DHUnplugged #772: Best of Us (1)

HYSTERICAL! Some of the best host stories from over the years. Recipes and food talk.... How about that Egg book? Shotguns and Booze anyone ? Clay Pigeons... 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter   Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? The Closest to The Pin for Lithium Americas (LAC)  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

ROTFL - Some of the best host stories from over the years. Shoes off at airports anyone? Vinegar book? How about economics based on train count? 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter   Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? The Closest to The Pin for Lithium Americas (LAC)  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

Crypto pulling back October - one of the toughest months Day traders - some good news Intel's new growth model 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - Crypto pulling back - REMINDER - NEW CTP  for Lithium Americas (LAC) stock! - October - one of the toughest months - Day traders - some good news Markets - New Tariffs announced - Drugs, trucks, kitchen cabinets - Intel's new growth model - Quantum stocks rallying - Powell setting the stage RYDER CUP - What a finish! Friday Jobs Report Labor Dept - may - or may not release jobs report Friday - Fearing that a government shutdown will be problematic - Convenient US to take stake in Lithium Americas - Up 29% - Where are we coming up with all of this $ Red October? -9 of the 20 largest single-day drops in the Dow Jones occurred in October. - 1907 Bank Panic - 1929 Crash (Black Tuesday) - 1987 Crash (Black Monday, -22.6% in one day) - 2008 Financial Crisis (S&P 500 fell ~17% in October alone) - Since 1950, the S&P 500 has averaged a gain of ~0.91% in October -Over the past 20 years, October has been relatively favorable, with average gains between 0.8% and 1.5% for the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq. -October is 35% more volatile than the average month. Saudi Arabia for the Win! - Electronic Arts rallied on Friday following a report by the Wall Street Journal that the video game company is nearing a roughly $50 billion deal to go private. - The deal would likely be the largest leverage buyout of all time, according to the Journal. - Investors including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Silver Lake could announce the deal as soon as next week, the report said - Also in n the TikTok Deal - what is up with that? - Oh - Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners is another participating investor, according to a source familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. On the Other hand - Shares of CarMax fell to an all-time low on Thursday, as investors disposed of positions after disappointing second-quarter earnings results. - This followed surprisingly disappointing financial and operating results, with retail used unit sales declining 5.4 percent, and comparable same-store sales decreasing 6.3 percent. - Net income declined by 28.16 percent to $95.4 million from $132.8 million in the same period last year, while net sales and operating revenues dropped by 6 percent to $6.59 billion from $7.013 billion year-on-year. - Carvana next or reason why KMX doing poorly? Ponzi Accusations - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is accusing the men who bought bankrupt chains RadioShack, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Pier 1 Imports of running a Ponzi scheme that duped investors out of tens of millions of dollars. - A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday, alleges the co-founders of Miami-based Retail Ecommerce Ventures, Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez, together with the company's Chief Operating Officer Maya Burkenroad, raised approximately $112 million combined from hundreds of U.S. investors by selling investments in eight companies they created and controlled under Retail Ecommerce Ventures. - Between April 2020 through Nov. 2022, they raised money by selling two types of investments. They sold unsecured notes that promised returns of up to 25% a year, and ownership shares that offered monthly payouts as high as 2%, according to the complaint.| - To pay interest, dividends and maturing note payments, Mehr and Lopez resorted to using a combination of loans from outside lenders, merchant cash advances, money raised from new and existing investors,

