DHUnplugged Podcast

SpaceX  – Price almost $135 – full retracement.

Earnings season in on –  here we go!

Inflation – choppy.

War back on! Straits Open? Or?

New Diet? CYCLOSPORIASIS

PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts!

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Warm-Up

- CTP for SpaceX  - Price almost hit $135 yesterday

- Earnings season 0 here we go!

- Inflation - choppy

- War back on! Straits Open? Or?

New Diet? CYCLOSPORIASIS

Markets

- Inflation - Some Relief

- IBM's Pre-Annnouncment - What does this say?

- Bank earnings and an earnings cheat sheet

- Some interesting chart data

Health Update: Meniscus Repair next Thursday....

Today IBM stood for 'I Be Melting' as Big Blue turned into Big Blew Up...

IBM: It's Been Murdered

IBM: I Bought Misery

IBM: Investment Board Malfunction

Big Blue looked more like Deep Red today

The only cloud around IBM today was hanging over the stock chart

IBM investors got a free software update: Version 2.0 of disappointment.

IBM'S AI FACE-PLANT

- IBM shares plunged as much as 25%, putting the stock on pace for its worst session on record.

- Preliminary revenue was $17.2 billion versus expectations near $17.9 billion.

- Adjusted earnings were projected at $2.93 per share versus roughly $3.01 expected.

- Management said customers redirected spending toward AI servers, memory and hardware while delaying software purchases.

- The drop removed roughly 375 points from the price-weighted DJIA.

- JCD and AH were both right and wrong for the weekly stock picks

TRUTH?

- President Trump says U.S. blockade will apply only to ships from Iranian ports; says Strait of Hormuz is open to all traffic except for Iran; says "Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States reimbursement fee with trade and investment deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States"

- Can never be proven - no real numbers here.... Clearly needed to walk back the 20% item

- Hormuz still hobbled - best estimates are that the ships passing are 20% of pre-war levels

INFLATION RELIEF - FOR NOW

- June CPI rose 3.5% year over year, down from 4.2% in May and below the 3.8% consensus.

- Core CPI held at 2.6%.

- Falling gasoline and energy prices drove much of the improvement.

- Traders sharply reduced expectations for a July Fed rate increase.

- Treasury yields fell and the Nasdaq advanced.

WALL STREET BANKS PRINT MONEY

- JPMorgan posted $21.2 billion in net income, helped by special items.

- Markets revenue rose 35% to $12.1 billion, including an 86% jump in equities revenue.

- Bank of America earned $9.1 billion as equities trading revenue increased 70%.

- Goldman Sachs reported earnings of $20.98 per share and a 23.5% annualized return on common equity.

- Jamie Dimon described conditions as close to "as good as it gets."

THE $26.5 BILLION AI-MEMORY IPO - $ GRAB

- SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion through a Nasdaq ADR listing.

- The offering priced at $149 and finished approximately 13% higher the day of the offering, but sunk the next.

- Demand reportedly exceeded the available shares by more than seven times.

- SK Hynix supplies high-bandwidth memory used in Nvidia-powered AI systems.

- The listing gives U.S. investors direct access to one of the largest beneficiaries of AI infrastructure spending.

- - Samsung is on tap to do the same thing...

Some Interesting Charts

Best Quarters Plus One

Equal vs Cap-Weight

OIL'S CEASEFIRE WHIPLASH

- Brent crude jumped 5.2% to $78.02 a barrel after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire broke down.

- WTI rose 4.4% to $73.52.

- Markets repriced the risk of interrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

- Energy stocks gained while airlines and the broader market weakened.

- Rising oil prices could quickly reverse the energy-related improvement seen in the June inflation report.

APPLE SUES OPENAI - AI PARTNERS TURN RIVALS

- Apple sued OpenAI and two former Apple employees on July 10, alleging coordinated theft of hardware trade secrets.

- The defendants include OpenAI hardware chief Tang Tan and technical employee Chang Liu, both former Apple employees.

- Apple claims confidential product designs and manufacturing information were taken to accelerate OpenAI's consumer-device program.

- More than 400 former Apple employees reportedly now work at OpenAI, highlighting the scale of the talent migration between the companies.

IPO AND MEGADEAL FEVER RETURNS

- Global deals valued above $10 billion reached record levels during the first half of 2026.

- Mega-deals represented approximately 43% of newly announced M&A volume.

- Investment-banking revenue surged across JPMorgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

- Large offerings from SpaceX and SK Hynix added momentum to underwriting activity.

- The boom depends on high equity valuations, strong AI demand and large transactions continuing.

BANKS BANKS BANKS

JPMORGAN CHASE - RECORD PROFIT

- Profit reached a record $16.9 billion, or $6.14 per share, versus $5.59 expected.

- Managed revenue totaled $58 billion, with every major business reporting record revenue.

- Markets revenue rose 35%, led by an 86% surge in equities trading.

- Investment-banking revenue increased 30% to its highest level since 2021.

- Jamie Dimon warned that geopolitical tensions, sticky inflation, fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices remain major risks.

BANK OF AMERICA - TRADING RECORD

- Net income rose 27% to $9.1 billion, or $1.21 per share, versus $1.13 expected.

- Revenue increased 15% to $31.6 billion.

- Sales and trading revenue jumped 33% to a record $7.1 billion; equities revenue rose 70%.

- Investment-banking fees increased 50% to $2.1 billion.

- Full-year net-interest-income growth is now expected near the upper end of the previous 6% to 8% range.

GOLDMAN SACHS - DEAL BOOM

- Profit reached $6.63 billion, or $20.98 per share, versus $14.48 expected.

- Revenue totaled $20.3 billion.

- Equities revenue surged 72% to a record $7.42 billion.

- Fixed-income, currency and commodities revenue increased 32% to $4.59 billion.

- Investment-banking fees jumped 55%, helping send Goldman shares to a record high.

CITIGROUP - DECADE-HIGH REVENUE

- Net income jumped 45% to $5.8 billion, or $3.15 per share, versus roughly $2.74 expected.

- Revenue rose 14% to $24.8 billion, the bank's highest quarterly revenue in a decade.

- Investment-banking revenue increased 44% to $1.55 billion.

