DHUnplugged #719: DogCat Bounce?

DHUnplugged Podcast

Best week in a long time – markets popping!

Cats and Dogs – all anyone can talk about these days – DogCat Bounce anyone?

More back to work directives ….

Apple disappointing again.

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

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Warm Up
- Best week in a long time - markets popping!
- Cats and Dogs - all anyone can talk about these days - DogCat Bounce anyone?
- More back to work directives ....
- Apple disappointing again
- All of a sudden - Now the Biden-Harris administration

Market Update
- BIG week of central bank rate decisions
- Rotation - still a big item keeping markets in check
- Rates LOW - bond traders overconfident?
- Oil comes back after miserable 2 weeks
- TrumpCoin?

Central Banks
- The Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated two-day meeting, which gets underway Tuesday, is poised to take center stage.
- Elsewhere, Brazil’s central bank is scheduled to hold its next policy meeting on Wednesday.
- The Bank of England, Norway’s Norges Bank and South Africa’s Reserve Bank will all follow on Thursday.
- Bank of Japan will provide its rate decision Friday
--- Markets getting a bit more volatile ahead of this Fed rate decision

BACK TO WORK!
- Amazon is instructing corporate staffers to spend five days a week in the office, CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo on Monday.
- The decision marks a significant shift from Amazon’s earlier return-to-work stance, which required corporate workers to be in the office at least three days a week. Now, the company is giving employees until Jan. 2 to start adhering to the new policy.

One Day Later
- Oracle provide some really nice earnings and guidance that the market loved... (Discussed last week)
- A day later:
--- Oracle now sees at least $66 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue, around $1.5 billion more than analysts had expected.
---- Capital spending also will increase.
------The company plans for over $104 billion in revenue in the 2029 fiscal year.
- Odd that this was the next day
- Stock up 55% - 2nd best of tech companies just behind Nvdia
- Larry is now 2d richest person in the world behind Elon Musk

Economics
- August Retail Sales 0.1% vs -0.2% Briefing.com Consensus; prior revised to 1.1% from 1.0%
- August Retail Sales ex-auto 0.1% vs 0.2% Briefing.com Consensus; prior unrevised at 0.4%
- August Industrial Production 0.8% vs 0.1% Briefing.com Consensus; prior revised to -0.9% from -0.6%
- August Capacity Utilization 78.0% vs 77.9% Briefing.com Consensus; prior revised to 77.4% from 77.8%
--- Generally economy is speeding up again and looks like signs that manufacturing may be picking up

More Issues
- This is a bad apple
- The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a top banking regulator in the United States, said on Thursday it has issued an enforcement action against Wells Fargo due to deficiencies in its risk management practices.
- There will be no penalties - but company is still in the penalty box due to past issues

China Apple
- Online retailers in China have slashed the prices of Apple’s new iPhone 16 series ahead of its official release, as consumers in the world’s largest smartphone market hold out for the release of the US company’s first on-device artificial intelligence (AI) software.
- They are blaming this on the delay of any significant AI features

Intel Gets $$$
- The Biden-Harris Administration announced today that Intel Corporation has been awarded up to $3 bln in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act for the Secure Enclave program. The program is designed to expand the trusted manufacturing of leading-edge semiconductors for the U.S. government.
- The Secure Enclave program builds on previous projects between Intel and the Department of Defense such as Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes - Commercial and State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integration Prototype. As the only American company that both designs and manufactures leading-edge logic chips, Intel will help secure the domestic chip supply chain and collaborate with the DoD to help enhance the resilience of U.S. technological systems by advancing secure, cutting-edge solutions.

Apple
- The next upgrade cycle is going to be HUGE they said
= Could be a GENERATIONAL Upgrade cycle they said
- Monday update: Apple (AAPL -3%) is exhibiting weakness today after estimated pre-orders for the newest iPhone reflect softer-than-anticipated demand. Apple unveiled its latest iPhone models last week, including the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iOS 18 is now available, bringing iPhone users around the world new ways to personalize their iPhone with deeper customization to the Home Screen and Control Center; the biggest-ever redesign to Photos, making it even easier to find and relive special moments; and major enhancements to Messages and Mail. Starting next month, iOS 18 will introduce Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that is incredibly useful and relevant while protecting users' privacy and security.

This...
- Former President Trump on Monday is expected to announce the launch of a new cryptocurrency project that would be led by his two oldest sons.
- Trump's crypto platform will be called World Liberty Financial and will be formally unveiled at 8 p.m. ET by the former president at an event at his Mar-a-Lago residence that will be broadcast on X Spaces.
- "We're embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind," Trump said in a video posted to social media platform X on Thursday.
- The former president and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been promoting the project on social media in recent weeks in advance of the platform's launch
- Crypto news outlet CoinDesk obtained excerpts of a draft white paper describing the project, which noted that the former president's 18-year-old son, Barron, is listed as the project's "DeFi visionary."