Rate cut - rates up? Diet Stocks - losing weight Good news/bad news - all good for markets Bessent for Fed Chair and Treasury Secretary? 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - BRAND New server - all provisioned - Much faster DH Site - Need a new CTP stock! - New Clear Stocks! - To the Sky - Money Tree Market - Tik Tok news Markets - Rate cut - rates up - Diet Stocks - losing weight - Good news/bad news - all good for markets - StubHub IPO Update SELL Rosh Hashanah - Buy Yom Kippur? Vanguard Issues? Got a call this morning..Gent in NY... NEW CLEAR - On Fire! - Have you seen the returns on some of these stocks? - YTD - - URA (Uranium ETF) Up 75% -- SMR (NuScale) Up 164% - - OKLO (OKL) up 518% - - CCJ (Cameco) up 65% TikTok Nonsense - President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday that conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan are likely to be involved in the proposal to save TikTok in the United States. -Trump also said that Oracle executive chairman Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell are also likely to be involved in the TikTok deal. More TikTok - White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says TikTok's algorithm will be secured, retrained, and operated in the U.S. outside of Bytedance's control; Oracle (ORCL) will serve as Tiktok's security provider; President Trump will sign TikTok deal later this week - What does that mean and will it be the same TikTok. - Who is doing the retraining??????? SO MANY QUESTIONS MEME ALERT! - Eric Jackson, a hedge fund manager who partly contributed to the trading explosion in Opendoor, unveiled his new pick Monday — Better Home & Finance Holding Co. - Jackson said his firm holds a position in Better Home but didn’t disclose its size. - Shares of Better Home soared 46.6% on Monday after Jackson touted the stock on X. At one point during the session, the stock more than doubled in price. - The New York-based mortgage lender jumped more than 36% last week. Intel - INTC getting even more money. - Now, NVDA pouring in $5B - Nvidia and Intel announced a partnership to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products. Intel will manufacture new x86 CPUs customized for Nvidia’s AI infrastructure, and also build system-on-chips (SoCs) for PCs that integrate Nvidia’s RTX GPU chiplets. - Both the US Government and NVDA got BELOW market pricing on their shares. NVDA $$ - Nvidia is investing in OpenAI. On September 22, 2025, Nvidia announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI, which includes an investment of up to $100 billion - The agreement will help deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems, which will include millions of its GPUs. The first phase is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2026, using Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform. Autism Link - Shares of Kenvue (KVUE) are trading lower largely due to reports from the White House and HHS suggesting a forthcoming warning linking prenatal use of acetaminophen (Tylenol's active ingredient) to autism risk. - Investors are concerned that such a warning could lead to regulatory action, changes in labeling requirements, litigation risk, or reduced demand for one of KVUE's key products. It's estimated that Tylenol accounts for approximately 7-9% of KVUE's total revenue. - The company has strongly denied any scientific basis for the link, but the uncertainty itself is hurting sentiment. - Finally, this also comes on top of recent weak financial performance: KVUE posted a Q2 revenue decline of 4% and cut its full-year guidance on August 7. - - Lawsuits to follow... Pfizer

Cash on the sidelines.... (that thesis is coming back) ATH - Fed cut, AI earnings, buybacks... (Sentiment) Most hated stocks - more hate 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - AI - the promise and the theft - Need a new CTP stock! - Most hated stocks - more hate - Football Season !!!!!!!!! Markets - ATH - Fed cut, AI earnings, buybacks... (Sentiment) - NVDA under China's microscope - Cash on the sidelines.... (that reason coming back) - StubHub IPO coming (thieves, but make $ for company) Once again - House to put forth stopgap bill that would fund government through November 21; vote expected Friday CPI and Jobs - The consumer price index posted a seasonally adjusted 0.4% increase for the month, the biggest gain since January, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.9%. ---For the vital core reading that excludes food and energy, the August gain was 0.3%, putting the 12-month figure at 3.1%, both as forecast. Fed officials consider core to be a better gauge of long-run trends. The central bank’s inflation target is 2%. - The Labor Department reported a surprise increase in weekly unemployment compensation filings to a seasonally adjusted 263,000, the highest since October 2021. - The reports provide the final pieces of a complicated data puzzle that central bankers will review at their two-day policy meeting that concludes Sept. 17. Retail Sales - Can't count out the US Consumer - THEY CONSUME - Retail sales increase 0.6% in August, beating expectations - Core retail sales rise 0.7%; July gain unrevised at 0.5% - Higher prices account for some of the rise in sales, but consumers also showing resilience - Import prices increase 0.3% amid strong gains in capital, consumer goods Fed Day  - Odds are 100% for 0.25 cut and 3.9% for a 0.50% cut - Lots of talk about 3 cuts for 2025 (Sept, Oct, December) - Gold hitting new highs, silver up there (Schiff on TDI Podcast this week) - Cook not allowed to be fired Google - Welcome to the TRILLION dollar market cap club - Even with the concern over AI eating up search - stock is ATH after the recent court ruling -- Probably also due to free input for their LLMs - The