Thursday, October 29, 2026

Holy Mackerel: The US Economy Is Doing Better Than Expected -- October 29, 2026

Locator: 52053ECONOMY.

Tag: Trump economy. 

BRKB: will have a good day. 

Story here: link here. Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/pce-inflation-report-september-2026-.html. 



Google's Misfortunes -- October 29, 2026

Locator: 52052GOOG.

Note: be sure to know the difference between "generative AI" and "agentic AI." 

  • generative AI: notify me when my gate changes.
  • agentic AI: I have a business meeting in San Francisco next week. You know what to do. 

Stocks of interest -- pre-market:

  • CVX: up 1.12%; up $2.57; trading at $231.77. 
  • AAPL: up 1.26%; up $4.23; trading at $348.16 
  • GOOG: down 10% in pre-market trading
  • MSFT: up 2.96%; up $15.54; trading at $546.55 

This is what really got the market and "Fast Money" panelists (CNBC) excited yesterday:GOOG's earnings -- chatbots (personalized search) are cannibalizing Google's core business --

  • for Google, this is not good
  • personalized search is far from mature; perhaps this is the first six months that personalized search has really caught on; at the bottom of the S-curve, far to the left?
  • but that's not even the big story.

This is the big story.

Remember: Google was one of the original "mag 7." Overnight, GOOG has dropped below $4 trillion market cap. AAPL remains above $5.02 trillion market cap. 

This is the banner headline over at CNBC this morning: 

Alphabet earnings miss reflects first real sign that AI is taking a bite out of search.

I've always considered "AI" as it is used on the web as a very, very sophisticated use of "machines" using "search" to formulate answers, but investors are clearly differentiating between "search" and "AI."

And that makes sense: Machines are solving incredibly challenging math problems that have not been solved. AI is not providing solutions to incredibly difficult math problems by looking for the solutions using "search." They are solving the problems "on their own."  But there's also a difference between solving math problems and analyzing data. And there's a difference when machines can interpret IRS rules and come up with best ways to manage finances. This is all more than sophisticated search. It will be interesting how "investors" will be able to invest/trade when "prediction markets" intersect with agentic AI. 

How fast are we moving? Over at the wiki entry for AI, the word "agentic" is found only once, and it's fond in the bibliography/notes. Link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/MrPrj8fiBHtA1OjHG. 

Link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/H7uR2lDxmQZU9CW5U.  

Disclaimer: I may be completely wrong how I understand this but this is how I see it. 

SI query: market share?

Reply: link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/yKDD2c2AiXfZmBhdO. 

I'm not going to post all that data but clearly Alphabet's / Google's "legacy system" is coming to an end as we know it. Biggest threats: Facebook's / META's Muse Spark and Apple's Safari, though these two operate differently. Having said that, it is really, really hard to predict how this will play out. Short term, Apple is in cat-bird seat having invested "almost nothing" into personalized AI search compared to what the other hyperscalers have done. 

It appears Shay Boloor may have been wrong or I've misunderstood him. Link here. Earlier this year, he posted: 

A key insight most people miss:

  • hyperscalers do not fear competition from each other. 
  • they fear capacity denial at choke points.

In hindsight, that appears wrong, or it was misunderstood. 

Once inside Facebook, folks no longer have to leave Facebook to "do" personalized search" (chatbot searches) -- that's huge. Folks, once inside Facebook, no longer have to leave Facebook to get the Google Gemini experience. 

Forgetting about just looking at Meta's Muse Spark for the moment:


GOOG is down almost 11% in pre-market trading -- 6:28 a.m. CT, October 29, 2026. Meanwhile, MSFT is up 2% and AAPL is up 1.3%; up $4.51 per share. Not trivial. META is up 1%, up $6 / share -- if anything, META is being held back because of its CAPEX. 

Again, see the disclaimer for this blog. This whole topic can be so confusing and it's moving so quickly. 

********************************
Disclaimer

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. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM. Nothing on this site should be seen as recommendations for the general public. On the other hand, I have no problem if members of my extended family "see" recommendations I might be making - but only members of my extended family, limited to my children and my grandchildren.
  • Longer version here.
  • *****************************
    What Comes Next?

    Not too long ago, for investors, the concern was all about shortages and chokepoints (chips, memory, etc). In fact, it now appears that concerns about shortages and chokepoints was a "tactical" problem to be solved; How to move from "legacy search" to "agentic AI" models was the "strategic" (and now existential) problem.

    Link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/L3UAXb30tNq9gvalx.

    *******************************
    The Difference Between Generative AI and Agentic AI

    One last comment before I have to go (my flight is boarding): the difference between generative AI and agentic AI: 

    • GENERATIVE AI: notify me when my gate changes. 
    • AGENTIC AI: I have a business meeting in San Francisco next week. You know what to do / what I need. 

    Link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/0i8jnebY4TExAF7wL.

    ************************
    Hanging Out At DFW

    While waiting for my flight at DFW, I hung out at an "empty" location at the intersection of several corridors. I was the only traveler in this fairly large, open space. 

