I am staying in the 3rd floor of a grand old Victorian home in Cape May, NJ for the weekend - just hangin' out, seeing some sights, etc ahead of the crowds. But I did bring the laptop and the Verizon Wireless internet access card. So with the kids asleep and as I watch a well done History Channel show about Sherman's march across Joe-ja (big Civil War buff here), I thought I would bring a few little things to your attention that have me wondering about the welfare of the stock market bulls come Monday:
Call it - Oklahoma Burning. The 50,000 barrel per day Wynnewood refinery in Wynnewood, OK has been shut down by two large explosions: Fire shuts Oklahoma refinery, no injuries. Granted, its 50k bpd serving mostly the west, but as the article notes, this latest refining loss is on top of the shut down of a Valero 170k bpd refinery. This is likely to result in a spurt in gasoline futures and send overall quakes and quivers through the energy regime, in turn potentially causing a negative impact on stocks, at least for 5 minutes or so on Monday. I can't imagine that this would be anything but bullish for the refiners in the immediate near term.
China may also cause some tension. Reader Yal gave me a heads up in the comments section of tightening reserve requirements: China raises banks' required reserves again. The impact from this may also only be briefly negative here since this is starting to become routine even as the Shanghai stock market bubble gets bazooka/bubblicious big (yeah I mixed my gums when i was a kid). Never the less, tightening in China is something that needs to be warily watched after what happened in late February.
As for this Queen Anne here in Cape May, it's magestic 1886 vintage. My first home was an 1892 Queen Anne and the place I'm in tonight brings back all the memories of the interior and exterior architecture. In that old house that I had, I was right around the corner from Helen Hayes' Pretty Penny in Nyack, NY, which was eventually bought by Rosie O'Donnell. When O'Donnell remarked the other day about her "fat ass" in response to the Cheryl Crow one sheet of toilet paper thing, I had first hand experience in seeing that fat Rosie ass strolling the streets in Nyack, NY. And talk about having strange neigbors: The first thing Rosie did after she bought Mrs. Hayes' house was to put a 12 foot brick privacy wall up around Pretty Pennywhich obscured its view. While this house I'm in tonight is superb, it also brings back memories of why I eventually sold mine for something brand new: the incredible amount of work and money it took to maintain and upgrade a more than 100 year old house. I'm still amazed I still have all my fingers after using so many different power saws and things with blades to cut wood, or cermaic tile, or pipe - sometimes using those tools in an angry state if I botched the measurements... just never good to be pissed while using power tools! LOL. The innkeeper here summed it up when she said they were done renovating until fall - can't risk starting a project as the high season approaches, she told me, because you never know what other problems will crop up with the start of a project which could set you back weeks. I remember that all too well and will enjoy my two nights here and resist the urge to even think about going back to an old house again - at least I think I will.
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