Here is the issue:
- Genetic testing company 23andMe has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit from customers impacted by a 2023 data breach when hackers accessed the personal data of millions of users on the platform.
- The complaint accused 23andMe of failing to adequately protect users' information and failing to sufficiently notify users of the breach, as well as other claims. The company denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement.
- One of reasons AH will not use this kind of service
- Get your payout of you used service and qualify!

Workers MAD
- Boeing's new CEO moved into his new home in Seatle a little over a month after being names CEO
- Cost $4.1M
- The home is 4,180 square feet and sits on a 9,217 square foot lot.
- Ortberg's move comes as tens of thousands of Boeing factory workers went on strike this week after 96% of union members rejected a new contractor offer.
- Workers on strike mad that since the CEO has the money to buy that big of a house - they can pony up the money to pay the increased wages that are being demanded.
- One of the main demands from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' Union (IAM) is a 40% pay raise.
- In response: Boeing is freezing hiring and weighing temporary furloughs to cut costs as a strike by more than 30,000 workers entered its fourth day on Monday

Home Depot
- Home Depot is being ordered to pay nearly $2 million to settle a civil claim from California district attorneys that the company overcharged customers for products.
- According to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, the retailer allegedly "engaged in false advertising and unfair competition" because it charged customers prices higher than the lowest advertised or posted price.
- This type of offense, known as a "scanner violation," occurs when the price on the item or on the item’s shelf tag does not match the universal product code that's scanned at the point-of-sale device or register, according to Gascón.

HIRING!
- Discount grocer Aldi is boosting its staff for the holiday season with plans to hire more than 13,000 store and warehouse workers.
- Along with boosting its workforce, the grocer announced that it will continue adding new stores across the U.S. while it simultaneously prepares for the busy shopping period.
- To entice applicants, the company also announced that it's raising the national average hourly pay too.
---???? Are they expecting a rush to buy baked beans as gifts this holiday season?
-- Also, sounds good for the holiday season - truth is that they have been working on expanding footprint for some time and the hiring has nothing to do with the holidays.

M&A
- Buyout firms Vista Equity Partners and Blackstone are in advanced talks to acquire Smartsheet, in a deal that could value the collaboration-software maker at close to $8 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.
- The private-equity firms are discussing an offer of around $56 per share for Smartsheet, the sources said, adding that the deal could be signed in the coming weeks assuming there are no last-minute snags.
- Smartsheet is a software as a service offering for collaboration and work management, developed and marketed by Smartsheet Inc. It is used to assign tasks, track project progress, manage calendars, share documents, and manage other work, using a tabular user interface.
- Thought this was going to be a buyout candidate one day - but by a tech firm - P/E going to gut this and sell when costs under control

Banks
- Stress test - all pass with flying colors
- The largest U.S. banks said on Friday evening that they would increase payouts to investors in moves that were generally expected after lenders sailed through the Federal Reserve’s stress tests this week—but the firms’ capital plans remain closely watched each year.

Good news!
- Red Lobster exits chapter 11 bankruptcy
- The Orlando, Florida-based chain, which lost $76 million in 2023, shuttered dozens of its North American restaurants over recent months
- Red Lobster is now an independent, privately-held company with 545 restaurant locations in 44 states and four Canadian provinces.

WIFI in The Air
- United will start testing Starlink’s satellite Wi-Fi on its flights early next year.
- SpaceX has previously signed deals with Hawaiian Airlines and semi-private airline JSX.
- Delta and other carriers have been investing in faster inflight Wi-Fi and offering it for free.
- United Airlines said Friday that it plans to offer inflight Wi-Fi for free using Starlink from Elon Musk’s SpaceX on its hundreds of jetliners, the biggest inflight internet deal yet for the satellite service provider.

Is this a concern?
- Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria on Tuesday, wounding members of the militant group Hezbollah, the Iranian ambassador and dozens of other people. Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack at a time of rising tensions across the Lebanon border.
- How can these be allowed on airplanes if they can be remotely detonated?

Egg Prices
- On the rise again
- CalMaine (CALM) comes up with good earnings and outlook
- 50% increase in prices over the past year
- https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111

Closing - What is our bet on the Fed Decision tomorrow?
- 0.0%
- 0.25%
- 0.50%

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FED AND CRYPTO LIMERICKS

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