- Equities trading revenue rose 45%, while fixed-income trading increased 7%.

- Return on tangible common equity reached 13%, matching the upper end of management's target range.

WELLS FARGO - BACK ON OFFENSE

- Net income rose 22% to $6.4 billion, or $2.00 per share.

- Revenue reached $22.6 billion and topped expectations.

- Investment-banking revenue increased 20%.

- Markets revenue rose 24% as volatility boosted client activity.

- Management said the removal of regulatory growth restrictions is allowing the bank to deploy capital and expand its balance sheet.

Bank Returns Post Earnings (July 14, 2026)

Bank Stocks

Earnings Cheat Sheet

- JULY 15 - ASML: Expected EPS around $7.92 on $10.25 billion revenue; bookings, EUV demand and updated AI-chip equipment guidance will matter most.

- JULY 15 - JOHNSON & JOHNSON: Expected EPS around $2.86 on $25.02 billion revenue; watch pharmaceutical growth, medical-device demand and full-year guidance.

- JULY 15 - MORGAN STANLEY: Expected EPS around $2.89 on $19.38 billion revenue; trading, investment banking and wealth-management inflows are the key numbers.

- JULY 15 - BLACKROCK: Expected EPS around $12.59 on $6.80 billion revenue; assets under management, ETF flows and private-market fundraising will be in focus.

- JULY 16 - TSMC: Expected EPS around $3.76-$3.77 on roughly $40 billion revenue; AI demand, gross margin and any increase to capital-spending guidance are critical.

- JULY 16 - UNITEDHEALTH: Expected EPS around $4.84 on $110.8 billion revenue; medical-cost trends and the durability of full-year guidance are the main issues.

- JULY 16 - GE AEROSPACE: Expected EPS around $1.85 on $11.8 billion revenue; engine deliveries, service revenue and supply-chain constraints will drive the reaction.

- JULY 16 - NETFLIX: Expected EPS around $0.79 on $12.58 billion revenue; advertising growth, engagement and operating-margin guidance will matter more than subscribers.

- JULY 17 - TRAVELERS: Expected EPS around $5.33 on roughly $11 billion revenue; catastrophe losses, insurance pricing and reserve development are the key swing factors.

- JULY 17 - FIFTH THIRD: Expected EPS around $0.98 on $3.25 billion revenue; net-interest income, deposit costs and credit quality will be closely watched.

WAYFAIR GOES PHYSICAL

- Wayfair opened its second large-format store in Atlanta on March 31, following the 2024 debut of its 150,000-square-foot Wilmette, Illinois flagship.

- The company is building a national store network, with Denver expected later in 2026 and Yonkers, Cincinnati and Princeton locations planned for 2027.

- The stores combine furniture, decor, appliances and home-improvement products, giving customers a chance to test large purchases before ordering.

- The strategy is a major reversal for an online-first retailer and is designed to increase brand awareness, reduce dependence on digital advertising and capture shoppers returning to physical stores.

AI SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND - PUBLIC OWNERSHIP DEBATE

- Bernie Sanders introduced legislation requiring the largest AI companies to transfer 50% of their equity into a U.S. sovereign wealth fund.

- The fund is projected by supporters to hold roughly $7 trillion and could finance annual public dividends and government services.

- OpenAI has separately floated a much smaller proposal in which major AI companies would voluntarily contribute about 5% of their equity.

- Supporters call it a way to share AI-created wealth; critics warn government ownership could discourage investment, distort regulation and reduce innovation.

PSA  - That's what we do....CYCLOSPORIASIS OUTBREAK - CASES SURGE

- Cyclosporiasis cases are rising across more than 30 states, with Michigan, Ohio and New York reporting particularly large increases.

- The CDC reported at least 843 confirmed cases and 86 hospitalizations by July 9, but state totals and reporting delays suggest the real count is substantially higher.

- Lettuce, salad greens and other fresh produce are being investigated, although officials have not identified a specific product, supplier or national recall.

- The parasite causes prolonged or recurring watery diarrhea; washing produce may reduce risk, and persistent symptoms should prompt medical testing and treatment.

HOW TO REDUCE CYCLOSPORIASIS RISK (FWIW)

- Wash hands with soap before preparing food and after using the bathroom.

- Rinse fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs thoroughly under running water; scrubbing helps but cannot guarantee removal.

- Keep raw produce separate from unwashed items, dirty utensils and preparation surfaces.

- When traveling in tropical or subtropical areas, use safe water and avoid raw produce you cannot peel yourself; routine chemical sanitizers may not kill Cyclospora.

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THE CLOSEST TO THE PIN

for SpaceX (SPCX)

Winners will be getting great stuff like the new "OFFICIAL" DHUnplugged Shirt!

 

 

FED AND CRYPTO LIMERICKS

 

See this week’s stock picks HERE

Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter

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Starting off July on a Wobble

SpaceX added to NAZ100

Oil prices drifting lower – Gas at the pump?

JOBS Number – Odd Move

Saylor is selling Bitcoin!

PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts!

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Warm-Up

- JOBS Number - Odd Move

- Saylor is selling Bitcoin!

- VEGGIE ALERT!

- US RESUMES POWERFUL STRIKES ON IRAN (Is this still a ceasefire?)

Markets

- Starting off July on a Wobble

- SpaceX added to NAZ100

- Oil prices drifting lower - Gas at the pump?

- Oracle - Canary?

World Cup?

- USA is out... (Bad goalie move last night)

IRAN

- Looks like war is back on - at least for tonight

- Oil rises about 3% on the news

- US revokes Iran's ability to sell oil around the world

- Markets don't seem overly concerned - VIX still low at 16

- Odds that this will be more than a quick in and out?

--- Could it be that Iran was waiting until after the Funeral?

JOBS COOL, FED STILL HOT

- June payrolls came in at +57,000, well under the +110,000 estimate.

- April and May were revised down by a combined 74,000 jobs.

- Unemployment slipped to 4.2%, but not for the best reason: the labor force shrank by 720,000 people.

- Labor-force participation fell to 61.5%, the lowest in more than five years.

- Leisure and hospitality lost 61,000 jobs, a notable hit to the consumer-service economy.

- Average hourly earnings rose $0.13 in June.

