Notes You Need for August 24: Hurricane Harvey, Apple TV, Fed balance sheet, Amazon cuts Whole Food prices, natural gas

Notes You Need for August 24: Hurricane Harvey, Apple TV, Fed balance sheet, Amazon cuts Whole Food prices, natural gas

Times listed are when I wrote the specific post (New York time.)

10:20 a.m.: The worst storm to hit the oil refineries on the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Wilma in 2005 is on a track to come ashore near Corpus Christi, Texas, on Friday. Hurricane Harvey with its 85 mile an hour winds and drenching rain is likely to disrupt gasoline production and curtail oil and natural gas demand. U.S. crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed down 1.63% today. Gasoline, on the other hand, rose 2.35% on anticipation that the storm will curtail supply. 10:40 a.m.: The usual reliable but unnamed sources have said that in September Apple (AAPL) will announce a new Apple TV set-top box that will include a faster processor capable of streaming higher-resolution 4K video. Apple is also said to be testing an updated version of its TV app that can aggregate programming from apps that already offer live streaming.