David Fuller and Eoin Treacy's Comment of the Day
Category - General

    Advances Bipartisan Nuclear Energy Bill from Capito, Carper, Whitehouse

    This press release is the primary reason uranium prices are jumping this week. Here is a section:

    The ADVANCE Act would:

    Facilitate American Nuclear Leadership by:
    Empowering the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to lead in international forums to develop regulations for advanced nuclear reactors.
    Establishing a joint Commerce Department and Energy Department initiative to facilitate outreach to nations that are seeking to develop advanced nuclear energy programs.

     Develop and Deploy New Nuclear Technologies by:

    Reducing regulatory costs for companies seeking to license advanced nuclear reactor technologies.
    Creating a prize to incentivize the successful deployment of next-generation nuclear reactor technologies.
    Requiring the NRC to develop a pathway to enable the timely licensing of nuclear facilities at brownfield sites.

     Preserve Existing Nuclear Energy by:

    Modernizing outdated rules that restrict international investment.
    Extending a long-established, indemnification policy necessary to enable the continued operation of today’s reactors and give certainty for capital investments in building new reactors.

     Strengthen America’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Supply Chain Infrastructure by:

    Directing the NRC to establish an initiative to enhance preparedness to qualify and license advanced nuclear fuels.
    The bill identifies modern manufacturing techniques to build nuclear reactors better, faster, cheaper, and smarter. 

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    China Economy Shows More Signs of Stability on Policy Boost

    This article from Bloomberg may be of interest. Here is a section:

    China’s economy picked up steam in August as a summer travel boom and a heftier stimulus push boosted consumer spending and factory output, adding to nascent signs of stabilization.

    Industrial production and retail sales growth jumped last month from a year earlier, blowing past expectations, while the urban jobless rate eased slightly. That improvement came as the government has in recent weeks beefed up pro-growth measures, including plans to spur more spending on home goods and ease curbs on some housing purchases. 

    “Perhaps the peak pessimism is behind us,” said Ding Shuang, chief economist for greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Plc. “August’s data indicates that the economy is unlikely to suffer from a persisting, deeper downturn going forward even though there might still be some volatility ahead — especially if we take into account the policy factor.”

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    Bitcoin Is Headed for Its First Weekly Gain Since August

    This article may be of interest. Here is a section:

    The possibility of a weekly gain comes as Bitcoin rebuilds its correlation with technology stocks, mirroring the price moves of the Nasdaq 100 Index as it climbed earlier this week. However, the tech-heavy index is on track to be flat to modestly negative for the week as declines in Amazon.com Inc. and Nvidia Corp. drag it lower on Friday. With investors getting ready to parse a bevy of economic data and the Federal Reserve’s rate decision next week, it’s unclear how stocks will perform going forward. 

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    Travelling tomorrow

    Please note – I will be travelling to San Francisco tomorrow where I will be speaking at the American Association of Professional Technical Analysts conference. Comment of the Day, the video and podcast may be posted later than normal as a result. 

    Drilling Three Miles Sideways Brings Risks for Shale Operators

    This article from Bloomberg may be of interest. Here is a section:

    “It’s a risk-reward decision, because if something bad happens at 18,000 feet, that’s an expensive mistake,” Kaes Van’t Hof, president of Diamondback, said on a call with analysts. The company has even gone sideways deep under the home of company chief Travis Stice. So far, he said, the results of the longer laterals have been positive. “The drilling guys can do it, there’s no doubt about that.”

    Pioneer, the largest independent producer in the Permian, has an inventory of more than 1,000 future wells that run at least 15,000 feet horizontally — or about 2.8 miles — and some even exceed 18,000 feet. That’s about 3.4 miles, or the length of 50 football fields. The longer horizontal wells generate more oil, cost less per lateral foot and require fewer vertical holes and fracking workers, Pioneer’s president and incoming chief executive officer, Rich Dealy, said on an August conference call.

    Servicers, the hired hands of the oil patch, are for the most part eager to take on these kinds of risky, big-ticket jobs. An average 2-mile lateral well costs $6.5 million, all in, compared to around $9 million for a 3-mile lateral well, according to data from Bernstein. Pioneer and Diamondback didn’t say whether they’ve had any problems when they extend the laterals or how much they’ve spent, though Dealy said on the call that the roughly 3-mile laterals result in capital savings of about 15% per foot. Longer horizontals are particularly popular in the Marcellus Shale of the US Northeast as well as the Midland Basin of the Permian in Texas.

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    Sugar Rises as India Output Fears Overshadow Huge Brazilian Crop

    This article from Bloomberg may be of interest. Here is a section:

    Meanwhile, mills in Brazil’s Center-South are boosting production. Below-average rains are expected for the country’s cane areas this month, favoring the harvest, Hedgepoint Global Markets analyst Livea Coda said in a Thursday report. The expectation of good Brazilian supplies in the short term is helping to keep a key spread between October and March futures lower.

    “Markets do not seem so tight during this third quarter, but they are expected to become tighter from the fourth quarter onwards,” she said.

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    Unity has changed its pricing model, and game developers are pissed off

    This article from the Verge may be of interest. Here is a section:

    “Unity Plus is being retired for new subscribers effective today, September 12, 2023, to simplify the number of plans we offer,” Unity wrote. “Existing subscribers do not need to take immediate action and will receive an email mid-October with an offer to upgrade to Unity Pro, for one year, at the current Unity Plus price.”

    A Unity Plus subscription was about $400 per year. After that one year, however, it stands to reason that those former Plus users will have to pay the new Pro rate, which is currently over $2,000 per year.

    Developers are also concerned these new fees could impact digital preservation efforts as now game makers are seemingly incentivized to delist older games so they aren’t charged for them. There’s also the question of how Unity plans on tracking installs and whether or not such tools run afoul of government privacy laws. Here’s a tweet from the official Unity account explaining how it intends to monitor a game’s installs.

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