- Fed setup: weaker hiring argues for patience, but inflation is still above target, so the market is back to parsing every Fed sentence.

- - Fed Funds Futures Now only ONE Raise by Year-End

DOW RECORD, NASDAQ WOBBLE

- The Dow closed at a record 52,900.07 after the soft jobs report cooled near-term rate-hike fear.

- S&P 500 finished roughly flat.

- Nasdaq fell about 0.8% as chip stocks dragged the tape lower.

- The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped more than 5% on July 2.

- Apple rose nearly 5% on iPhone launch optimism.

- Nvidia and other AI/chip names stayed volatile after a huge first-half run.

- Goldman client data showed hedge funds dumped tech hardware and semiconductor exposure for a fourth straight week.

- The issue is not "AI is dead"; the issue is when all the AI capex turns into visible returns.

TESLA BEATS DELIVERIES, STOCK STILL GETS HIT

- Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles in Q2, a record quarter and above Wall Street expectations.

- Production was 451,758 vehicles.

- Model 3/Y made up 467,762 deliveries.

- Other models were only 12,364.

- Energy storage deployments were 13.5 GWh.

- Shares fell about 7.5% after the report, the worst one-day drop in roughly a year.

- Pressure points: margin worries, price cuts, demand sustainability, and the market questioning whether the EV story is enough at a very rich valuation.

- As of Monday afternoon, TSLA was around $420 with a market cap near $1.49 trillion and a trailing P/E around 385.

MORE MUSK - TESLA PUTS AI ON A BUDGET

- Tesla reportedly capped employee spending on third-party AI tools at $200 per week starting July 6.

- Grok was reportedly exempt from the cap.

- Setup: Tesla wants employees using AI, but not running up unlimited outside-token bills.

- Cost-control angle: AI is becoming a normal operating expense, not a science project.

- Funny part: even at Tesla, the AI bill apparently needs a limiter.

NVIDIA SERVER DELAY NOISE

- Nvidia shares held up despite reports of delays tied to its next AI server architecture.

- SemiAnalysis reportedly said Nvidia's Kyber architecture could slip by up to 12 months into 2028.

- Nvidia pushed back and said its development roadmap is unchanged.

- Mizuho called the delay report "noise" and said it was not a material issue for the stock.

- NOTE:  Story is still report-driven, not company-confirmed.

ORACLE - CANARY?

- Oracle’s stock fell 19% this week, the steepest drop since August 2001, the depths of the dot-com bust.

- The company’s capital expenditures surged 162% in the latest fiscal year, with almost $24 billion in negative free cash flow and $130 billion in debt.

- Co-founder Larry Ellison has fallen behind the Google co-founders, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell on the list of the world’s richest people.

- After the company reached a peak market cap of $900 billion in September, on enthusiasm about Oracle’s AI customers, the stock has lost about 55% of its value.

- The crux of the problem is that for Oracle to fulfill its AI infrastructure commitment, primarily to OpenAI, it’s having to raise record amounts of debt, creating balance sheet risk while focusing on lower-margin offerings.

SPACEX ENTERS THE INDEX MACHINE

- SpaceX is set to join the Nasdaq-100 on Tuesday after its recent IPO.

- The company's valuation is around $2.1 trillion.

- Its Nasdaq-100 weight will initially be under 1% because of limited public float.

- Index-tracking funds tied to the Nasdaq-100 will need exposure, creating automatic demand.

- Key issue: big valuation, small float, forced index buying.

- Watch the lockup calendar: index inclusion can create near-term demand, but employee and insider selling later can change the supply picture.

- Podcast angle: retail gets "SpaceX exposure" through QQQ, but not necessarily much exposure at first.

STRATEGY SELLS BITCOIN TO PAY THE BILLS

- Strategy sold 3,588 bitcoin last week for about $216 million.

- Proceeds are being used for preferred-stock dividends and dollar reserves.

- The company still holds 843,775 bitcoin, valued around $52 billion.

- Q2 included an $8.32 billion paper loss tied to bitcoin weakness.

- The company's average bitcoin purchase price is around $75,476.

- Recent sale prices were around $59,000 to $61,000.

- Funny part: the former "never sell" bitcoin treasury poster child is now selling bitcoin to service the capital structure.

- Watch for copycats: any company that copied the bitcoin-treasury model may face the same liquidity math if crypto stays weak.

MICROSOFT CUTS AGAIN

- Microsoft said it will cut about 4,800 jobs.

- Shares slipped nearly 1%.

- Job cuts landed while investors are still rewarding AI spending.

- The message? spend heavy on AI, cut elsewhere.

--- Yes, AI is killing jobs...

SERVICES HOLD AT 54

- ISM non-manufacturing PMI came in at 54.0.

- Result matched expectations.

- Reading above 50 means services activity is still expanding.

- Market took it as firm enough for growth, not hot enough to force an immediate Fed move.

EARNINGS SEASON STARTER

- Delta and PepsiCo report this week.

- Levi Strauss also reports this week.

- Delta is the read on travel, premium demand, fuel, and consumer resilience.

- PepsiCo is the read on snack pricing, volume, and lower-income consumer pressure.

- Q2 earnings bar is high after the market's strong second-quarter rally.

OIL BACK TO PRE-IRAN WAR LEVELS

- Brent settled around $71.99.

- WTI settled around $68.55.

- OPEC+ approved another output-target increase for August, adding 188,000 barrels per day.

- Since April, planned increases add up to nearly 800,000 barrels per day.

- Crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz are recovering, taking some geopolitical premium out of the market.

- Saudi Arabia cut official selling prices, another sign the market is shifting from shortage panic to buyer resistance.

- Good for headline inflation if it sticks; bad for energy bulls who were pricing war-premium oil.

SPR DRAWDOWN

- U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 6.2 million barrels.

- SPR level is now 319.5 million barrels.

- That is the lowest level since April 1983.

- Drawdown comes while oil prices are easing and OPEC+ is adding supply.

- Energy setup: lower crude helps inflation, but reserve levels are historically thin.

MORE OIL - CHINA BUYS THE DIP

- China stepped up Middle East oil purchases as prices fell.

- Saudi Arabia cut export prices to Asia to a six-year low.

- Brent settled at $71.99.

- WTI settled at $68.55.

