SHOWNOTES

Tim Cook is out, John Turner is in, and Apple’s AI strategy just became the most important question on page one. This week we pressure-test Apple’s hardware-first bet against the Intel cautionary tale, run Hunt’s contrarian oil math on a closed Strait of Hormuz, and hit a packed healthcare slate from CDC leadership to an mRNA cancer vaccine breakthrough.

[00:00] Welcome and Episode PreviewMike opens on Apple’s CEO succession, framing the episode around whether naming a hardware leader in the AI era is genius or miscalculation.

[01:23] Iran, Hormuz, and the Oil MarketHunt walks through why oil prices have stayed rational despite a closed Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Aramco making more in March on lower volumes, and why the world can operate at 95-96M bbl/day without serious damage. Includes a read on the $1.5T defense budget ask and why it will not pass.

[12:05] Apple: John Turner Named CEO and the AI BetPost-Jobs product history points to Apple Silicon as the one truly new program, which is exactly what Turner led. The debate: can Apple monetize AI via on-device inference and an app-store style tax on agent transactions, or is outsourcing AI to Google an Intel-style blind spot?

[20:35] Tesla, SpaceX, and Valuation DisciplineHunt argues Apple sits cheap relative to the capex-heavy hyperscalers; Tesla remains expensive; SpaceX’s data-centers-in-space pitch embeds an even bigger premium. Mike’s framework: hold the rare windows when great companies trade at fair multiples, do not chase concept valuations.

[25:39] Healthcare: CDC, Peptides, mRNA Cancer, Lilly M&A, UNHErika Schwartz nominated to lead CDC (uncontroversial, stability pick); FDA reclassifies 12 peptides; UCLA mRNA pancreatic cancer phase-1 results (90% five-year survival in immune responders); Lilly buys Lon Therapeutics for in vivo CAR-T; UnitedHealthcare earnings plus a prior-auth elimination pilot.

[33:38] Wrap and Next WeekNext up: Amazon alongside Walmart, then Google the following week.

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