owner of Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety sued Google on Friday, alleging the technology giant's AI summaries use its journalism without consent and reduce traffic to its websites. - The lawsuit by Penske Media in federal court in Washington, D.C., marks the first time a major U.S. publisher has taken Alphabet-owned Google to court over the AI-generated summaries that now appear on top of its search results. - News organizations have for months said the new features, including Google's "AI Overviews," siphon traffic away from their sites, eroding advertising and subscription revenue. - Penske, a family-owned media conglomerate led by Jay Penske and whose content attracts 120 million online visitors a month, said Google only includes publishers' websites in its search results if it can also use their articles in AI summaries. - Without the leverage, Google would have to pay publishers for the right to republish their work or use it to train its AI systems, the company said in the lawsuit. I NVDA - China says Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law after preliminary probe - China’s market regulator on Monday said that Nvidia violated the country’s anti-monopoly law, according to a preliminary probe, adding that Beijing would continue its investigation into the U.S. chip giant. - Surely if USA allows access to the H20 chip that this will go away.... Tesla Shares - First, company is not doing well - as a company - but stock is performing

Football Team Valuations Sexy is back - Retail What winning the Powerball Jackpot means A little 1,000,000 revision... 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - Stagflation - as payrolls drop - People in glass houses ....Stupid Politics - We are still here - which means we did not win the Powerball Jackpot - They say it will never happen - Ban on stock ownership for Congress Markets - CRISPR Chocolates? - Tech - again the driver - Sexy is back - Retail - Take in stride - on 900k less workers - ORACLE!!!!!! Powerball Jackpot - $1.8 Billion - Two winners - Texas and Missouri - Each winning ticket holder can choose either an annuitized prize of $893.5 million or a lump sum payment of $410.3 million – both before taxes. - Additionally, two lucky tickets sold in Kansas and Texas won a $2 million prize and 18 tickets sold across 13 states won $1 million. - Back to just $20 million now... - The odds of winning were 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which oversees the game. Glass Houses - Pulte - Accuses Fed's Cook and with simple accusations Trump looking to Fire ... - Close relatives of the federal official who has accused a Federal Reserve governor of improperly claiming primary residence on two properties have declared the same status on two homes in two different states, public records show. - Mark and Julie Pulte, the father and stepmother of Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s appointee as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, since 2020 have claimed so-called “homestead exemptions” for residences in wealthy neighborhoods in both Michigan and Florida, according to the records. The exemption is meant to give a discount to homeowners on taxes for properties they use as their primary residence. - Local tax officials in both states told Reuters that claiming more than one home as a primary residence isn’t generally allowed in their jurisdictions and could be punishable by fines or back taxes. - After Reuters contacted tax officials in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, to inquire about the dual claims, Darrin Kraatz, director of assessing, on Thursday said the township “as of today” would revoke the exemption on the Pultes’ residence there. Beat Your Ass - Seems at a recent dinner- Pulte got under Scott Bessent's skin and bessent was pissed - F You - I am going to beat your ass - punch you in the F'n mouth for bad talking me to president Trump - Class act these children Chocolate Editing - Candy maker Mars said Wednesday it has partnered with biotech company Pairwise to speed up the development of more resilient cocoa using CRISPR-based gene editing technology. - CRISPR technology is a gene-editing tool that makes changes to DNA and can be used in farming. - The goal is to create cacao plants that can better withstand disease, heat and other climate-related stresses that can put global chocolate supply at risk. ---- Public Service: The main difference between cocoa and cacao: cacao is minimally processed and remains largely raw and nutrient-dense, while cocoa is made from roasted cacao beans that have been processed at high temperatures. This heat and processing affect cacao's nutrient profile and flavor, making cacao powder more bitter and richer in nutrients, and cocoa powder milder and more suitable for baking. GOOGLE for the win - Google shares popped 8% on Wednesday last week as investors celebrated what they viewed as minimal consequences from a historic defeat last year in the landmark antitrust case. - Last year, Google was found to hold an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search. - U.S.

