Dividend Stocks Did Better Than Others In July -- August 3, 2026

Locator: 51318DIVIDENDS. 

Before we get to the dividends, breaking news right now -- a cargo ship in the strait about 20nm north of Oman has been hit. WTI tonight: $80.90. Up slightly. The current windfall profits tax introduced in the US Senate back on March 1, 2026, can be tracked here. This seems like a no-brainer.  [Fifteen minutes later: WTI is creeping up; it's now over $81.]

A windfall profits tax on US oil will likely result in:

• integrated companies like CVX will expand refining, decrease drilling;
• small oil companies will make economic decisions on whether to continue drilling at same rate;
• will get a lot of headlines but will not amount to much.

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Dividend Stocks 

Add Another Name To The $3-Trillion Club -- Market Cap -- AMZN -- August 3, 2026

Locator: 51317AMZN. 

Tag: AMZN, Amazon 

Link here. 

At $285 / share, it's one of the few "affordable" tech stocks right now. LOL. But look at this: it's p/e is 22. Maybe I misread that. Need to confirm.

• SRE has a p/e of 30.
• GM: 44.
• MDU: 22
• BRKA: 15 
• MCD: 22.

Amazon + MSFT: have added $1.8. trillion in market cap in three days. 

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A Musical Interlude

Link here. The zither music from The Third Man would fit right in. Real Japanese jazz.

The Consumer That Affects The Market Is Doing Just Fine -- August 3, 2026

Locator: 51316MOVIES. 

Tag: Spider-Man, Spider Man, movies. 

Updates

CNBC, August 3, 2026:  

Posted Earlier

You Can Howl At The Wind, But AI Is Here To Stay -- Palantir -- Monday, August 3, 2026

Locator: 51315PLTR.

Palantir: earning results were amazing. PLTR's Rule of 40 score is now 155. Holy mackerel. I haven't followed PLTR at all but I bought some "on a lark," as they say, and to have some money in the game. Palantir is turning out to be the most exciting of them all. "The ring to control all rings." Palantir absolutely "destroyed" all their earnings:

• revenue $1.94B vs Est. $1.81B
• EPS $0.41 vs Est. $0.35
• US Commercial: $764M vs Est. $716M (+149% YoY)
• U.S. commercial remaining deal value: $6.2B (+124% YoY) FY26 Guidance
• revenue $8.16B vs Est. $7.73B
• operating Income $4.9B vs Est. $4.5B  
• CRAMER: Palantir posts blowout Q2 numbers, with U.S. commercial revenue soaring nearly 150%. 

More Palantir:

 

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AI In The USA

 

Link here. 
 

The most important "thing" on this graph is the y axis. Look at 2025 to 2026.

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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.

Longer version here.  

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CUDA
From Wiki

Lana Del Rey -- When She's Good -- She's Great -- A Masterpiece -- August 3, 2026

Locator: 51314MUSIC.

Link here. 

Be sure to read the comments.

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The Book Page

Hammett: Complete Novels -- Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, The Thin Man.

We all knew he did The Maltese Falcon; I did not know he also the The Thin Man. 

The Maltese Falcon went into the public domain today. 

Watch for the cheap Barnes and Noble knockoff. 

From the jacket, "In a few years of extraordinary creative energy, Dashiell Hammett invented the modern American crime model."

He served in both WWI and WWII as a US Army sergeant.