"BMT Investors" Bulletin Board

[kscarbel2]

A massive loss of face.....heads are going to roll.

[kscarbel2]

“We still have very sluggish wage growth despite the fact that for a number of months, we have had an unemployment rate below 4%. Ordinarily, we would have wage and salary income growth well above 5%, 6%. Instead, according to U.S. government numbers, it’s only at 3.5%.”

“Why are we not getting a livelier pace of wage and salary income growth, livelier growth for the average hourly wages as well as consumer spending? What’s going to happen when the unemployment rate inevitably rises? A very low unemployment rate raises the risk of a higher unemployment rate 12 months from now… So that tells me that investors have to cast a wary eye on any forecast of continued growth for the U.S. economy.”

“You’re definitely going to see the market tank in the event you don’t get a rate cut at the end of July without any strong reason to rule against a rate cut. Keep an eye on what’s going on with business sales — what they sell to consumers, capital goods and exports. If that doesn’t improve significantly fairly soon, we not only get a rate cut in July but we also get one at the September 18th meeting of the FOMC.”

Moody's Capital Markets Chief Economist John Lonski

[kscarbel2]

Stocks are hitting record highs.

Layoffs and unemployment are at 50-year lows.

And yet, the Federal Reserve is prepared to cut interest rates soon because it’s worried about the economy.

Just seven months ago,remember, the Fed was predicting it would raise rates several times this year. Now the question is just how many times it will cut rates. And whether it will do any good at all.

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-economy-gone-mad-the-fed-is-going-to-cut-interest-rates-despite-record-stock-prices-low-unemployment-2019-07-11?mod=mw_theo_homepage

[kscarbel2]

Meritor’s Net Income Up 34.4% in 3Q

Transport Topics  /  July 31, 2019

Meritor Inc. reported net income rose 34.4% to $86 million, or $1 per diluted share, for its third quarter ended June 30.

That compares with $64 million, or 71 cents per diluted share, the Troy, Mich.-based supplier reported July 31.

Revenue was $1.17 billion, up $37 million, or about 3%, from the same period last year, when revenue stood at $1.13 billion.

Meritor officials said the increase in sales was driven by higher truck production, primarily in North America, partially offset by the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against most currencies.

Meritor is a global supplier of drivetrain, mobility, braking and aftermarket solutions for commercial vehicle and industrial markets. Meritor has approximately 9,300 employees in 19 countries.

[kscarbel2]

Dana Reports 2Q Net Loss of $68 Million

Transport Topics  /  July 31, 2019

Dana Inc., a major supplier of drivetrain, sealing and thermal-management technologies, reported a net loss of $68 million for the second quarter ended June 30.

The Maumee, Ohio-based company, which had posted a profit of $124 million in the same period in 2018, said earnings per share the past quarter were affected by a one-time, $258 million charge for the transfer of a terminated pension plan.

Earnings per share were minus 47 cents, compared with 85 cents in 2018’s second quarter.

Revenue was up 12.3%, to $2.31 billion, from $2.1 billion in the same period in 2018.

“Due to stable end markets, our strong sales backlog and accretive acquisitions, we increased sales by 12% over last year and achieved improved margin performance,” CEO James Kamsickas said. “Our intense focus on customer satisfaction and cost discipline, combined with steady organic and inorganic growth, is positioning us to finish the year strong.”

Dana’s portfolio focuses on efficiency, performance and sustainability of light vehicles, commercial vehicles and off-highway equipment.

Founded in 1904, Dana has more than 36,000 employees in 33 countries. The company reported sales of $8.1 billion in 2018.

[kscarbel2]

Gary Cohn is even sharper than I originally thought. 

And Cohn is right......Trump’s so-called trade war actually provided the party with a face-saving excuse for addressing the country’s over-heated economy. Don’t think for a minute this was a coincidence.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49187126

[kscarbel2]

Setting new 52-week lows today:

Alcoa

American Axle

Briggs & Stratton

Tenneco

[kscarbel2]

Goldman Sachs sees no trade deal before 2020 election, now expects 3 rate cuts

Reuters / August 6, 2019

Goldman Sachs said it no longer expects the United States and China to agree on a deal to end their prolonged trade dispute before the November 2020 presidential election as policymakers from the world’s largest economies are “taking a harder line”. 

