Taking a stand is good: it lets people know what you think and lets people react to it. Patagonia has decided that it only wants to brand clothing of brands that are like minded and in that, financial services and oil and gas are out. Did I mention that they use fleece in their products so I should probably mention that fleece is made of polyester and of course that is derived from petroleum based products. So in addition to not buying clothing from Patagonia, I...

Earnings season has kicked off, and for once, companies - and the stocks that reflect their decisions - are performing in sync. Show capital discipline and get rewarded. Outspend, and watch your stock get crushed. Tier 1 assets (pronounced Delaware) are allowing companies like CXO, DVN, CVX, XOM to crush expectations. Tier 2 and 3 assets have “weather impacts”, “third party curtailments” and “midstream delays”. Yeah... ok. G&A reductions, share buybacks and free cash flow are mentioned in every...