- OPEC+ approved another August production increase of 188,000 barrels per day.

- Planned OPEC+ supply increases since April now total nearly 800,000 barrels per day.

- Lower oil supports disinflation but raises questions about global demand.

VEGGIE ALERT

Item
Status

Asparagus
ESCALATED

Artichokes
EXTREME

Cantaloupe
EXTREME

Fennel (Anise)
EXTREME

Green Leaf / Red Leaf Lettuce
ESCALATED

Honeydews
EXTREME

Iceberg Lettuce
EXTREME

Limes (175's and larger)
ESCALATED

Green Bell Peppers
ESCALATED

Romaine Lettuce
EXTREME

Romaine Hearts
EXTREME

White Asparagus
ESCALATED

Snacking Tomatoes (Grape & Cherry)
ESCALATED

 

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

- Conair Recalls Over One Million Cuisinart Grill Brushes Due to Ingestion Hazard

- Product: Metal Wire Bristle Grill Brushes

- 1 Million or so

- BUT none of these are any good.....

CHINA NOT MESSING AROUND

- A Chinese court handed a rare death sentence to a former official on corruption charges, in a severe punishment underscoring the intensity of President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft crackdown.

- Yang Youlin, a former vice director of an economic zone in the eastern city of Nanjing, was sentenced to death on Monday for taking more than 2.21 billion yuan ($325 million) of bribes between 2013 and 2023, according to the state broadcaster China Central Television.

- Yang was found guilty also of embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering. His crimes were “exceptionally grave” and caused massive losses, warranting the capital sentence, CCTV reported, citing the Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu province.

DRONES

- Dronemaker AeroVironment reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat on the top and bottom lines.

- The company’s funded backlog of $1.2 billion was up substantially over last year, but grew only slightly from the $1.1 billion last quarter.

- Autonomous systems were a strong point with revenue of $492 million that beat the $402 million StreetAccount expectation.

 

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THE CLOSEST TO THE PIN

for SpaceX (SPCX)

Winners will be getting great stuff like the new "OFFICIAL" DHUnplugged Shirt!

 

 

FED AND CRYPTO LIMERICKS

 

See this week’s stock picks HERE

Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter

Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter

Happy 250th!

The bulls are bubbling up!

Yentervention – it is a thing.

Labor market predictions.

PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts!

Click HERE for Show Notes and Links

DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar.

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Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter

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Warm-Up

- 250 Years!

- We have the scorecard

- Bulls are on the loose!

- Kevin Hassett - what a putz

- RAM JOB!

Markets

- Google's first day in the DJIA - a good one

- SpaceX bonds already losing

-Yen slips to 1986 levels - Yentervention?

WHAT A PUTZ!

- Trump Accounts launch July 4, with the NYSE and Nasdaq set to ring the opening bell from the Oval Office.

- Program gives a $1,000 Treasury-funded investment account to U.S. children born from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2028.

- Kids under 18 can have accounts, but only newborns in that four-year window get the federal seed money.

- Parents, family, employers, nonprofits, and governments can add money, with a general $5,000 annual contribution cap.

- Money is invested in index funds and generally locked up until the child reaches adulthood.

- Kevin Hassett pitched it as a way to teach kids about markets, ownership, saving, and compounding. His argument is that the more young people get exposed to investing early, and market ownership becomes less of an upper-income club.

- However - > the government is handing out taxpayer-funded brokerage seed money while selling it as capitalism.

- Also odd: the benefit may skew toward families who already know how to file forms, open accounts, and add more money.

- So basically it is a forced financial-literacy experiment wrapped in a political brand name, with a socialist starter check to teach capitalism.

First-Half Winners and Losers

- S&P 500 finished the first half up roughly 7% to 8%, with the rally led by AI hardware, chips, memory, and data-center infrastructure.

- Biggest winners were the shovel sellers: Sandisk up about 780%, Micron up about 296%, Western Digital up about 240%, Seagate up about 226%.

- Overseas AI hardware ripped too: South Korea's Kospi up 123%, helped by Samsung up 169% and SK Hynix up 303%.

- Semiconductor ETFs had a monster Q2: iShares Semiconductor ETF up 86.8%, VanEck Semiconductor ETF up 64.8%.

- Japan's Nikkei rose about 38%; FTSE 100 gained about 5.8%.

- Losers were the software/platform names that could not prove immediate AI payoff.

- Microsoft was down about 24% despite being one of the biggest AI spenders.

- Momentum stocks had one of their worst stretches in two decades as the Magnificent Seven slipped on capex worries.

- Crypto and gold also lagged the AI-infrastructure trade.

- Equity BULLS are running like it was San Fermin, Spain...

MORE....

- Gold biggest quarterly loss since 2013

- Japan best quarter ever

- Oil starts and ends

- Kospi best quarter in 30 years

- Stoxx 600 best Q in 5 years

Something is going to break!

- When Micro announced earnings, and we see that companies are panicking (News about existential threat to smaller tech players).. We said something is going to break

- MU shares lifted to ATH on the news - big big beat - Micron’s latest quarter showed a dramatic acceleration from the year-ago period, with revenue rising from $9,301 to $41,460 and EPS increasing from $1.91 to $25.11.

- HUGE uptick in guidance

- Apple increased pricing, Dell is increasing prices next week (17%), Microsoft raised price on XBox, HP across the board increase, Lenovo/Xiaomi increases,

- NOW: Apple is lobbying the Trump administration for clearance to buy memory chips from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies

Korea Goes All-In On AI Memory

- Samsung and SK Hynix are backing a huge South Korea chip buildout tied to AI memory, HBM, advanced DRAM, packaging and data centers.

- Samsung’s plan includes hundreds of trillions of won for new fabs, including HBM facilities in Cheonan and Onyang.

- SK Hynix is expanding Yongin and planning a major new chip base as it rides demand from Nvidia-linked HBM supply.

- Government angle: Seoul wants domestic chip capacity treated like national infrastructure, not just corporate capex.

- The state is trying to lock in supply-chain control before China, Taiwan, Japan and the U.S. pull more production into their own subsidy zones.

- Market wrinkle: AI memory is hot now, but memory companies have a long history of overbuilding into strong pricing cycles.