The bank now expects two back-to-back rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) “in light of growing trade policy risks, market expectations for much deeper rate cuts, and an increase in global risk related to the possibility of a no-deal Brexit”.

[kscarbel2]

Reuters / August 6, 2019

WASHINGTON - White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday called on the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by another three-quarters of a point to full point by end of year to bring U.S. rates into line to with rates elsewhere. 

“The Federal Reserve before the end of the year has to lower interest rates by at least another 75 basis points or 100 basis points to bring interest rates here in America in line with the rest of the world,” Navarro says. “We have just too big a spread between our rates and that costs us jobs.”

[kscarbel2]

On 5/3/2019 at 8:23 AM, kscarbel2 said:

A mild recession in 3rd qtr 2019

A more significant recession by 2023.

With both the US and UK yield curves inverting, important global economy Germany entering recession and serious global trade issues at hand, it appears we are about to enter a global recession.

Just a heads up FYI. Some might want to make some defensive decisions to protect their investments, business and/or other.

It could get extremely ugly.

[kscarbel2]

Bloomberg  /  August 15, 2019

Japan surpassed China in June as the top holder of U.S. Treasuries as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies intensified.

Japan increased its holdings of U.S. bonds, bills and notes by $21.9 billion to $1.12 trillion, the highest level in more than 2 1/2 years, according to data released by the Treasury Department on Thursday. Meanwhile, China’s ownership rose for the first time in four months to $1.11 trillion, up by $2.3 billion.

The last time Japan held the position as America’s largest foreign creditor was May 2017.

Japan has added more than $100 billion worth of Treasuries at a fairly steady pace since October 2018.

[kscarbel2]

Reuters  /  January 15, 2020

The U.S. economy is coping with large budget deficits at the moment, but government spending cannot continue to expand at the current rate indefinitely, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday.

“At this point the economy can handle these deficits, but there’s no question over time we need to look at these government spending issues. We can’t continue to expand government spending at the rate that we are,” Mnuchin said.

He said increased military and non-military spending was the cause of the deficits, not tax cuts pushed through by Republican President Donald Trump, and he remained convinced that those tax cuts would pay for themselves over a 10-year period.

The U.S. government ended fiscal year 2019 with a budget deficit of $984 billion, which was 4.6% of the nation’s gross domestic product and the largest budget deficit in seven years, as gains in tax receipts were offset by higher spending and growing debt service payments.

It is the first time since the early 1980s that the budget gap has widened over four consecutive years. The figures reflect the second full budget year under Trump and come at a time when the country has an expanding tax base with moderate economic growth and an unemployment rate currently near a 50-year low.

The deficit reached a peak of $1.4 trillion in 2009 as the Obama administration and Congress took emergency measures to shore up the nation’s banking system during the global financial crisis and provide stimulus to an economy in recession.

Mnuchin said military spending increases were critical to Trump, but in order to secure them, the administration had to forge agreement with lawmakers to boost non-military spending.

At the moment there was bipartisan consensus over the current spending plans, he said, but he anticipated that a bipartisan review would be needed over time.

[kscarbel2]

BorgWarner to acquire Delphi in all-stock transaction

Alexa St. John, Automotive News  /  January 28, 2020

BorgWarner Inc. said Tuesday it will acquire Delphi Technologies as the two suppliers navigate headwinds in power electronics products and propulsion technologies and an industry shift toward electrification.

The all-stock transaction puts Delphi’s enterprise value at about $3.3 billion, including debt. Under the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of the year, Delphi shareholders will receive 0.4534 BorgWarner share for each Delphi share held, the companies said Tuesday. That would represent a premium of about 77 percent to Delphi's closing price Monday.

Upon closing of the transaction, current BorgWarner stockholders are expected to own about 84 percent of the combined company, while current Delphi Technologies stockholders are expected to own about 16 percent.

Bloomberg first reported on the deal earlier Tuesday.

BorgWarner, a supplier of turbochargers, electric motors and electronic control units, is based in Auburn Hills, Mich. The combined company will be headquartered there.  

