AAPL Had A Good Day -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50904APPLE. Most of this was previously published, earlier today.

See disclaimer: I am inappropriately bullish on Apple (AAPL). Link here. 

Updates

June 4, 2026: MacBook Neo -- 

Smartphone Tech meets Desktop: By utilizing the A18 Pro smartphone chip (previously reserved for the iPhone 16 Pro), Apple achieved extreme efficiency at a lower production cost. 

It can handle 4K video editing, heavy browser workflows, and even light gaming, easily outperforming budget processors from Intel and AMD.

June 4, 2026: MacBook Neo -- 

June 4, 2026: anticipation -- 

June 4, 2026:

• Amazon; undercuts Apple with quicker MacBook Neo delivery and discounted price (not by much); link here;

• MacBook Neo: so popular, Apple reported doubled production, link here.

• MacBook Neo: disrupts PC market, link here.

• MacBook Neo: outsold very other Mac in its debut quarter, link here. Previously posted. 

June 3, 2026: two major story lines here ... 

• Apple's inexpensive new MacBook Neo has sent shock waves ... link here. 

• MacBook Newo returns to top of Amazon laptop charts even at IDC says Apple sold over a milliion launch ... link here. 

Original Post  

Ticker: today -- a new all-time high -- just 3% -- 

One day:

 Five days:

Past month: 

Right now, Apple is hitting on all cylinders:

• the Mac mini: highly sought by all, and margins have apparently increased significantly;
• after getting rid of the smaller mini, Apple is now keeping only the larger one, and,
• everyone wants it! Posted earlier. 
• the M1 MacBook Air: customers can't get enough; this was launched in 2020;
• the M5 is just starting to gain traction as it goes into WWDC
• now, the NEO
• provides services on 2.3 billion active mobile devices (needs to be fact checked) 

Updates

June 2, 2026: link here. 

From the linked article:

The figure is particularly striking given that the laptop was only available for roughly three weeks of the period, having gone on sale in mid-March. Shipments began spiking from early April, suggesting the March tally understates underlying demand. 

By comparison, the M5 MacBook Air shipped over 900,000 units in its debut quarter, while the M5 MacBook Pro shipped 550,000.

Apple introduced the ‌MacBook Neo‌ in early March with a starting price of $599, which is roughly 45% below the entry-level ‌MacBook Air‌. The laptop features an aluminum chassis and a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, but uses an A18 Pro chip rather than an M-series processor, along with 8GB of RAM, to reach the lower price point.

Of the units shipped globally during the quarter, 44% went to the U.S., while India accounted for approximately 18,000 shipments despite the short availability window, with retailers reportedly struggling to secure adequate inventory.

Counterpoint Research said that the ‌MacBook Neo‌'s significance extends beyond its early sales, noting that it is helping Apple compete in lower-priced notebook segments where Macs have historically had little presence.

Original Post 

See disclaimer. 

Link here. Apple's M1 MacBook Air refuses to die. Released in 2020 -- that's six years ago -- Apple is now offering an M1 MacBook Air. 

I have the "M1," the "M-one." Have had it for six years?

My wife has the M4.

M1 / NEO: very old / very new, very affordable -- 

M5: very, very new; somewhat expensive --  

Four New Permits; Five DUCs Reported As Completed -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50903B.

For the archives:

Earlier today: 

Warning: I'm not in a good mood. I was headed to the pool when we were hit with a downpour. I checked the weather app before I left the apartment -- nothing -- all clear and "real feel" was 100+°F.  So, now, stuck in the apartment for an hour or so -- when the thunderstorm / lightning storm should dissipate. [Later: it's supposed to clear w/n the hour but now it's hailing. I'm not getting any happier!][Later: weather cleared; 8:00 p.m. Perfect for swimming! All's right with the world.]

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $94.03. This is not what they were "predicting" last week. [Later: $94.65.]

Active rigs: 30.

Four new permits, #42991 - #42994, inclusive:

• Operators: Phoenix Operating (3); Hess
• Fields: Skabo, Dollar Joe
• Comments:
• Phoenix Operating has permits for three Brynn Ferrari wells, NEW 22-160-98, 
• to be sited 900 FNL and 1855 / 1945 FWL;
• Hess has a permit for a GO-Blake wells, lot 1, section 6-156-97; 
• to be sited 455 FNL and 814 FEL.

Wow, five producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 41652, 2,142, CLR, Rose Federal 4-34H, Williams County;
• 41774, 1,929, CLR, Rose Federal 2-34H, Williams County;
• 41775, 2,085, CLR, Rose Federal 3-34H, Williams County;
• 41776, 1,092, CLR, Willey 6-3H, Williams County;
• 42228, 930, Whiting, Paulson Federal 5104 44-13 5B, McKenzie County; a "5+1" pad; the early well, #21594.

The maps: I might right about these Phoenix Operating wells later, up in Divide County, north of Williston:

Apple Computers Are Literally The Best Deal On Earth -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50904APPLE.

