Silence on Minnesota, public oil company graft, Grok’s children problem, where are investors

Let's start with the Bad News?The ICE game3 UnitedHealth Group Minnetonka41 Target Minneapolis105 U.S. Bancorp; IR site not working: Minneapolis108 Best Buy Richfield115 CHS Inver Grove Heights174 3M Maplewood216 General Mills Golden Valley230 Ameriprise Financial MinneapolisAnthony Saglimbene, Chief Market Strategist, Ameriprise Financial: Is Corporate America Up For Its First Big Test Of 2026? 1/12/2026“geopolitical and Washington headlines have increased risk, from developments in Venezuela to broader policy noise, including the pending International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) decision which didn’t occur last week, affordability proposals in Washington, and unexpected policies and executive orders that could impact housing and defense companies”233 C.H. Robinson Eden Prairie262 Land O'Lakes Arden Hills274 Ecolab St. Paul319 Xcel Energy Minneapolis352 Hormel Foods Austin388 Thrivent Financial MinneapolisThe Good GameThe oil CEO who stood up to Trump is a follower of the disciplined ‘Exxon way’ with a history of blunt statementsBig Oil executives met at the White House to discuss investing billions to revive Venezuela’s oil industry.Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods pushed back, calling Venezuela “uninvestable” without long-term reforms.President Trump reacted angrily, calling Exxon “too cute” and signaling he may exclude the company from Venezuela.Woods declined to appease Trump at the expense of Exxon shareholders.Analysts said Exxon stock would likely have fallen if it committed billions to Venezuela’s uneconomic, high-risk environment.Veteran analyst Jim Wicklund said Woods was the only executive willing to speak plainly.Industry has little urgency to return to Venezuela, and no deal can offset the extreme political risk.Even sweeter terms wouldn’t change the math: political risk outweighs potential rewards by “a factor of 10.”Microsoft Pledges to Pay More for Electricity, Drawing Praise From Trump A senior Microsoft executive on Tuesday addressed the impact data centers have on the electrical costs for home consumers, an increasingly touchy subject that became a political hot button in November’s elections.In a blog post ahead of a speech on artificial intelligence, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, reiterated that Microsoft wants to pay for the electricity its data center use and avoid affecting everyday customers. “We’ll ask utilities and public commissions to set our rates high enough to cover the electricity costs for our data centers,” Mr. Smith wrote.US Judge Allows Orsted to Resume $5 Billion Rhode Island Offshore Wind Project Halted by TrumpRevolution Wind is a $5 billion development co-owned by Orsted that aims to deliver renewable power to Rhode Island and Connecticut. It is the first of five offshore wind projects paused by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in late December over what officials described as radar interference risks identified by the Department of Defense.Trump tries to reduce CEO pay and halt billions in stock buybacks at defense contractorsThe executive order is creating a “new, government-mandated form of ESG,” referring to the environmental, social, and governance framework that grew prominent in recent years and prodded CEOs to focus on their companies’ broader stakeholder impact and not just shareholders.Ironically, the prioritization of ESG was derided as “woke” by critics and the administration has been generally hostile toward ESG. The defense contractor order is conceptually similar in that it prods companies to prioritize a customer over maximizing value for shareholders.President Donald Trump signed an executive order zeroing in on pay packages for executives at large defense contractors deemed to have underperformed on existing government contracts while chasing newer, bigger deals, according to the White House. At the same time, the order claims, these companies have bought back billions in stock, enriching both shareholders and executives.“Effective immediately, they are not permitted in any way, shape, or form to pay dividends or buy back stock, until such time as they are able to produce a superior product, on time and on budget,” the order, titled “Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting,” states.The order further directs the Secretary of War to identify contractors that have underperformed the terms of their deals with the government and hatch a plan to resolve delays and production issues. If the resolution plan is insufficient, according to the secretary, future contracts will include provisions banning stock buybacks and dividends and will prohibit tying pay to “short-term financial metrics” such as free cash flow or earnings per share.Trump elaborated in a post on his messaging platform Truth Social last week, railing against pay packages in the defense industry, claiming they are “exorbitant and unjustifiable” given the delays in delivering military equipment. Until ...