- Governments are no longer just subsidizing chips — they are helping plan semiconductor cities.

RAM Job?

- Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron were hit with a U.S. antitrust class-action lawsuit over alleged DRAM price fixing.

- Allegation: the big three coordinated supply cuts while shifting capacity away from regular DDR3/DDR4 memory and into high-bandwidth memory for AI servers.

- Plaintiffs say the three companies control roughly 90% of the DRAM market.

- Conventional DRAM prices allegedly jumped about 700% over four years.

- Complaint argues that in a normal commodity market, at least one supplier would usually increase production when prices spike.

- Instead, the lawsuit says all three moved in the same direction at the same time.

DRAM: We Have Seen This Movie Before

- Yes, there was a similar DRAM price-fixing scandal in the 2000s.

- DOJ investigation covered alleged DRAM price fixing from roughly 1998 through 2002.

- Hynix pleaded guilty in 2005 and agreed to pay a $185 million criminal fine.

- Samsung pleaded guilty in 2005 and agreed to pay a $300 million criminal fine.

- Infineon pleaded guilty earlier, in 2004, and agreed to pay a $160 million fine.

- Micron was involved in the investigation but received amnesty/cooperation treatment rather than the same criminal fine path.

- Several executives were also charged or pleaded guilty.

- State AGs and private plaintiffs later pursued civil cases tied to overpayment claims.

- Difference now: the new case is not yet proven and appears focused on alleged coordinated supply restriction during the AI/HBM boom.

Chevron and Microsoft

- Chevron Corp signed 20-year deal with Microsoft for data center power.

- Agreement supplies natural-gas fired generation for massive West Texas facility.

- Project Kilby expected online 2028, ramping to 2.67 gigawatts.

- Full output enough to power more than 530,000 Texas homes.

- Chevron partnering Engine No. 1, final investment decision planned later.

- Deal follows prior reports of exclusive long-term power negotiations.

More Oil News - Drill baby Drill

- Interior Department cutting federal drilling bonds by 95% to spur exploration.

- Required bond drops from $500,000 to $25,000 for leases.

- Bonds ensure cleanup costs don’t fall on taxpayers if wells abandoned.

- Policy change aims to encourage more oil and gas development.

- Proposal subject to 60-day public comment after Federal Register publication.

Dow 52,000 and the Tech Bounce

- Dow closed above 52,000 for the first time Monday, finishing at 52,182.74.

- S&P 500 gained 1.18%; Nasdaq jumped 2.07%.

- S&P and Nasdaq snapped five-session losing streaks.

- Alphabet rose 4.8% on its first day as a Dow component.

- Tesla gained 8.5%; SpaceX rose more than 7%.

- The bounce came after last week's tech selloff, with investors rotating back into mega-cap and AI names.

Comcast Breaks Itself Up

- Comcast plans to split media and connectivity into two separate companies.

- NBCUniversal and Sky would be spun off in a tax-free deal; Comcast keeps broadband, wireless, and cable.

- Completion expected within a year.

- Shareholders would own both Comcast and the new NBCUniversal.

- Comcast shares rose on the news; Charter also jumped as investors speculated Comcast could eventually pursue a broadband-scale deal.

AI Trade Gets a Warning Label

- Bank for International Settlements flagged the AI boom as a financial-stability risk.

- The main concerns: elevated valuations, investor complacency, complex funding structures, and debt financing across the AI supply chain.

- BIS also warned that record public debt and leveraged hedge-fund activity in sovereign bonds could amplify shocks.

- Quote from BIS General Manager Pablo Hernandez de Cos: "Policy actions must reinforce each other."

- The interesting part: central bankers are not saying AI is fake; they are saying the financing stack may be fragile.

Inflation Back Above 4%

- BEA's PCE price index rose 4.1% year over year in May.

- April was 3.8%; March was 3.5%; February was 2.9%.

- This keeps pressure on the Fed because PCE is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.

- Core PCE may later be revised lower because of BEA methodology changes.

- Goldman estimated May core PCE could be trimmed to 3.2% from 3.4%; JPMorgan expected 3.3%.

- Funny-but-real detail: part of the potential revision comes from how BEA prices portfolio management, legal services, and computer software.

Jobs Report Becomes Bad-News-Is-Bad-News

- June payrolls are due Thursday because markets are closed Friday for Independence Day.

- The setup is awkward: strong jobs could mean stronger economy, but also higher odds of Fed hikes.

- Looking back - May payrolls were hot at 172,000 versus an 85,000 forecast, with unemployment steady at 4.3%.

- Remember - after the June Fed meeting, policymakers were clearly focused on inflation, not rescue cuts.

Oil, Iran, and the Market's New Weird Routine

- Oil stayed volatile around renewed U.S.-Iran tensions and peace-talk headlines.

- Brent rose 1.6% Monday to $73.15; WTI rose 2.2% to $70.75.

- Markets rallied anyway, helped by signs talks would resume and shipping routes were stabilizing.

- The odd market behavior: geopolitical escalation keeps getting followed by de-escalation headlines and risk-on rallies.

- This is now part of the trading pattern: weekend war scare, Monday relief rally, repeat.

--- New attacks by USA on Iran happened at approx 4:30PM on Friday (markets closed) and then a halt to the fighting on Sunday - before the futures opened.

Odd : Wendy's Becomes a Meme Stock

- Wendy's became the latest retail-trader short-squeeze target.

- Stock surged 25% last Wednesday, then gained another 9% Thursday.

- Barron's said the move followed a CFO shakeup and WallStreetBets attention.

- New CFO Steve Cirulis came from Potbelly and is also taking the Chief Strategy Officer title.

- Wendy's had fallen 47% over the past year before the rally.

- Short interest was nearly 30% of the public float, making the stock easier to squeeze.

- Trian, Nelson Peltz's firm, owned nearly 15 million shares valued around $93 million.

SpaceX Bonds Slip After Big Debut

- SpaceX sold $25 billion of investment-grade bonds, its first major public debt deal.

- Demand was huge, with roughly $85 billion to $98 billion of orders.

- The 10-year tranche priced about 1.4 percentage points over Treasurys.

- Bonds weakened quickly after pricing.

- The 10-year yield rose near 6%, with the spread moving above 1.6 percentage points.