Right now, Apple is hitting on all cylinders:

• the Mac mini: highly sought by all, and margins have apparently increased significantly;
• after getting rid of the smaller mini, Apple is now keeping only the larger one, and,
• everyone wants it! Posted earlier. 
• the M1 MacBook Air: customers can't get enough; this was launched in 2020;
• the M5 is just starting to gain traction as it goes into WWDC
• now, the NEO
• provides services on 2.3 billion active mobile devices (needs to be fact checked) 

Updates

June 2, 2026: link here. 

From the linked article:

The figure is particularly striking given that the laptop was only available for roughly three weeks of the period, having gone on sale in mid-March. Shipments began spiking from early April, suggesting the March tally understates underlying demand. 

By comparison, the M5 MacBook Air shipped over 900,000 units in its debut quarter, while the M5 MacBook Pro shipped 550,000.

Apple introduced the ‌MacBook Neo‌ in early March with a starting price of $599, which is roughly 45% below the entry-level ‌MacBook Air‌. The laptop features an aluminum chassis and a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, but uses an A18 Pro chip rather than an M-series processor, along with 8GB of RAM, to reach the lower price point.

Of the units shipped globally during the quarter, 44% went to the U.S., while India accounted for approximately 18,000 shipments despite the short availability window, with retailers reportedly struggling to secure adequate inventory.

Counterpoint Research said that the ‌MacBook Neo‌'s significance extends beyond its early sales, noting that it is helping Apple compete in lower-priced notebook segments where Macs have historically had little presence.

Original Post 

See disclaimer. 

Link here. Apple's M1 MacBook Air refuses to die. Released in 2020 -- that's six years ago -- Apple is now offering an M1 MacBook Air. 

I have the "M1," the "M-one." Have had it for six years?

My wife has the M4.

M1 / NEO: very old / very new, very affordable -- 

M5: very, very new; somewhat expensive --  

 

Incredibly Good Jobs Report -- Far Exceeds What Was Forecast -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50901JOBS.

Best in almost two years. 

AI For The Classroom -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50901AI.

You can howl at the wind, but AI is here to stay.

From the article:

Estonia’s project is one of the most high-profile showcases in a new commercial race for the educational AI market that some analysts predict will total tens of billions of dollars annually by 2030. Across the U.S., school districts are putting AI in classrooms, including Florida’s Miami-Dade County, which is providing Gemini for Education to 100,000 high-school students and teachers. 

Researchers in Estonia, working with Stanford University and OpenAI, have been measuring students’ cognitive skills and attitudes toward learning, both before the rollout and after. They hope to announce early results later this year, one of the first large-scale looks at what impact coordinated AI adoption has on skills such as reasoning, retention and confidence.

Reception from students has been mixed. Some say they use it to explore a topic or to help drill for exams, while others want the unfiltered ChatGPT to do their homework for them. Another contingent hates AI altogether and wants nothing to do with it.

Query: Mutual Funds VS ETFs -- Have Money Managers Found A New Pot Of Gold? June 2, 2026

Locator: 50901INVESTING.

A nice follow-on question: The "load" mutual fund has all but disappeared. What "killed" the "load" mutual fund: discount brokers (like Schwab) or smarter investors helped by a transparent internet?

Answer: it was both. Led by Schwab and Vanguard. 

Chart Of The Day -- SCCO -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50900SCCO.

One year ago, SCCO was trading for under $90. 

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BRKB And APPL 

Nvidia Will Struggle To Save The PC -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50899PCS.

The problem: folks don't need high-end PCs. Apple is noting that. 

Nice update regarding PCs.

Over at Barron's. Link here. 

A new kind of PC, even one armed with an Nvidia chip, will be an uphill climb. Amid a memory shortage, it could hardly be a worse moment to be launching a new PC platform. 

The history is tough too: a 15-year project of expanding Windows PCs beyond Intel and Advanced Micro Devices has seen little payoff.

Steep memory price hikes are hurting sales of all kinds of consumer electronics, nowhere more so than in PCs. Market research firms and PC makers alike expect unit sales to shrink by almost 20% in the second half of this year, with most of the damage coming in low-price tiers. Among other mitigation efforts, manufacturers are raising prices.

Ironically, it’s Nvidia, the data-center chip maker, that’s responsible for much of the shortage in the first place. 

This year, just five companies may spend over three-quarters of a trillion dollars on AI data centers, and much of that goes for Nvidia chips. Each of Nvidia’s coming Vera Rubin servers essentially uses the memory equivalent of 14,500 MacBook Neos.

Nvidia is likely targeting the high end of the PC market, which is less affected by the memory price hikes. The bigger problem for Nvidia is years of false starts when it comes to running Microsoft Windows on anything but x86 chips.

Since IBM chose an Intel CPU for its first PC in 1980, chips based around the x86 architecture have run Microsoft DOS and Windows PCs. AMD also makes x86 PC chips and has about a quarter of the market now.

Microsoft has tried to break its x86 reliance, with little success. Chips using architecture from Arm Holdings now dominate smartphones and Apple MacBooks, but they have been notably absent from Windows PCs; Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Nvidia have been trying to change that since 2011, and it’s still a work in progress.

Maybe This Needs To Be Posted Twice -- World's Largest LNG Buyer Stepped Up Purchases Ahead Of Peak Summer Demand -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50898LNG.

