Locator: 48485MMFS.
My favorite chart. MMFs.
I remember not too long ago, the y-axis went to $6 trillion. Now? Trending toward $8 trillion.
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The Movie Page
The most relevant movie one can watch periodically over the next three or four years, at least once a year, perhaps twice a year: Citizen Kane.
Locator: 48484B.
Venture Global LNG commences operations at Calcasieu Pass, link here:
US coal, link here:
Pronounced "H-twenty processors: H20, in this context, has nothing to do with water. LOL.
Trump relaxes restrictions; will let Nvidia export to China high-end chips especially made for China but it will result in a $5.5 billion charge to Nvidia. It seems folks forgot that Trump could have banned all chips made in America from being exported to China. My advice: Nvidia would be better off concentrating on chips for the US market. This is huge (and good news) for making America great. If this is "all about" China, imagine the technology gap that is widening between the US and Europe. Remember: just yesterday, it was announced two supercomputers to be built in Texas (Houston and Dallas, which will results in 100's of thousands of jobs).
Let's get a grip here, folks:
Getting more gassy, link here, but regular readers already knew that. It's actually good news:
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Back to the Bakken
WTI: $61.33.
Active rigs: 32.
Six new permits, #41810 - #41816, inclusive:
Locator: 48483TOPSTORIES.
President Trump has been in office for only 84 days (or thereabouts)
Latest GDP 1Q25 estimate: - 2.4. GDPNow.******************************************
Top Stories
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The First 100 Days
January 20, 2025 - April 30, 2025
Thirteenth Week Of President Trump's Presidency
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The Top Stories
TOP STORY: Pope Francis passes away peacefully (stroke), 7:30 a.m. local time, Vatican, Easter Monday, April 21, 2025.
Photo-op of the day: Margaritaville in El Salvador with US Democratic senator and a notorious MS-13 gang-banger. LOL. Sort of reminds me of Obama's beer summit (2009).
Biggest story of the week:
Top stories of the week:
Top international energy story:
Top national non-energy stories:
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:
Locator: 48482ARCHIVES.
For the archives. Definitely not ready for prime time. Intended audience: immediate and extended family members, no one else, except perhaps friends and colleagues and my Schwab broker. LOL.
Disclaimer: I am inappropriately enthusiastic about Schwab. That's me. I'm not recommending Schwab for anyone except for my immediate and extended family members. This note is for the archives for my immediate and extended family members and no one else. I am not disparaging any other financial institutions in the note below. I'm simply making the case that for my needs, Schwab is my choice. For others, there will be other solutions. I have no relationship with Schwab except as an investor / account holder.
For the archives.
I've had accounts and investments in numerous financial institutions over the last fifty years of my life:
So, what is that? Upwards of two dozen different financial institutions for various reasons.
Except perhaps for life / casualty insurance, everything I've ever done when it comes to financial matters could have been done with Schwab.
For the past several years I've been talking to extended family members about investing for financial independence (I don't like to call it investing for retirement).
My son-in-law, a US Navy submarine XO in a former life, a Harvard MBA, and CIO for a Fortune 500 company headquartered overseas, never considered Schwab as an option.
Our two older granddaughters had earned income for the first time in their lives and both are now 18 years old or older, allowing them to open their own financial accounts.
My son-in-law had to transfer 401(k) assets to another financial institution, and -- surprise, surprise -- he went to Schwab and after the fact told me how easy it was and how satisfied he has been with Schwab.
Our two older granddaughters and their Roth IRAs:
the younger granddaughter wanted to open a Vanguard Roth IRA; it became problematic and cumbersome due to a pre-existing "529" -- Vanguard rules -- so, surprise, surprise - she opened a Roth IRA at Schwab, and again, did that with no experience in such financial matters and asked no help from her father or me; she did it entirely on her own, electronically, on her own.
the older granddaughter wanted to open a Fidelity Roth IRA and it was even more problematic because it involved moving money from USAA to Fidelity and it was becoming, again, difficult and cumbersome. So, in one day, over the course of an hour or so, she opened a Roth IRA with Schwab and transferred the money without any difficulty. Again, she did this all on her own without help from her father or her sister who had opened the Schwab account a few weeks earlier.
The basic problem comes down to this: every financial institution has a history and a "reason for being," or their philosophy. Example:
My son-in-law, myself and both granddaughters "enrolled" in a "retirement investing" program which I've posted at another blog. It is on-going, the course is not yet complete.
But for investing for financial independence it comes down to this for me:
I've spent a lot of time sorting out pros and cons of Schwab, SoFi, and Robinhood. I've come to the conclusion that for me and for my extended family members Schwab is head and shoulders preferable to the others.
Three things Schwab has as "core competencies" and its philosophy:
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Disclaimer
Brief
Reminder
Briefly:
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The Weber Page
From a reader.
From the discount bin at a local grocery store, a $10 rack of lamb on a Weber grill.
Locator: 48481SIR.
These are the industries the US needs to bring back to the US:
Honda’s goal is to ensure 90% of U.S. sales are with vehicles produced domestically.
The company is specifically looking at potentially moving production of its CR-V and Civic vehicles to the U.S. to support this goal, according to the report. Over the next couple of years, the carmaker is looking to increase U.S. production by 30% by adding more employees and shifts to its U.S. operations for its CR-V and Civic models, the report said.
Hyudai has also announced it will be investing $20 billion in the US.
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Didn't Age Well
I've
never seen someone who hates America so much. And has so little faith
in the American economy. And to think she was once the Treasurer of the
US.
Trump relaxes restrictions; will let Nvidia export to China high-end chips especially made for China but it resulted in a $5.5 billion charge to Nvidia.