Shares of BorgWarner were down 7.5 percent to $35.50 in Tuesday afternoon trading on Wall Street. Delphi shares were up 61 percent to $15.81.

“This is a positive for Delphi shareholders to gain scale, lower overhead costs, and speed time to market,” Robert W. Baird analyst David Leiker wrote in a research note Tuesday. “For BorgWarner shareholders, the EV opportunity is meaningfully expanded/accelerated. Incremental exposure to internal combustion engines is in the right places,”

However, Leiker said it is important to ask whether the combined company will act as a “next-gen” automotive supplier or a “legacy” supplier.

Frederic Lissalde, CEO of BorgWarner, said in a call with investors Tuesday that the two suppliers have been discussing the deal since early 2019, and conversations accelerated toward the end of the year. 

Delphi Technologies, a powertrain and aftermarket parts supplier headquartered in London, has been undergoing its own restructuring since its spinoff from Delphi Automotive in 2017. Over the past year especially, the supplier has been shifting away from diesels and expanding in gasoline-powered systems and navigating its own move toward electrification. 

The changes have largely been headed by Rick Dauch since he joined the company as CEO last January.  

Lissalde said the addition of Delphi will strengthen BorgWarner’s scale and expertise in electrification.

“Our strategy is designed to foster growth regardless of how the market evolves,” he said.  

Lissalde said the acquisition also enhances BorgWarner’s combustion, commercial vehicle and aftermarket businesses.

“We didn’t get to where we are overnight,” Lissalde said. “Over the last several years, BorgWarner has been on a journey to transition to advanced propulsion and electrification. ... We knew we needed increased electronics capability and scale, and today we’re doing just that.” 

“Technology was the driver for this transaction,” he added. 

Calum MacRae, director of automotive product development at GlobalData, said in a statement that the move will help the two companies wrestle with the new challenges presented by connected, autonomous, shared and electric vehicle megatrends
.  
However, “this is just a short-term fix for the long-term issues that these businesses face,” MacRae said. “No doubt there will be other mergers of a similar ilk that will ratchet down costs but not lead to sustainable long-term competitive advantage.”

As part of Tuesday’s announcement, BorgWarner also said its board of directors authorized a share repurchase program of up to $1 billion. This reflects BorgWarner’s “belief in the strong free cash flow of the combined company,” Lissalde said. 

Dauch told investors that the combined company is an opportunity to become more efficient amid Delphi’s own cost-reduction efforts, including the supplier’s goal to reduce annual costs by a total of $200 million through the end of 2022.  

Dauch said the deal is “expected to create a pioneering propulsion technologies leader” and that he expects the combined company to be “unmatched in the industry.” 

As for Dauch’s role in the combined company, Lissalde told investors, “we’ll keep you posted.” Lissalde will continue as CEO, and Kevin Nowlan, BorgWarner’s CFO, will also remain in his position. 

The companies were not clear about any job cuts to come as a result of the acquisition. 

BorgWarner ranks No. 22 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers, with worldwide sales to automakers of $10.53 billion in 2018, while Delphi ranks No. 62, with global sales to automakers of an estimated $3.86 billion in the same period.  

Bloomberg contributed to this report. 

[kscarbel2]

Caterpillar’s 2020 Outlook Adds More Gloom to Virus-Shaken Markets

Joe Deaux, Bloomberg  /  January 31, 2020

Caterpillar Inc., a worldwide barometer for manufacturing, is warning of more pain to come for the global economy in 2020.

The heavy-equipment maker is projecting that its profits for the year will trail analysts’ estimates by as much as $2 a share. The weak outlook comes just as markets are reeling from the worsening outbreak of the coronavirus, a slump in manufacturing activity and major cutbacks in spending.

“We expect continued global economic uncertainty to pressure sales to users in 2020 and cause dealers to further reduce inventories,” CEO Jim Umpleby said.

Caterpillar has been trying to cut costs and trim inventories as demand in some of its main markets trails production. The outlook signals further headwinds for machine sales, which fell the most in almost three years last month.

The company’s fourth-quarter earnings statement was released before the start of regular trading in New York. Caterpillar shares slipped 1.9% to $132.75 at 9:32 a.m.

Profit in the fourth quarter topped analysts’ estimates, with the company citing “strong cost control” as helping to offset its demand issues.