Holy mackerel! US LNG exports in March hit an all-time record, and it wasn't by a little. Exports surged! Link here.

The world's largest LNG buyer stepped up purchases ahead of peak summer demand, reversing a months-long decline following disruptions to Middle East supplies. 

Link here.

China's liquefied natural gas imports rebounded in May as the world's largest buyer stepped up purchases ahead of peak summer demand, reversing a months-long decline following disruptions to Middle East supplies.

LNG deliveries to China rose to 4.9 million tons in May, marginally higher than a year ago, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s a stark reversal from the year-on-year contractions seen in previous months. April’s imports fell to the lowest level in eight years as higher prices triggered by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz weighed on demand.

The Iran war has choked shipments from the Persian Gulf, which typically accounts for a third of China’s supply. The drop in LNG deliveries from Qatar has been offset by an increase from exporters including Canada, Malaysia, Oman and Russia, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Declining gas inventories and the prospect of a hot summer this year have also compelled companies to buy more from the spot market.... 

China’s increased appetite could tighten global supply as competition between Europe and Asia heats up for spare cargoes ahead of winter restocking requirements. Europe is so far lagging, with its 30-day moving average for deliveries down 13 percent year-over-year ....

China's imports have remained soft over the past year as buyers have shied away from expensive LNG to rely on cheaper pipeline gas, as well as other substitutes such as coal and renewables ... 

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Europe

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Meanwhile, A Different Story For Oil

Link here. 

Marvell Technology Is Soaring -- What Does Marvell Do? Jue 2, 2026

Locator: 50897TECH.

Tag: Marvell Technology CoreWeave  AMD Intel

 What legacy tech companies do what Marvell does? How does Marvell differ from CoreWeave?

AI -- You Can Howl At The Wind, But AI Is Here To Stay -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50896LDCs. 

Tag: LDCs 

I received a three-page letter in Norwegian this past week (long story). I don't know Norwegian but I "submitted" it to ChatGPT and ChatGPT not only translated it, but ChatGPT also explained the Norwegian "way" of writing such letters and the etymology of some of the Norwegian words. 

Absolutely incredible. Those who are "negative" about ChatGPT ... well, what can I say?

Map: Data Center Map -- link here. 

Virginia, Texas, and Georgia recorded the largest increase in the number of LDCs in the past month. All other states remain unchanged. I added Tennessee to the list below this week (June 2, 2026).

Top states, change from previous update (April 1, 2026 -- link here):

• Virginia: 579 --> 601-->603-->609
• Texas: 411 --> 441-->461-->464
• California: 289 --> 288-->287 -->287
• Illinois: 232 --> 228-->228-->228
• Georgia: 214 --> 213-->213-->219
• Ohio: 201-->204-->204-->204
• Arizona: 163 -->157-->156-->156
• New York: 133 --> 132 --> 132-->132
• Indiana: 89 --> 122-->122-->122
• Iowa: 96 --> 101-->102-->102
• Missouri: 91 -->91
• Tennessee: 61 

The USofA currently has 4313 data centers (up from 4287data centers in May, 2026) listed, from 50 states in USA (America). Click on a state at the link, to explore the data center locations.

Tuesday Morning -- June 2, 2026

Locator: 50895B. 

WTI: $90.79.

New wells reporting:

• Thursday, June 4, 2026: 2 for the month, 158 for the quarter, 315 for the year,  
• 42003, conf, Slawson, Cannonball Federal 6-27-34H,
• Wednesday, June 3, 2026: 1 for the month, 157 for the quarter, 314 for the year, 
• None.
• Tuesday, June 2, 2026: 1 for the month, 157 for the quarter, 314 for the year, 
• None.

RBN Energy: US propane market's shifting trends around storage, production and exports. Link here. Archived here.

The U.S. propane market typically follows predictable trends. With much of domestic demand occurring in the colder months, storage volumes build in the summer and are withdrawn in the winter. Over the past month, that trend has been upended, with storage withdrawals in three of the last five weeks. Since mid-April, inventories have increased by only 1.2 MMbbl; in 2025, they grew by 9.6 MMbbl over the same period. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll explore what is going on in the propane market and why.

Figure 1 below shows U.S. storage levels for propane/propylene as reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR). The gray area shows the five-year high/low range for storage, while the green line shows the five-year average. The blue line shows storage for 2025, and the red line shows it for 2026 through May 22. 

Figure 1. Total U.S. Weekly EIA Propane/Propylene Inventories. Source: EIA

Four New Permits; Two DUCs Reported As Completed -- June 1, 2026 -- Posted June 2, 2026

Locator: 50895B. 

WTI: $90.75.

Active rigs: 29.

Four new permits, #42987 - #42990, inclusive:

• Operator: Phoenix Operating
• Field: Skabo (Divide County)
• Comments:
• Phoenix Operating has permits for four new Gina Ferrari wells, SWSW 13-160-98, to be sited 269 / 539 FSL and 1145 FWL.

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 41777, 1,235, CLR, Willey 7-3H, Williams County; 
• 42132, 873, EOG, Mandaree 139-0706H, McKenzie County;