A Cool, Quiet Friday... Before A Weekend Road Trip -- No. 1 Villanova Vs. Marquette, Sunday At Noon...

But first, the Kenilworth news: BlackRock (perhaps one of the best large investors on the planet) held steady again this year with Merck.

Well -- actually, it added about a million shares, but on 184 million shares already owned, that's essentially steady state. The solid, leveled trend to stay the course between 6.6 and 6.9 per cent. . . has persisted since about 2014, when Mr. Fink first bumped Merck up -- to over the magical 7 per cent holdings level, after nearly a decade. . . of not doing so.

So the news here is that BlackRock holds on to its optimism -- about Merck.

Now -- to the truly fun stuff: a quick road trip looms, for floor seats, to watch the nation's D-1 current number one college hoopsters, from 'Nova (the national champs two years ago, as well), take on my son's promising but likely overmatched Marquette squad (after an early brunch) on Sunday, at noon. Always great to be up north with him -- and his significant other.

So I'll be smiling expectantly, all day today -- as temperate sunshine splashes off the glass and steel canyons. Be excellent to one another. . . .

नमस्ते