Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Market Today -- January 30, 2024

Locator: 46688INV.

Major indices: Dow, S&P 500 both turn positive midday after earnings start to come out; NASDAQ off 60 points but that's almost all due to. AAPL. Rest of NASDAQ doing well. For confirmation, check out the chips. 

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.

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

Personal investing: today I bought -- both are in my investment buckets --

  • Daimler trucking for the grandsons in Portland, OR; and,
  • SNAP

NVID vs AMD vs BRK over five years (the one-year graphs would look very similar):




 

Amazon Logistics -- Commentary -- January 30, 2024

Locator: 46687AMZN.

Amazon, UPS, FedEx: our apartment complex is about five minutes from the DFW airport which is surrounded by Amazon fulfillment centers and international Amazon hubs. Amazon keeps building inside, outside, and in-between.

  • inside: robots, AI, logistics
  • outside: new huge facilities
  • in-between: brand new vans

In our apartment complex, this is what I'm seeing:

  • no less than six brand new Amazon vans make deliveries between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. everyday of the week, (that's almost 24/7)
  • we generally see one FedEx truck come through every day but generally not on weekends
  • I assume Big Brown -- UPS -- comes through the complex every day, but it seems there are days that I don't recall a Big Brown van coming by at all
    • Big Brown used to be a big deal in the apartment complex; no more
  • Amazon is no longer a two-day delivery service; it's hardly even a one-day delivery service any more; even for routine stuff I don't need right away, when I put in an order I will get it in less than six hours
    • for our Mardi Gras party two days ago (Sunday), I ordered something Sunday late morning and it arrived at 5:00 p.m. the same day -- this was on a Sunday
    • Amazon can almost always get me routine deliveries overnight but I generally request a later delivery day (usually one day later) so multiple orders can arrive at the same time
      • Amazon provides me an incentive for that option -- I actually can't recall the incentive because I don't care about the incentive; I just want my orders lumped together
      • more and more I order non-perishable (especially paper products, K-cups, etc) by subscription; saves an incredible 15% -- results in less spending at local grocery stores;
  • when FedEx (or Big Brown) comes through, the delivery man jumps out and carries a single package, often a big envelope -- incredibly inefficient and expensive --  measured by items delivered per driver, per van, per route 
    • FedEx vans are generally in bad shape; look old, worn out, old tires
  • when the Amazon driver jumps out, he has several boxes and it's not unusual to see the driver make multiple returns to the truck to pick up more items at same stop
    • bright, shiny new vans 
  • not mentioned? USPS -- clearly exceeds deliveries by FedEx and Big Brown combined

I could write much more -- especially on the business model but I have to move on, but look at these four ways for Americans to mail packages. Which one -- one -- is the outlier?

  • US Postal Service
  • FedEx
  • UPS -- Big Brown
  • Amazon

UPS: implodes; it's a one off but this is huge; miss on revenue; beat on earnings; 12,000 jobs cut. But as noted, it's a one-off: poorly run; loss to FedEx, and, of course, the 600-pound gorilla, Amazon. 



Three Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today -- Januuary 30, 2024

Locator: 46686B.

Busy, busy day. Lots of earnings, analysis, observations but that will all have to wait.

Cramer: we've moved from disinflation to deflation. For the Fed, the economy is going their way. 

Trans Mountain hits another delay: drilling anomaly. 

Coal: cheaper coal could make Turkey Europe's largest coal-burning nation. It doesn't help that the Red Sea is closed. And it seems the US Navy can't change that. Peter Zeihan wrote about this years ago.  

Cleveland-Cliffs: this is pretty amazing. Record shipping this past year. Great earnings; great guidance, Shares up 4%.

Brazil: fuel imports from Russia surge to record highs. Link here.

But two things were predictable: GM and Amazon.

UPS: implodes; it's a one off but this is huge; miss on revenue; beat on earnings; 12,000 jobs cut. But as noted, it's a one-off: poorly run; loss to FedEx, and, of course, the 600-pound gorilla, Amazon. I'll talk about this again later. It's a big, big deal.


GDPNow estimate, 1Q24: 3.0%. Whoo-hoo. Link here. A reminder:

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $76.12.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024: 59 for the month; 59 for the quarter, 59 for the year
39728, conf, WPX, Bull Moose 28-27HEL,
39112, conf,  Hess, EN-Hegland-155-94-0508H-5, see production data here;
38991, conf, Whiting, Bigfoot 42-26-2TFHU,

Tuesday, January 30, 2024: 56 for the month; 56 for the quarter, 56 for the year
39727, conf, WPX, Bull Moose 28-27HZ,
39538, conf, Hess, EN-Enger-156-94-1423H-7, see production data here;
39111, conf, Hess, EN-Hegland-155-94-0508H-4, see production data here;

RBN Energy: Canada's natural gas market remains mired in oversupply at midwinter.

The current winter heating season in Canada has seen extremes of warmth and cold, but much more of the former than the latter. Given that the Canadian natural gas market was already oversupplied and struggling with record-high gas storage levels as winter approached, even the most intense cold blast in mid-January wasn’t enough to return the supply/demand balance north of the 49th parallel to anything near normal. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss where the Canadian market stands as the calendar turns to February and what that might mean for end-of-winter gas balances. 

The current heating season across North America has proven to be one of the more unusual in recent years. Blowtorch warmth in November and (especially) December was followed by a bone-chilling cold blast for many of us through about half of January. The crazy swings in Canadian heating loads have left the natural gas market — at just past the halfway point of the heating season — in more of a dazed state than is usually the case. The extreme fluctuations have also greatly affected market balances in such a way that a distinct overhang of gas supply, present since late last summer, seems likely to persist to the end of the current heating season and into the summer of 2024.

Monday, January 29, 2024

SCCO Cuts Dividend -- January 29, 2024

Locator: 46685DIV.

From $1.00 to 80 cents. Payable 2/29/24.



Grayson Mill Cuda Wells -- Round Prairie West Of Williston -- January 29, 2024

Locator: 46684B.

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Updated March 21, 2024

 Williams County deed:


NDIC - Grayson Mill permit:


Scout ticket
:


Production
:

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As Of January 29, 2024

A reader asked about these DUCs which were reported to have been completed January 9, 2024:

  • 39754, 1,925, Grayson Mill, Cuda 14-26F 1H, Round Prairie, super long horizontal;
  • 39755, 1,959, Grayson Mill, Cuda 14-26F 2H, Round Prairie, super long horizontal;
  • 39756, 2,177, Grayson Mill, Cuda 14-26F XE, Round Prairie, super long horizontal;

Initial production:

  • 39754, 1,925, Grayson Mill, Cuda 14-26F 1H, Round Prairie, super long horizontal; t11/23; cum --;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN11-2023481260414847606
  • 39755, 1,959, Grayson Mill, Cuda 14-26F 2H, Round Prairie, super long horizontal; t11/23; cum --;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN11-2023481260411553606
  • 39756, 2,177, Grayson Mill, Cuda 14-26F XE 1H, Round Prairie, super long horizontal, t11/23; cum --;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN11-20232098759448420587528317497

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Wells Of Interest

All three recently taken off line; still offline, January 29, 2029.

  • 20128, IA/563, Grayson Mill, Short Prairie 3-1415H, t8/11; cum 149K 8/23;
  • 20152, IA/805, Grayson Mill, Short Prairie 4-2322H, t1/12; cum 143K 8/23;
  • 20150, IA/575, Grayson Mill, Short Prairie 5-2627TFH, t9/11; cum 161K 8/23;

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The Maps