Yes.
If you get a chance to watch that video I posted above, it's worth the 30 minutes.
Working from home.....Did you see the Facebook/Meta Zuckerberg announcement? More layoffs. Someone will be working from home.
"The dire economic warning was delivered during an internal videoconference meeting on Thursday for Meta's
META, -0.76% 77,800 workers, according to a
New York Times report. To underscore the ominous message, Zuckerberg told employees that they should expect to do more with fewer resources and that their performance would be more aggressively graded."
"I think some of you might decide that this place isn't for you, and that self-selection is OK with me," Zuckerberg said on a call, according to the Times. "Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn't be here."
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-issues-dire-economic-warning-to-meta-employees-11656781950?mod=home-pageThose 2 paragraphs above from the linked article....I lost track how many times that type of messaging hit me during my career.
I borrowed this statement below from the web, but it's accurate.
"US has 1 Million daily barrels less of of refining capacity compared to pre-pandemic levels. There is another 650,000 bbl facility that is potentially closing at the end of this year. Fuel prices are going to remain elevated until the supply and demand balances out. This will only occur when consumption of fuel declines to a point when refineries have excess capacity."
Structurally, the world doesn't have a producing crude or refinery supply to satisfy all current demand. Gasoline, diesel, propane, nat gas all need to move higher in price. (If Powell had a clue, he would sit back and let energy prices do the work for him. He doesn't need to raise rates. I addressed this more in a post a few weeks back. If Powell continues to raise rates, Powell will crush the economy as energy has a long upward ways to go pricewise before demand reaction kicks in.) 59 South just filled up in London on Friday at US$8.66 per gallon.
That drawdown from the SPR that FJB is allowing is nothing but putting this country at a National Security Risk for political talking points. SPR is under 500 million barrels now. It's 225 million barrels below the ATH. It took 4 years to fill 225 million barrels into the SPR. SPR is suppose to represent 90 days of critical inventory from what I read. FJB drawdown from the SPR is supposed to stop at the end of Oct to beginning of Nov. Once that draw down from the SPR stops, what's to keep a lid on any price. FJB doesn't understand that the amount he discharges from the SPR will coincide with a reduction from OPEC+. Crude will remain high price (>$100) until a Conservative (Republican likely) is elected in 2024. Lot of money to be made between now and then.
It will be interesting to see if Blackrock will manipulate to keep XOM down as a favor to FJB. I believe the XOM short is 40 million about 1 to 2%, pretty standard. I believe this situation is volatile enough to keep the Blackrock's honest. We'll see. Maybe Soro's and Blackrock team up and they both go down on a short squeeze. LOL!
ETA: WTI currently trading at $110.98 +$2.55 - 8:47pm CDT
ETA2: Big PU's and SUV's will be cheap pretty soon.