    Shortly after arriving, three folks with DFW ID badges arrived and settled in -- one male, one scarfed female, and one un-scarfed female. The scarfed female departed shortly after arriving. All three spoke Farsi. Over the course of an hour, no less than six other low-wage Farsi-speaking DFW employees arrived at the same location -- and all knew each other and all spoke with the unscarfed woman. The conversations were social, friendly, "how are you doing" conversations. The male appeared to think he was in control, but in fact the unscarfed woman was in control. She was on her smart phone the whole time. This was her tech support: two smart phones (they appeared to be Android); one classic flip phone, like the old Nokia flip phone I used to have; and two mini iPads. The male had no tech support, not even a phone.

    It's All About Energy As We Finish The Week And Move Into Next Month -- October 29, 2026

    Locator: 52051ENERGY.

    See disclaimer. I often make typographical and content errors.

    Through the end of the month / first week of November: it's all about energy.

    *******************
    CVX 

    CVX: link here. 

    Last quarter: 

    • Chevron BEAT expectations
    • revenues: $70 billion; up 56%, y/y
    • oil production: growth of 23% y/y/ 

    This quarter, expectations:

    • revenue to grow 23%
    • this would be a reversal from the 2% decrease it recorded same qtr one year ago.
    • revenue expectations: $60 billion compared to $50-some billion one quarter
    • but look at this:
      • expected EPS: between $4.62 and $4.86
      • compares to $1.85 one year ago, 3Q25.

    *********************
    XOM

    This quarter, expectations, XOM:

    • revenue: $105 billion compared to $83 billion same quarter one year ago
    • but look at this:
      • EPS: $4.10 compared to about $1.80 osame quarter one year ago

    Thursday -- October 29, 2026

    Locator: 52050B.

    Climate: proposals for new EU commitments to climate change are "dead in the water." Did anyone see this coming?

    Hope springs eternal: At the next global climate change conference, a group of African countries said they would be demanding a tripling of climate adaptation finance commitments at the COP31. The demands are expected to cause a stir at the climate conference that begins in Turkey on November 9.

    Stocks of interest -- pre-market:

    • CVX: up 1.12%; up $2.57; trading at $231.77. 
    • AAPL: up 1.26%; up $4.23; trading at $348.16 
    • GOOG: down 10% in pre-market trading
    • MSFT: up 2.96%; up $15.54; trading at $546.55 

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

    WTI: $101.30 --> $101.70.

    New wells reporting:

    • Sunday, November 1 2026: 0 for the month, 66 for the quarter, 565 for the year,   
      • None. 
    • Saturday, October 31, 2026: 66 for the month, 66 for the quarter, 565 for the year,   
      • None.
    • Friday, October 30, 2026: 66 for the month, 66 for the quarter, 565 for the year, 
      • None.
    • Thursday, October 29, 2026: 66 for the month, 66 for the quarter, 565 for the year, 
      • None.

    RBN Energy: tight tanker supply sends shipping costs to frightening heights. Link here. Archived.

    Forget ghosts and monsters. This Halloween, the scariest thing in the energy industry isn’t a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater — it’s the tanker market, where a spooky jump in demand and frighteningly tight vessel supply have sent freight rates soaring. The culprit behind these hair-raising rates isn’t something lurking in the shadows, it’s a multi-headed monster of market disruptions: an unbalanced global fleet, mounting congestion in the Mediterranean, and a surge in vessel attacks. In today’s RBN blog, we look at how these forces are squeezing vessel supply and keeping freight rates at scream-inducing heights.

    Here at RBN, we regularly track crude oil tanker voyages and freight rates but it’s not a topic that has taken up much space in our blogosphere until recently. To help make sense of it all, we turned to our friends at McQuilling Services, a U.S.-based shipping consultancy that tracks and forecasts the tanker market. This is our second in a series on freight rates. In Part 1, we explored how stronger demand for long-haul crude shipments, a tightening supply of available tankers and other factors have sent freight rates soaring, with little relief in sight.

    The cost to charter a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) capable of carrying 2 MMbbl of crude from the Gulf Coast to Asia (red line and right axis in Figure 1 below) reached its highest point on record in early October at more than $80 million (equivalent to $40/bbl), although rates have fallen since then, dropping back below $60 million on October 21 and settling around $58 million on October 27. Prior to the start of the war with Iran earlier this year, the voyage cost typically ranged between $8 million and $14 million. However, once the conflict began and the Strait of Hormuz closed to normal traffic, freight rates became a lot more volatile. The cost to charter an Aframax from the Gulf Coast to Europe (blue line and left axis) has followed a similar pattern, dropping from about WS1,000 earlier this month to about WS720 over the same period. [Freight rates are expressed in total dollars per voyage or in Worldscale (WS) points, an industry-standard system that measures freight rates relative to a benchmark or specific route; for a more detailed explanation, see Part 1.]

    Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    No New Permits; One Permit Renewed; Two Permits Canceled -- October 28, 2026

    Locator: 52049B.

    WTI:

    Active rigs: 39. Recent new high.

    No new permits. 

    One permit renewed:

    • 42409, BR, Mavrud 4A-ULW, Dimmick Lake, McKenzie County.

    Two permits canceled:

    • 42291 - 42292: Hess, EN-Van Berkom ....-4 and -5, NESE 26-157-93, Mountrail County.