Friday, February 20, 2026

Phoenix Capital Group -- February 20, 2026

Locator: 50015PCG.

I have no interest in this case. Others interested in the Bakken may. 

Link here. There is an interesting line in the linked article, which led to the following:



 

Tariffs -- SCOTUS -- 10:00 A.M. ET -- The Ruling Is In -- February 20, 2026

Locator: 50014TARIFFS
Locator: 50014SCOTUS

Updates

Later, 11:20 a.m. ET; one hour twenty minutes after SCOTUS released its ruling: Sara Eisen, of the various talking heads on CNBC, seems the most knowledgeable and articulate. Carl Q must be elated but he would never show his hand on network television. He does that on x and Bluesky

Original Post

 170 pages. 

CNBC won't release any "comments" until they've gone through it line-by-line.

Evan: Trump's tariffs struck down. [Scooped CNBC by about one minute.]


CNBC was scooped! By Evan!

What's the market doing:

  • AAPL: turned green. Near mid-day, about two hours after the SCOTUS ruling, AAPL is up over $2.00. 
  • SCCO: up $2.75 
  • CAT: had been red before the ruling, now turns green 
    • wow, wow, wow -- up almost $5 / share 
    • at 9:30 a.m., CAT traded at $755. A high of $767 at 10:10 a.m. ET -- just ten minutes after ruling released 
    • of the few tickers (maybe 10) that I'm most interested in, CAT has had the most out-sized move -- and in my favor -- whoo-hoo! 
  • the three:
    • WMT: down 2%
    • AMZN: up 2%
    • AVGO: flat
  • in general, Big Oil appears to be down after the ruling. 
  • major indices: 


This is huge:

SCOTUS:

  • president can "regulate" US trade but can't do it through tariffs. My words. 
  • reaffirms the US constitution that the US Congress has that authority but can be delegated to the president by the US Congress
    • SCOTUS ruling suggests the president simply went too far 
    • 6 - 3 decision -- Kavanaugh, Clarence, and Alito dissented, 
    • a divided court 

The court ruled against Trump can't use a specific act ... but there are so many other avenues ... bottom line:

  • a political story;
  • short term, huge win for US investors 
  • long term, lots of thoughts.

At the end of the day -- the court has threaded the needle. I'm impressed.

My wife will be thrilled: political.

Me? I'm thrilled: portfolio.  

But by the end of the day, those early gains will all be "lost." 

Again, it's all going to be political. Bottom line for me: again, US Congress failed by not being specific .... left the door open for SCOTUS to make this ruling. 

************************
John Maynard Keynes 

This appears to be accurate based on all I've read recently with regard to John Maynard Keynes, from Google Gemini:

It is more accurate to say that Keynes was a pragmatist rather than a dogmatic global free trader. He believed in free trade when it served economic growth, but he was willing to support protectionism or managed trade when necessary to tackle unemployment and financial crises. He was a champion of national economic sovereignty, not unconditional globalization. 

In this case, Keynes might have agreed that the US was not at great risk when Trump came back into office with regard to any unemployment / financial crisis, and that, regardless of how the law written by Congress / interpreted by SCOTUS, the outcome was appropriate. I can't speak for Keynes and everyone has their own opinion but that's mine. The neat thing: I couldn't even have come this far without engaging in discussions with ChatGPT. 

I sent a thank-you note to ChatGPT for engaging in many discussions with me over the past few weeks with regard to Keynes, Hayek, and Friedman. The discussions helped me understand the SCOTUS ruling a whole lot more than if I had not had those discussions.  

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APPLE

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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 am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.
  • Longer version here.   
  • The Board Of Peace -- February 20, 2026

    Locator: 50013B

    Link here

    The Pope: feels the issue is either-or -- either the UN or the BOP, but not both. Very, very sad, coming from a "man of peace," unwilling to try "whatever it takes."  

    TGIF -- February 20, 2026

    Locator: 50012B

    WTI: just hit a new "recent" high. Trending toward $67, but somewhat volatile.  

    First ten minutes of Cramer

    • Gobsmacked (negatively) with GDP number! 1.4% vs 2.5% estimate. What happened!!
    • First company mentioned: CAT! Over and over the first ten minutes the discussion came back to CAT 

    Apple: another Apple first -- Apple grabs 33% of Europe market -- Apple is the leading smarphone brand in Europe -- record hit 4Q25.

    Apple satellite: saved lives in that Lake Tahoe avalanche earlier this week. Apple soon to expand that connectivity. Link here.

    Apple: out of stock at Walmart -- link here --  

    ND LDC: Williston, ND, currently has largest LDC in North Dakota! Will eventually lose that bragging right to the Fargo area.  

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

    WTI: $66.22.

    New wells reporting:

    • Sunday, February 22, 2026: 43 for the month, 96 for the quarter, 96 for the year,
      • 41457, conf, Phoenix Operating, Daniel Ferrari 3-10-15-22-3H, 
      • 41455, conf, Phoenix Operating, Daniel Ferrari 3-10-15-22-5H, 
      • 41323, conf, Phoenix Operating, Daniel Ferrari 3-10-15-22 4H, 
    • Saturday, February 21, 2026: 40 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 93 for the year,
      • 41370, conf, Hess, EN-Hanson A-155-94-0607H-7, 
    • Friday, February 20, 2026: 39 for the month, 92 for the quarter, 92 for the year,
      • 41241, conf, Hunt, Clearwater 157-90-13-12H-2, 
      • 41153, conf, Oasis, Sedge Federal 5202 24-17 5B, 
      • 41152, conf, Oasis, Sedge Federal 5202 24-17 4B, 

    RBN Energy: pipeline buildout set to unlock Permian natural gas production growth later in 2026. Link here. Archived.

    This year will be a tale of two halves for the prolific Permian Basin, which is so constrained when it comes to natural gas infrastructure that cash prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas have averaged just $0.06/MMBtu since the beginning of December, even including the higher prices during the freeze-offs caused by Winter Storm Fern. Production and pricing figure to remain fairly stable until the back half of this year, when 4.5 Bcf/d of new pipeline capacity comes online, giving the basin room to grow for the first time in a long time. In today’s RBN blog, we take a look at the Permian production outlook and the new infrastructure coming to allow for the promised supply growth. 

    The Permian Basin, which includes West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is a prolific producer of natural gas but it is not a very large consumer. While some production is needed to meet local demand (light-green layer in Figure 1 below), the majority of it needs to leave the basin (dark-green layer). That means that a lot of pipeline capacity is needed to transport the gas to more demand-rich areas. The basin’s effective takeaway capacity (red line) is the sum of all the pipelines out of the area, with some caveats for gas flowing to Mexico and the West because of downstream constraints and ongoing pipeline issues. As the basin becomes more constrained (when the red line moves closer to the dark-green area), the lower Waha prices move. The last time the Permian market was this constrained was in 2024.