Blame it on AI - new excuse: Flirty Chatbots NVDIA earnings the high point for a while? Announcing the WINNER of the CTP 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Interactive Brokers Warm-Up - Tariffs deemed illegal? - So much for rates coming down - Long bond up again - Announcing the WINNER of the CTP - Blame it on AI - new excuse.... Flirty Chatbots Markets - NVDIA earnings the high point for a while? - Good month - August is green - Sept starting out wobbly - AI News  - Valuations - TO THE MOON NVDA Earnings - From last Wednesday - STRONG: Nvidia reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue on Wednesday, and said sales growth this quarter will remain above 50% - Earnings per share: $1.05 adjusted vs. $1.01 estimated - Revenue: $46.74 billion vs. $46.06 billion estimated - Overall company revenue rose 56% in the quarter from $30.04 billion a year ago, Nvidia said. Year-over-year revenue growth has now exceeded 50% for nine straight quarters, dating back to mid-2023 -Stock opened Thursday at $180 - now trades near $168 --- Some concern over data-center revenue declining 1% from previous quarter due to $4B less in sales of H20 chips NEW CLEAR - The Duane Arnold nuclear plant northwest of Cedar Rapids, Iowa is pressing ahead with plans to restart operations by the end of the decade after shutting down for economic reasons in 2020 - NextEra Energy (NEE) - Duane Arnold would follow similar restarts planned for the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, which plan to resume operations later this year and in 2027 - Big Change on the economics is just 5 years! USA Travel - Who needs those pesky visitors anyway - Overseas travel to the U.S. fell 3.1% year-on-year in July to 19.2 million visitors, according to U.S. government data. It was the fifth month of decline this year, defying expectations that 2025 would see annual inbound visitors finally surpass the pre-pandemic level of 79.4 million. - New VISA INTEGRITY fees on incoming travelers from many countries - The extra charge raises the total visa cost to $442 for non-via waiver countries like Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil and China - In China, arrivals have remained muted since the pandemic, with July numbers still 53% below 2019 levels. The visa fee also threatens travel from India, where visits are down 2.4% so far this year, driven by a near 18% drop in students. Tariffs Illegal? - A divided U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican president's use of the levies as a key inter - Trump lamented the decision by what he called a "highly partisan" court, posting on Truth Social: "If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country." national economic policy tool. - So, now it goes to the Supreme Court (non - partisan?) - Talk of the Bond Vigilantes making a move if the tariffs struck down because not much to pay the huge deficit and debt encumbered with new OBBBA   Check this out and find out more at: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/ Speaking of Rates - Since the Powell hint of cuts - rates on the rise - -Longer-Term rates - Mortgage rates are the highest in months and the 10-Yr is at approx 4.30% -- Please note, the Fed controls short-term rates.... Some influence on mortgages due to Quantitative easing, but even if rates are dropped does not mean that longer-dated paper will see a drop in the rates DEE MINIMUM US - The de minimis exemption, which allowed shipments valued under $800 to enter the country duty-free, came to an end globally last Friday.

Jackson HOLY cow what a move.... SOE's get used to it - We are now China. Airline consolidation or murder? Bond yields - Long bond yields up. 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - Excitement over a change in tone from Powell (Powell throws the towel?) - Crypto surges - then comes back down - SOE - Get used to that - Bond yields - Long bond up Markets - Hitting all-time highs - Airline consolidation or murder? - NVDA earnings - reports this week - Some crypto really moving Fed Firing - How do we feel about the firing of Fed's Cook? - Allegations, not confirmed - Could this be a play to actually fire Powell? --- Trump now says that this paves the way to him having a majority that soon will push rate lower (after firing Cook) Windless - Shutting down the alt-energy projects - Wind turbines ugly and no good - Shares in wind farm developer Orsted - The U.S. government last week ordered the company to halt construction of an almost completed project. - Late on Friday the U.S.? Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had issued a stop-work order for the Revolution Wind Project off of Rhode Island. According to Orsted, the project is 80% complete and 45 out of 65 wind turbines have been installed Pricing Power - News that Spotify will raise prices as it invests in new features and targets 1 billion users - said the price will rise to 11.99 euros ($14.05) from 10.99 euros in markets including South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. - Price increases combined with cost-cutting efforts in recent years helped Spotify achieve its first annual profit last year. Jackson Holy !! - Powell hinted that maybe there would be a change to his thinking - In his final address as Fed chair at the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, economic