“We expect to be sort of flat to down 5% for our business in China, because of general market conditions, competitor positioning and so forth,” Chief Financial Officer Andrew Bonfield said Friday. “It’s a very competitive market, we were down slightly this year, even in an upmarket because of competition. So we got to get out there and fight.”

Bonfield said Caterpillar expects U.S. residential and non-residential construction to decline, while investment in state and local infrastructure will be stable. He also said capital spending in mining will continue to increase in 2020, but that the recovery has been “much more slow and steady,” as companies are “maintaining capital discipline.”

Caterpillar expects share buybacks in 2020 to be at a “similar level” to those in 2018 and 2019, Bonfield said.

The outlook clouds prospects for the company that reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $2.63 per share, beating the $2.37 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

“Strong cost control more than offset lower-than-expected end-user demand” helping the company report better-the-expected fourth-quarter results, Umpleby said.

The company expects the bulk of the inventory drawdown to happen in the first half of the year, Bonfield said on an earnings call with analysts.

CFRA (S&P Global) has downgraded Caterpillar (CAT) from hold to sell, and reduced its 1-year target price from $156 to $120.

[kscarbel2]

Deere tops Q4 forecasts

MarketWatch  /  February 21, 2020

John Deere said fiscal first-quarter to Feb. 2 net income rose 4% to $517 million, or $1.63 a share, while sales fell 4% to $7.63 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of $1.27 on sales of $6.22 billion.

Deere said the U.S. farm sector is showing early signs of stabilization as it reiterated its full-year earnings forecast.

Deere said 2020 profit would range from $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion, as it forecast worldwide sales of agriculture and turf equipment to drop 5% to 10% and worldwide construction and forestry sales to drop 10% to 15%.

[kscarbel2]

[kscarbel2]

There are stock market opportunities fast approaching that only occur every 15-20 years. We're on the edge of ridiculously cheap stock prices.

WTI is down to $42, and Brent is down to $45.

[kscarbel2]

Russia breaks Opec oil alliance as it takes on US shale

Financial Times  /  March 7, 2020

Just as the coronavirus outbreak wreaks havoc on the oil market, Russia has spotted an opportunity to hurt rivals in the US shale patch. Moscow’s partners in OPEC now are collateral damage, and a price-sapping war for market share may follow.

The three-year partnership that joined geopolitical rivals and halted the biggest crude price crash in a generation hit the buffers on Friday when Saudi Arabia-led Opec and Russia failed to agree on deeper production cuts in response to the spread of the coronavirus that has hit the global economy and its demand for oil. 

Russia’s view that rival North American producers would gain most from new efforts to prop up prices killed the deal.

Saudi Arabia, unwilling to take on more cuts without Russia as a partner, may also now be dragged into another stand-off with US shale.

Brent crude, down about 30 per cent since January, slumped a further 9 per cent to $45 a barrel on Friday after Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said producers would soon be able to pump at will, ending three years of supply cuts designed to support prices.

“Of course, if there is no agreement, Saudi Arabia will produce whatever the customer asks for,” said one OPEC delegate. When asked if countries were entering into a fight over market share, he said: “It could be.”

The impact on the oil price from the collapse of the Vienna negotiations could be severe, with some predicting a drop to below $30 a barrel.

“This has all the hallmarks of a price war, the only thing missing is the smell of gunpowder,” said Jamie Webster, senior director at BCG’s Center for Energy Impact. 

Russia is not a member of Opec but now holds huge sway over oil policy after joining the cartel in making production cuts three years ago. 

But Moscow’s refusal to agree to deeper cuts was a deal-breaker this week, demolishing a Saudi plan to increase their size and prolong the curbs until the year-end. The kingdom’s plan was conditional on all players taking part: Russia baulked. 

Russia wanted more time to assess the impact of the virus on demand, said officials in Vienna. But Moscow also eyed an opportunity to damage rival US shale producers and the wider American economy. 

“Russia has had enough of the shale guys living off Opec-plus,” said one person familiar with negotiations, referring to the cartel and allied non-members.

The Kremlin has also been riled by recent US sanctions on the trading arm of Russian energy major Rosneft and Nord Stream 2, the proposed new gas pipeline between Russia and Europe.