- Longer-dated 2046 and 2056 bonds took the most pressure.

- The pushback: bond buyers want more yield for a company still funding rockets, Starlink, AI/data-center spending, and Mars ambitions.

- Clean read: equity investors bought the story; bond investors immediately marked it down.

Yentervention

- Yen weakened again, pushing toward the 162-per-dollar zone and near its weakest level in about 40 years.

- Japan keeps warning it is ready for "decisive action" or to respond "at any time."

- Market does not seem scared for long.

- Japan already spent heavily defending the yen, including a roughly $73 billion yen-buying operation after the currency broke past 160.

- U.S. rates are still high, the Fed is not rushing to cut, and the Bank of Japan is still moving slowly.

- That keeps the carry trade alive: borrow cheap yen, buy higher-yielding dollars.

- Japan's foreign reserves fell 5.6% in May after intervention, showing the defense is expensive.

 

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Announcing the CTP for SpaceX.

MahJong Craze gone wild.

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Have you seen RAM prices?

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Warm-Up

- Announcing the CTP for SpaceX

- MahJong Craze

- Goodbye to Alan Greenspan - The Maestro

- Have you seen RAM prices?

Markets

- Economic Collapse Imminent?

- Breathe is narrowing again - chips chips chips are the only play

- Spacex coming back down to earth? What is that sucking sound?

-- Markets getting weird..... 3% down for NASDAQ 100 today - 8% for SMH and 14% for Memory ETF

- Just announced - Alphabet (Google) will replace Verizon in DJIA

DEDICATION: Alan Greenspan - Died Monday at age 100

Google Enters DJIA

- High priced shares

- Moves tech to 22% of DJIA from 17% or so - very meaningful move

- Every $1 move for Google = $7 move on DJIA

- Tech:  S&P 500 (~30%+), Nasdaq (~50%+)

Computer Pricing

- What as $2,000 a year ago for a nice desktop is not like $4,000

- Dell not holding pricing quotes - and even if they do, back ordered so prices could go up after order

- Will IPOs put more money in the pocket of tech companies to buy gear at any price?

Endless

- SpaceX recently finalized two massive, multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence contracts: a $6.3 billion computing power agreement with Reflection AI and a $60 billion acquisition of the AI coding startup Cursor.

- AI Compute Deal with Reflection AI

- - - - The Terms: Reflection AI agreed to pay SpaceXAI $150 million per month from July 2026 through the end of 2029.

- - -- - - The Infrastructure: The startup will tap into hardware and GB300 chips housed at SpaceX’s Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, Tennessee.

More SpaceX

- SpaceX shares were as high as $220 post IPO.

- Sharea ahve been down over the past 3 days.

- Most that got in POST IPO probably bought in at about $162-$165

- Newsline: SpaceX shares slipped for a third straight day, shedding hundreds of billions of dollars in market value, after the company said it is selling investment-grade bonds for the first time.

- The stock fell 16% Monday to close at $154.60, the lowest level since the company’s first day of trading, pushing its three-day loss to 23% and erasing over $600 billion in value over that period.

- SpaceX is seeking to raise at least $20 billion from the first bond offering to fund its artificial-intelligence ambitions.

Missed Opportunity

- Short the Mattress companies he said......

----- Got squeezed out....Never to return

Swing and a Miss

Maybe Because this can happen...

- Shares of Getty Images Holdings Inc. soared as much as 145% on Monday after it announced a licensing deal with OpenAI.

- Getty said that images from its library will appear in the search and discovery features of ChatGPT, marking a key reversal for the firm.

- The partnership with OpenAI could improve “licensing optics” and shift the narrative on the stock, according to analyst Mark Zgutowicz.

- Getty shares were up 118% to $1.32 as of 12:44 p.m. in New York, putting them on track for the best session since July 2022. The stock had fallen about 55% this year to close at 61 cents on Thursday before the Juneteenth holiday weekend began.

KOREA - SK Hynix

- New #1 in South Korea: SK Hynix surpassed Samsung Electronics on Monday to become the country's most valuable listed company.

- Remarkable turnaround: A striking reversal for a chipmaker that nearly collapsed under heavy debt roughly two decades ago. (CYCLES)

- AI memory leader: Now the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips powering AI systems.

- Marquee customers: Key buyers include Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet's Google (GOOGL).

- Massive 2026 rally: Shares are up more than 340% year-to-date, fueled by the global AI boom.

- Market cap milestone: Valuation now exceeds both Samsung and Micron (MU).

Markets Get Chopped

- Questions being asked about if AI spend boom producing fast enough return

- Back to earth on valuation scare - (all of a sudden?)

- KOSPI down 11%

- Chips getting hit - 12% for Memory ETF

- MU down 9%, Intel 4%, ASML 7%

RAM Prices...

- Looking at some additional RAM today for some office computers ....

--- ARE THEY KIDDING?

RAM Prices
Imminent Collapse????

- President Donald Trump said the prospect of global economic collapse was a big reason he signed an interim peace deal with Iran.

- According to sources, the deal reopened the Strait of Hormuz and set in motion waivers for sanctions on Iran’s oil sales to the international market, with the effect being an immediate drop in oil prices and a rise in US stocks.

- The agreement has been seen as skewed in Iran’s favor, giving the country broad gains before the next round of talks, and has prompted pushback and anger from Republican lawmakers.

- MOU signed lat Wednesday - also now more waivers of sanctions on sale of Iranian oil - 60 day reprieve.

China

- Weak economic conditions

- H Shares about to enter bear market

- Hong Kong

- Close to a technical bear market, dragged down by weak domestic consumption, a struggling property sector, and an exodus of funds fleeing "old tech" for AI plays elsewhere in Asia.

- A-shares are listed in mainland China (Shanghai/Shenzhen) and primarily target domestic investors. H-shares are listed in Hong Kong and are freely available to international investors

More China

- Retail sales declined for the first time since December 2022, dropping 0.6% from a year earlier.

- China’s urban fixed-asset investment contracted 4.1% as of end-May, dragged by real estate and manufacturing.

- Manufacturing fixed-asset investment contracted for the first time since December 2020.

- Industrial output was the lone bright spot, rebounding from April’s near three-year low.

