in the next five years, either by revenue or facility size (square feet)? This was the reply:

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The Maps 

Also, note location of USAA, Mayo Clinic, Farmers Insurance, and the airport.

Meanwhile, another city in another desert is getting pummeled.