A steeper drop in crude prices will cause widespread pain in the American oil industry. 

“At a time when shale producers face much tighter capital constraints to keep up output, a price war will push US oil companies already at risk of bankruptcy over the edge,” said Jason Bordoff, head of Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy.

The collapse of the negotiations in Vienna underscored the extent to which Russia has taken charge over OPEC decision-making despite a new push by Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, to reassert the kingdom’s authority over the group.

Privately, government officials and oil executives in Saudi Arabia see the benefits — as a low-cost producer — of taking on US shale companies which require higher oil prices to stay profitable. While that indirectly might appease president Donald Trump, who wants to keep gasoline prices in check, Saudi Arabia primarily seeks to protect its own economy.

The sharp price fall after the meeting will trigger memories of the Thanksgiving Day oil crash of 2014 which wrought turmoil across international financial markets, battered the budgets of producer economies and crippled the balance sheets of some energy companies.

Prices collapsed to below $30 a barrel in January 2016, prompting the kingdom to do what was once unthinkable and form a production-cutting alliance with Russia and its OPEC peers later that year. 

Riyadh and Moscow’s collaboration, backed by the countries’ highest authorities, was more far-reaching. They engaged in talks about corporate tie-ups and cross-border investments. They also became closer on foreign policy despite backing opposing groups in Syria.

It was cemented by the visible personal bond between Mr Novak and his then-counterpart in Saudi Arabia, Khalid al-Falih, who was ousted from his post as energy minister last year in favour of the king’s son.

“They don’t hate each other,” said one OPEC official of current relations between Prince Abdulaziz and Mr Novak. “But it’s not the same relationship as with Falih. There was a bromance and chemistry. There’s no chemistry now.”

In January 2018, Mr Falih said the alliance would last for “decades and generations”. 

But in recent months, it has seemed as if two of the world’s biggest oil producers were not working from the same playbook.

When Saudi Arabia wanted a rapid response to the coronavirus outbreak last month, King Salman himself made a call to President Vladimir Putin to gain his endorsement — to no avail.

As forecasts for oil demand growth this year weakened, an advisory committee to OPEC and Russia initially signaled that additional cuts of 600,000 b/d would be necessary to stem oil price declines. That figure steadily increased to 1.5m b/d this week, reflecting the worsening global coronavirus conditions. This would have taken total cuts to 3.6m b/d.

“The Russians had a very strange view of the market,” said a person familiar with the negotiations. “All through the meeting they said, ‘let’s wait and see, let’s wait and see’ — and said prices had already declined as far as they would decline.”

Then it became clear that Russia had the US in its sights.

As frustration mounted, it was left to the Azerbaijani energy minister to make the final efforts late on Friday to broker some kind of deal between Mr Novak and Prince Abdulaziz. He failed.

OPEC officials maintain that the group of producers ultimately has a responsibility to stabilise the oil market. “The point is to not allow commercial stockpiles to build”, said the Opec delegate. “But this was not everyone’s opinion,” he said of Russia’s reluctance. 

The end of the meeting, said one official who was present, “felt like a wake”.

[kscarbel2]

As of Friday, the United States is engaged in an economic war over oil. And stakes are extremely high.

[Maxidyne]

I've been buying up some stocks at bargain prices the last few days, but I'm staying away from oil. While the prices are tempting, there is still way too much capacity out there- I doubt electric cars will take much market share, but the increased efficiency of conventional vehicles will produce a surplus of oil until the easy to access oil is gone and more fracking is necessary.

[Mack Technician]

I have a brokerage controlling my 401K and the China-sniffles still manages to carve 7% off. 

[kscarbel2]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-07/saudi-aramco-slashes-crude-prices-kicking-off-price-war?srnd=markets-vp

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-07/putin-dumps-mbs-to-start-a-war-on-america-s-shale-oil-industry

[kscarbel2]

It has hit the fan !  An event of massive proportions that will effect us all.

Oil futures:  https://www.bloomberg.com/energy

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Oil Drops 31% in Worst Loss Since Gulf War as Price Fight Erupts

Bloomberg  /  March 8, 2020

Oil markets tumbled more than 30% after the disintegration of the OPEC+ alliance triggered an all-out price-war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that is likely to have sweeping political and economic consequences.