- The national unemployment rate fell to 5.1% in May, compared with 5.2% in April.

Marrrr Jonggg

- Mahjong can be highly addictive due to its rewarding blend of strategy, luck, and social interaction. The rapid tile-drawing, need for pattern recognition, and "just one more round" mentality trigger dopamine releases. If compulsive play disrupts your finances or daily life, it can become a behavioral addiction requiring intervention.

- Tactile and Auditory Appeal: Many users on community forums like Reddit agree that the physical weight, texture, and distinct clinking sound of shuffling tiles provide soothing, sensory satisfaction.

- There has been a 70% surge in mahjong content on TikTok in the past year

- Yelp recently named the Chinese tile game a top trend of 2026, noting that searches for mahjong clubs surged 4,467% year over year for the period from September 2024 to August 2025 and that searches for mahjong lessons rose 819%.

Alphabet - WHAT>????*&*^

- Alphabet shares slid 7%, on track for the search giant’s worst day in a year.

- Alphabet’s Google has seen consecutive high-profile researchers leave in the last several days.

- The company also has exposure to the market’s concerns around commoditized AI and ballooning capital expenditures.

- The share slide also came on the heels of a Sunday Wall Street Journal interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who called for less dependence on “AI Giants” and said the AI market was commoditized.

Back to Oracle

- Oracle reduced workforce by 21,000 employees over past twelve months.

- Cuts broader than previously disclosed, driven by artificial intelligence adoption.

- Global headcount fell from 162,000 to 141,000 full-time employees year-over-year.

- Workforce reductions generated $1.8 billion in restructuring costs, company reported.

- Company warned AI deployment may continue resulting in workforce reductions.

NVDA - Underperforming

- Nvidia shares slipping recently despite remaining up about 12% in 2026.

- Stock down roughly 3% past month, underperforming semiconductor peers.

- SMH ETF surged 84% year-to-date, gaining 15% last month.

- Traders predict Nvidia chip pricing power is beginning to decline.

- Wall Street focus shifting toward memory and infrastructure AI buildout.

- Micron and Sandisk shares jumped nearly 60% over past month.

Gloom and Doom

- JCD sent interesting take from Chris Bloomstran

- Traditionally asset light companies with all sorts of revenue, high margins now....

---- Converting into asset heavy with no real understanding of what the profitability or even revue will be in the future

----- Here are the highlights of his commentary we can explre:

------------AI buildout shifting markets from asset-light toward capital-intensive infrastructure cycle

- Hyperscaler capex surge reflects move into heavy, long-duration asset base

- Massive capital requirements challenge economics versus prior asset-light models

- Depreciation burden rising sharply as infrastructure scales across AI ecosystem

- Returns depend on utilization of expensive, long-lived physical compute assets

- Asset-heavy cycles historically lead to overbuild, weak returns, eventual consolidation

- Infrastructure spending absorbing nearly all operating cash flow for hyperscalers

- Off-balance-sheet financing masking true scale of capital intensity shift

- AI economics hinge more on physical capacity than software-driven scalability

- Echoes of past asset-heavy booms with eventual oversupply and value destruction

Amazon Day - Today - June 26th

- US consumers will spend $26.3 billion online at Amazon and other retailers during the four-day sale, up 9% from last year’s event in July, according to Adobe Inc.

- About 201 million Amazon shoppers in the US were Prime subscribers as of March, up about 3% from a year earlier

- Amazon will capture about 60% of all US online spending during Prime Day, its highest market share since 2019, according to estimates from EMarketer Inc.

Chevron and Microsoft

- Chevron Corp signed 20-year deal with Microsoft for data center power.

- Agreement supplies natural-gas fired generation for massive West Texas facility.

- Project Kilby expected online 2028, ramping to 2.67 gigawatts.

- Full output enough to power more than 530,000 Texas homes.

- Chevron partnering Engine No. 1, final investment decision planned later.

- Deal follows prior reports of exclusive long-term power negotiations.

More Oil News - Drill baby Drill

- Interior Department cutting federal drilling bonds by 95% to spur exploration.

- Required bond drops from $500,000 to $25,000 for leases.

- Bonds ensure cleanup costs don’t fall on taxpayers if wells abandoned.

- Policy change aims to encourage more oil and gas development.

- Proposal subject to 60-day public comment after Federal Register publication.

FedEx Earnings

- FedEx posted strong fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday in the company’s last quarter that included the freight business before its spin off.

- FedEx Freight spun off into a separate publicly traded company on June 1.

- The company said it saw a 3% year-over-year increase in domestic volume.

- Stock down 6% A/H

 

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ANNOUNCING the THE CLOSEST TO THE PIN

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Let’s Make a Deal!

News Dominated by … SpaceX

This week – Fed rate Decision

Need a new CTP (SPACEX?)

PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts!

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Warm-Up

- Let's Make a Deal!

- News Dominated by ... SpaceX

- This week - Fed rate Decision

- Need a new CTP (SPACEX?)

Markets

- Another V Formation - Nearing Highs again

- IPO Madness - Anthropic and OpenAi

- SpaceX IPO - could drain markets

- More AI valuations through the roof

DEDICATION: Stu Schifter - my good friend of 30 years passed away last night... battled Cancer for 2 years.

Market Valuations

- S&P 500 Forward P/E = 22.5

- 10-yr average =  19–20x

- Long-term average 18-19

- Not cheap, pricing in a lot of earnings growth.

- NASDAQ 100 forward P/E =  23-24

- 1-yr average   ~23x

- 20-yr average  ~20–21x

- Not screaming expensive on a forward basis

- - NOTE: Training P/E = 33-40

NEW Playbook

- But the Rumor and Buy the News

- used to be Buy the Rumor and Sell the News

- This is why there is an announcement about something and then a date to follow....

- Monday = Deal, Friday = signing

On that note

- What is the deal anyway?

- Seems that we  (USA) moving out our navy before the final

- Straights of Hormuz opening -??

- Has anyone seen the text?

- We are no better than we were before all this started...

Headline Nonsense

- Fox Business: Beware the ticking time bomb hiding in your 401(k)

- Required minimum distributions can trigger taxes on Social Security benefits and boost Medicare premiums

- This is not a ticking time bomb. This is just reality when you have a lot saved and need to start withdrawals

- HOWEVER - there are ways around this and we have helped clients with this.

