tybs
morning
02-5001 USAFSOC C-32B ne to NAS Oceana from Eglin depart
C202 US Coast Guard G5 departed Reagan National Airport and heading south
Exxon, Chevron target billions in share buybacks as cash flow surges
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are plowing windfall profits into share buybacks as soaring energy prices boost their cash flow.
Exxon will revive repurchases for the first time since 2016. The company said Friday it plans to spend as much as $10 billion on repurchases starting next year. Chevron is considering an expansion of its buyback program after surging natural gas prices and oil-refining returns drove free cash flow to an all-time high in the last quarter. Shares of both companies climbed in pre-market trading.
The two largest U.S. oil and gas producers appear to be prioritizing shareholders rather than capital spending, despite energy crises in Europe and China and widespread concern about inflation and supplies of fossil fuels. The crucial question for executives at both companies when they appear on their respective conference calls with analysts later on Friday will be whether some of additional cash goes into boosting crude and gas production in 2022.
Exxon is expected to use the bulk of its extra cash flow to cover dividends and pay down debt, which peaked on a net basis at almost $70 billion at the end of 2020. All four of the company’s major rivals Chevron, TotalEnergies SE, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are using this year’s commodity rally to buy back shares as well. Shell and BP were forced to cut their dividends last year.
https://www.worldoil.com/news/2021/10/29/exxon-chevron-target-billions-in-share-buybacks-as-cash-flow-surges
SAM435 USAF C-32A SAM553 USAF C-40B and SAM672 USAF G5 KAF AC of interdast south from JBA
SAM672 went to Mike Pence's hometown of Columbus, Indiana yesterday >>104329 pb
morning w
Facebook’s Doppelganger ETF Rakes in Cash on Mistaken Identity
The confusion around Facebook Inc.’s new name has been good news for one exchange-traded fund with a fortunate ticker.
The $142 million Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF, which trades under the ticker META, saw an inflow of $12.5 million after the social-media giant adopted the same name Thursday. It was the biggest influx for the fund since the start of September, data compiled by Bloomberg show, and trading volume in the ETF’s shares surged to a record high after the announcement.
On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social media company was renaming itself Meta Platforms Inc. and would use the ticker MVRS starting in December. The name change is the most definitive signal so far of the company’s intention to stake its future on the metaverse, an idea born in the imaginations of sci-fi novelists.
Pundits were quick to point out the confusion it could create as the word “meta” has numerous meanings in different languages. The Twitterverse, meanwhile, was quick to mock the re-branding, pointing out that it throws the popular Faang moniker used to describe the biggest tech giants into disarray. On Stocktwits, a user pointed out the ticker confusion the name-change could cause:
Mistaken identity cases are not new in the world of finance -- traders often confuse similar-sounding names and tickers. When Elon Musk, for instance, tweeted about the Signal app, shares of a tiny medical device company with a similar name surged 5,000%. To be sure, an argument can be made that Facebook’s stunt can be seen as bullish for the stocks in the ETF, said Mohit Bajaj, director of ETFs at WallachBeth Capital. But “most of the volume in META occurred after the Facebook name-change announcement,” he said. “It might be investors accidentally trading the wrong symbol.”
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/facebook-s-doppelganger-etf-rakes-in-cash-on-mistaken-identity-1.1674024
morning B
SAM672 USAF G5 KAF AC on descent for Wilmington, NC
SAM435 USAF C-32A continues sw behind C202 US Coast Guard G5-prolly going to Miami Int'l
SAM553 USAF C-32A also continues sw from JBA-to MacDill most likely
02-5001 USAFSOC C-32B west from NAS Oceana ground stop
BOXER49 USAF C-40C on approach for Miami Int'l from Orlando Int'l Airport overnight
Nancy uses dis plane quite a bit but cannot find anything for her in Orlando or Miami
As if they would actually let any of dat out cause it was the same when she wuz in Yerp a few weeks ago (priming Pope Frank) and then went to the west coast while her double did a berry poor job.
Sumthing going on down here today.....
phaggits
Death on Alec Baldwin Set with Colt .45 to Be Investigated by Law Firm Whose Partners Investigated Kennedy Assassination, Lehman Bankruptcy and Citigroup Settlement
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Alec Baldwin and other producers of the low-budget western film, “Rust,” have hired the high-priced law firm, Jenner & Block, to investigate the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the set.
The producers circulated a memo to the movie crew about the hiring of Jenner & Block the night before the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department was scheduled to hold a press conference and announce its current findings.
During that press conference, Sheriff Adan Mendoza revealed that a real gun, a Colt .45 revolver, was being used by Alec Baldwin at the time of the shooting. Mendoza said the gun had fired a live single round that killed Hutchins and then the bullet embedded itself into the shoulder of Director Joel Souza. (Souza was injured but survived.)
Mendoza said that the Sheriff’s office has the spent shell casing that was fired from the gun and “the actual lead projectile that was fired has been recovered from the shoulder of Mr. Souza.” The lead projectile was turned over to the Sheriff’s office directly by the medical personnel who removed it from Souza’s shoulder, the Sheriff said. Mendoza added that “We have recovered what we believe to be possible additional live rounds on set.” The hiring of Jenner & Block sends a signal that the film producers understand that serious litigation for negligence and/or a wrongful death suit may easily eclipse the reported budget for the film of $7 million to $8 million. Jenner & Block’s Anton (Tony) Valukas served as examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and billed $38 million, according to court records, to complete a 2200-page report on what had led to Lehman’s failure. In 2014, Valukas also conducted an investigation for Jenner & Block’s long-time client, General Motors, into a faulty ignition system that led to at least 13 deaths.
Jenner & Block partner Thomas Perrelli also received a highly lucrative assignment as a result of Wall Street hubris. On July 11, 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice ran this headline: Justice Department, Federal and State Partners Secure Record $7 Billion Global Settlement with Citigroup for Misleading Investors About Securities Containing Toxic Mortgages. As part of the $7 billion settlement, Citigroup was to provide $2.5 billion in consumer relief. The settlement was extremely flexible on the forms that consumer relief could take. It included: loan modifications, refinancing, down payment and closing cost assistance for refinancing, and donations to organizations helping communities in redevelopment and provision of affordable rental housing. Jenner & Block’s Perrelli agreed to be the independent monitor to make sure that Citigroup made good on the $2.5 billion in consumer relief. (Citigroup had collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis. Instead of filing for bankruptcy like Lehman, it was secretly propped up with $2.5 trillion in cumulative loans from the Federal Reserve from December 2007 to July 2010.) In a report in November of last year, Perrelli wrote: “In my thirteenth and final report as Monitor over Citigroup’s July 11, 2014 Settlement Agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the five Settling States (California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York), I am pleased to confirm that Citi has satisfactorily discharged its obligations under the Settlement Agreement.”
The most high-profile assignment a law partner at the law firm has received was when Albert Jenner was chosen as Senior Counsel to the Warren Commission to assist in the investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who died on November 22, 1963. There is a common thread between a gunshot death with live ammunition on a movie set, the gunshot death of the President of the United States in an open convertible riding through the streets of Dallas, and Lehman and Citigroup collapsing in 2008. That common thread is negligent oversight by the people in charge.
moar
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2021/10/death-on-alec-baldwin-set-with-colt-45-to-be-investigated-by-law-firm-whose-partners-investigated-kennedy-assassination-lehman-bankruptcy-and-citigroup-settlement/