Brent futures suffered the second-largest drop on record in the opening seconds of trading in Asia, behind only the plunge during the Gulf War in 1991.

As the global oil benchmark plummeted to as low as $31.02 a barrel, Goldman Sachs Group warned prices could drop to near $20 a barrel.

The cataclysmic collapse will resonate through the energy industry, from giants like Exxon Mobil to smaller shale drillers in West Texas. It will hit the budgets of oil-dependent nations from Angola to Kazakhstan and could also reshape global politics, eroding the influence of countries like Saudi Arabia.

“It’s unbelievable, the market was overwhelmed by a wave of selling at the open,” said one energy consult. “OPEC+ has clearly surprised the market by engaging in a price war to gain market share.”

Hammered by a collapse in demand due to the coronavirus, the oil market is sinking deeper into chaos on the prospect of a supply free-for-all.

Saudi Arabia slashed its official prices by the most in at least 20 years over the weekend and signaled to buyers it would ramp up output -- an unambiguous declaration of intent to flood the market with crude.

Russia said its companies were free to pump as much as they could.

Aramco’s unprecedented pricing move came just hours after the talks between OPEC and its allies ended in dramatic failure. The breakup of the alliance effectively ends the cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has underpinned oil prices since 2016.

The state-owned Saudi producer has privately told some market participants it plans to raise output well above 10 million barrels a day next month and could even reach a record 12 million barrels a day.

Oil prices have suffered massive drops each time that Saudi Arabia has launched a price war to drive competitors out of the market. West Texas Intermediate fell 66% from late 1985 to March 1986 when the country pumped at will amid a resurgence of U.S. oil output. Brent crude briefly dropped below $10 a barrel when the kingdom had a showdown with Venezuela in the late 1990s.

With oil demand already plummeting due to the economic impact of the coronavirus, traders forecast that prices will drop even further. “The oil market is now faced with two highly uncertain bearish shocks with the clear outcome of a sharp price sell-off,” said Goldman Sachs.

Brent for May settlement tumbled as much as $14.25 a barrel to $31.02 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange, the biggest intra-day loss since the U.S.-led bombing of Iraq in January 1991. It pared some of those losses to trade 22% lower at $35.39 a barrel as of 8:04 a.m. in Singapore.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude plunged 22% to $32.22 a barrel after sliding as much as 27% to $30 a barrel just after the open. Trading was frozen for the first few minutes because of the scale of the loss.

While the price crash was dramatic, for oil specialists the movements in time-spreads, options and volatility are just as remarkable. Brent’s three-month price structure widened sharply as oil for prompt delivery collapsed against later shipments. It moved deeper into contango, a sign of bearishness and oversupply, making it profitable for physical traders to buy crude and put it in storage, either in onshore tank farms or at sea on tankers.

The plunge in oil also ricocheted across financial markets. U.S. equity futures plunged, along with oil currencies including the Norwegian krone and Mexican peso, while havens such as the Japanese yen and gold jumped. Shares of Australian oil producers fell over 20% in early Sydney trading.

The prospect of another price war is spooking traders who will remember the crash that began in 2014, when an explosion in U.S. shale production prompted OPEC to open the spigots in an attempt to suppress prices and curtail shale output.

That strategy ended in failure, with shale producers proving too resilient and Brent crude tumbling below $30 a barrel in 2016 amid a global glut. It was that crash that prompted OPEC to partner with Russia and others to curtail output and help shore up their oil-dependent economies.

[Maxidyne]

The oil sector companies I'm seeing at bargain prices tend to be the smaller and mid sized ones that are suppliers and subbies to the big oil companies= Very real risk they go under and get gobbled up at bargain prices.

[kscarbel2]

11 hours ago, Maxidyne said:

The oil sector companies I'm seeing at bargain prices tend to be the smaller and mid sized ones that are suppliers and subbies to the big oil companies= Very real risk they go under and get gobbled up at bargain prices.

ALL the companies in the oil sector were on sale today, including Exxon at $40.

Quality companies with excellent dividends are all bargain priced, including APA, SHLX, HESM, ET and KMI.