- - Listeners - if you have a 401k and think that you will be paying too much later on - we can take a look at the options...

More Retirement Alerts

- Social Security running out again....

- Less that 10 year until the reserves are exhausted

- The Social Security Administration’s newly released 2026 Trustees Report confirms that the federal retirement safety net is less than seven years away from fiscal depletion, as the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will completely exhaust its accumulated reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032.

- Once the reserve dries up, ongoing tax revenues will cover only 78% of scheduled retirement benefits, according to the report.

- Some of the blame is being laid on the OBBBA with higher standard deductions and lower taxes on SS Benefits

- "The OBBBA also adds a temporary additional standard deduction for taxpayers over age 65," it says. "As a result, less income tax will be paid on Social Security benefits, and the OASI and DI Trust Funds will receive lower levels of revenue in the future from income taxation of Social Security benefits."

PSA

- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified a recall of more than 900 cases of Alfredo sauce at its highest risk level after a supplier recalled a dry milk powder ingredient used in the product due to potential salmonella contamination.

- The FDA designated the recall as a Class I event, its most serious classification, meaning there is a reasonable probability that use of or exposure to the product could cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

- The Coffee Connexion Co., Inc.

- According to the FDA, the product was distributed in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Monday Markets

- 5:45PM Sunday night we see an announcement that there is a Deal!

- Why 5:45PM????????

- Futures rally, oil drops

- This is just days after the market already surged after a Truth Social post last Thursday that said that the US will "soon" sign a deal with IRAN

---- That pushed up markets quite a bit too

- Buy the rumor and buy the news...

Reality Check

- Thursday: Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “we have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

- Monday: 60-day period delay to continue discussions of nuclear issues

- Is there a sucker in all of this?

$ for IRAN

- Supposedly there i some deal...

- A $300 billion private fund designed ?to trigger investment into Iran is outlined in the U.S.-Iran framework agreement and more than half that sum has already been committed, a source with ?direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

- The fund is designed to give both sides an economic incentive to conclude a final deal, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced as Washington and Tehran prepare to sign on Friday.

SpaceX

- IPO - Finally!

$135 per share - Rose to $160+/- on the debut day

- Rather smooth process and very orderly

- A total of $85B was raised - due to an add-on additional green-shoe that was allowed ($10B) for institutions.

- Rose another $20% on Monday

- Retail got about 20% of the deal (down from 30%)

Oracle

- Oracle Corp. shares declined after the company reported quarterly capital expenses that were higher than estimates, raising investor concerns about the profitability of the AI infrastructure business.

- The company expects to spend about $70 billion on net capital expenditures in the current fiscal year, and plans to raise another $40 billion in equity and debt.

- Oracle's cloud infrastructure business gained 93% to $5.8 billion, and total cloud revenue is projected to jump about 61% in the quarter ending in August.

- The increase of $5B over the course of the year was disconcerting to investors.

- Shares dropped the most in over 6 months on the news

CPI and PPI

- May CPI was mixed but generally cooler on the core reading, with headline CPI up 0.5% month-over-month, matching consensus, while Core CPI rose 0.2%, below the 0.3% consensus and below Briefing's 0.4% estimate.

- The softer core CPI reading suggests some easing in underlying consumer inflation pressures, which is the more constructive part of the inflation picture.

- May PPI was firmer than expected on the headline reading, with PPI up 1.1% versus 0.7% consensus and 0.8% Briefing estimate, matching the prior month's revised 1.1% pace.

- Core PPI rose 0.4%, matching consensus and coming in below the prior month's revised 0.7%, indicating wholesale inflation remained elevated but did not accelerate further on the core measure.

- Taken together, the CPI and PPI reports point to a mixed inflation backdrop: consumer-level core inflation looked somewhat better, but producer-level price pressures remained sticky.

Cyberdyne

- Anthropic announced Claude Fable 5, a Mythos-class model that will be available to its enterprise customers and paid subscribers.

- The company unveiled Mythos in April and has limited the rollout because of its advanced cybersecurity capabilities.

- Anthropic said Claude Fable 5?s broad release is possible because of new safeguards that block responses in specific high-risk areas.

- WAIT! The US government PULLED the plug on Mythos and Fable for any foreign national

- From Anthropic - The US government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees. The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance. Access to all other Anthropic models will not be affected.

OpenAi

- Confidentially flies for IPO

- Sends financials and IPO materials to regulators - making sue all in good order.

- This allows the company to iron out accounting, compliance, and regulatory issues in private without triggering a "media circus" or alerting competitors to their financials

Last Friday.....

- Nonfarm payrolls jumped a seasonally adjusted 172,000 for the period, down slightly from the upwardly revised 179,000 in April and far above the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 80,000.

- The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, as expected.

- Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% for the month and were up 3.4% over the past year, both in line with the Wall Street consensus.

Screwworm

- The New World screwworm has been detected in a 3-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, the first known case of that fly in the United States since 2017.

- New World screwworm larvae “burrow into the flesh of living animals, causing serious damage to livestock and economic losses,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

- The USDA and Texas officials are taking immediate action to contain and eradicate the pest.

- In December, the Food and Drug Administration granted conditional approval to the topical solution Exzolt Cattle-CA1, which is used to prevent and treat New World screwworm infestations and is produced by Merck & Co.

- What is going to happen to beef prices?

Real Estate

- Nationwide, 5.8% of all home listings were pulled off the market in April, according to Redfin.

- Delistings were up 3.8% compared with March.

- Atlanta saw the highest share of homes come off the market in April, with 1 in 10 delisted. San Jose, California, followed with roughly 9% pulled, then Los Angeles (7.8%), Dallas (7.8%) and Seattle (7.7%).

 In other news....

- The Japanese city of Utsunomiya has suspended all 94 of the primary and middle schools ?that it operates on Monday after its ?first-ever bear sighting, a municipal official said.

- The city of half-a-million residents about 100 km (60 miles) north of Tokyo said ?the bear was first seen in a residential ?area near a park on Saturday evening. It ?remains at large after the last sighting early ?Monday morning about half a kilometre from a ?middle school.

 

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