symposium, Powell hinted at a September interest rate cut but stopped short of committing, striking a careful balance between mounting job-market risks and lingering inflation worries. - In particular, the market was enthused by Mr. Powell's line noting that "with policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance," which the market took as an open-mindedness to easing. - The probability of a 25-basis point rate cut at the September FOMC meeting now stands at 83.1%, up from 75.0% yesterday, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Jackson - HOLY 2 - Markets reacted strongly in favor of a rate cut - hope - DJIA up 800 - S&P and NASDAQ rallied - Small Caps up close to 4% - USD dove - Yields - slightly lower - Crypto - ETHER rallied hard - ATH ---- Give it a day and Ether and Bitcoin came back down to earth Misunderstanding - Cut rates so houses more affordable? - Long rates moved higher - NVDA - Earnings due Wednesday After the close - Nvidia makes up about 7.5% of the S&P 500. - Earnings Per Share (EPS) Estimates Zacks Consensus: $1.00 Kiplinger Forecast: $1.01, up 48.5% year-over-year MarketBeat Average: $0.97 (range: $0.92–$1.05) - Revenue Estimates Zacks Consensus: $46.14 billion Kiplinger Forecast: $46.0 billion, a 53.1% increase YoY MarketBeat Range: $44.1–$45.9 billion - Forward-Looking EPS FY 2026: $4.28 (Zacks), $4.12 (MarketBeat) FY 2027: $5.70 (Zacks) SOE - State Owned Enterprises - We had better get use to it - All the anger directed at China for this - as unfair practice - Now, US takes a piece of Intel (10% for $2B ?) - Wait - 10% is $10B value - is that right? Intel Math (MATH?) - The U.S. government acquired a 10% stake in Intel by converting $11.1 billion in previously issued grants and pledges into equity.

Bottom Fishing for bargains. Consolidation, Digestion - awaiting the next catalyst. Saudi SWF takes a hit. The Jackson Hole confab is around the corner. 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - Labubus - Beanie Babies ? - US Debt - wretched - Good fishing this weekend - Chip Trackers Markets - Bottom Fishing - Consolidation, Digestion - waiting for the next catalyst -  Saudi SWF takes a hit - Validations - to the MOON - Casual Dining take a hit Weekend Fishing - Marlin, Roosterfish and Yellowfin Tuna - 2 bucket list items The CONFAB - August 21 to August 23 - Theme: Labor Markets in Transition: Demographics, Productivity, and Macroeconomic Policy - Powell to speak Friday at 10am - Historically: ---- 1989: Alan Greenspan became the first Fed Chair to formally participate in the program, establishing a tradition of Fed leadership using the event to signal policy direction (Volker stopped by in 1982) --- 2010: Ben Bernanke used the symposium to signal QE2 --- 2014: Mario Draghi, ECB President, hinted at aggressive stimulus to combat Europe’s sluggish growth, influencing currency markets --- 2020: Jerome Powell announced the Fed’s new “average inflation targeting” framework, allowing inflation to run above 2% temporarily to support employment growth More Jackson Hole - Many are saying this is the be the defining moment in Powell's Career - Certainly the last one attending that he will be chair - Odds are that he will look to continue the Fed independence and data dependency talk US Debt - The federal government's gross national debt topped $37 trillion for the first time in history last week, and the U.S. has room to add trillions of dollars more to the debt following the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). - OBBBA included a $5 trillion debt limit increase to avert a potential stand-off over the borrowing limit ($41 trillion limit) - US Debt to GDP = 100% - Every American owes $111,045 (Assuming spread evenly) - 25 years ago it was $19,000 er person LabooooBooo - Labubus, the quirky monster plush dolls made by Pop Mart, have exploded into a global phenomenon, doubling as collectibles and fashion accessories for adults. - In the first half of 2025, Labubu-related products generated a staggering $418 million in global sales for Pop Mart, with nearly 40% of revenue last year coming from outside mainland China. The company says sales in the first six months of this year are on track to more than triple, fueled by what’s become a full-blown international craze. - The thrill of the hunt. Labubus are only available through online purchases and in-store pickups, if you can find one in stock. Adding to the scarcity factor is the blind-box packaging – you never know which character you’ll get. - Some collectors chase elusive "secret" editions, with odds as low as 1 in 72. Investing - A better Way? - Powerball jackpot grows to estimated $643 million after no one won Monday night's drawing - Next drawing - Wednesday night - The jackpot is a new high for 2025 - he highest Powerball jackpot ever was $2.04 billion, won on November 7, 2022 by a single ticket sold in California. - The winner, Edwin Castro, opted for the lump sum payout of $997.6 million Energy Needed - Google and Kairos Power will deploy an advanced nuclear reactor to help power the tech company’s data centers on the Tennessee Valley Authority grid. - The Hermes 2 reactor developed by Kairos will dispatch 50 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 36,000 homes. - TVA will purchase the electricity from the reactor, making it the first utility in the U.S.

China Style Capitalism - CHINUS Capitalism Some Fed speakers talking 2 cuts now Fresh set of IPOs entering the market A NEW Closest to The Pin announcement 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. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - China Style Capitalism - CHINUS Capitalism - Some Fed speakers talking 2 cuts now - Fresh set of IPOs entering the market - A NEW Closest to The Pin - AND a couple of listener limericks Markets - New Highs and Crypto looks to breakout - Apple best week since 2020 - Alts coming to your 401k - Gold - no longer to be tariff'd - NVDA chips - not safe? Fed Speakers - Some talking 3 rate cuts... End of year? - CPI and PPI this week so we shall see -- Seems like kiss ass tactcs to keep job or get promoted New America Way of Business? - CHINUS - Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices have agreed to give the U.S. government a share of revenues from certain chips sold in China, the Financial Times reported, in an unprecedented arrangement with the White House. - In exchange for 15% of revenues from the chip sales, the two chipmakers will receive export licenses to sell Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 chips in China, according to the FT. - The arrangement comes as President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to reverberate through the global economy, underscoring the White House’s willingness to carve out exceptions as a bargaining tool. (Who is this bargaining with????) Perplexing - Perplexity offered to purchase Google's (GOOG) Chrome for $34.5 billion, according to WSJ - Google doesn’t break out Chrome-specific revenue, analysts estimate its indirect contribution to ad revenue is tens of billions annually. Losing Chrome would weaken Google’s ability to control defaults and gather behavioral data, which are critical for ad targeting - Analysts suggest Chrome could be worth $50 billion or more if Google were forced to sell, given its user base and strategic importance - IPOs - The U.S. IPO market has surged in 2025, with over 210 listings so far—up 84% from last year. Notable performers include: - Figma, Inc. – IPO at $33, now trading at $78.11 (+136.70%) - Ambiq Micro, Inc. – IPO at $24, now $39.47 (+64.46%) - inkhome Holdings Inc. – IPO at $4, now $7.50 (+87.50%) - Rich Sparkle Holdings Limited – IPO at $4, now $35.09 (+777.25%) - Masonglory Limited – IPO at $4, now $12.00 (+200.00%) - Firefly Aerospace Inc. – IPO at $45, now $50.17 (+11.49%) - HeartFlow, Inc. – IPO at $19, now $28.75 (+51.32%) JOBS Report FIX - BLS Commissioner nominee E.J. Antoni suggested that monthly jobs report could be paused to fix methodology, according to Fox Business interview - Many are worrying about the FIX - is it a fix or will it be fixed...? - More than 2,000 people work at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), including professional economists and survey takers who contribute to the production of the monthly jobs report - The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has no direct role in collecting, processing, or altering the monthly jobs report data. Here's a breakdown of how the system is designed to prevent manipulation ---The commissioner does not see the jobs data until the Wednesday before its public release on Friday - But, let's discuss - how can the commissioner change the numbers? Intel - 96 hours of fun - Intel stock up as White House going to force TSM to buy into company - Intel stock down as White House recommends firing CEO - Intel Stock up after CEO meeting with Trump in White House Apple - Best week since July 2020 - Apple shares rose 13% this week, its largest weekly gain in more than five years, after CEO Tim Apple appeared with President Donald Trump in the White House on Wed...