DHUnplugged #655: Hallucinating

Closest to The Pin - first time this ever happened !

Something funny is happening with AI

Back to business - some stories from Europe.

Better yet - how about some Fed Limericks?

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

- Back from Europe - Ireland and England (Ever been to an English Wedding?)

- - Vaping a big thing in Europe (London)

- A surprise CTP announcement - never before situation

- Back for more - A special set of Fed Limericks

- A lesson in Breath - very narrow right now...

Market Update

- AI running the show

- NVDA - hits the $1 trillion mark for a moment today

- UK inflation - still going

- Case Shiller Housing report is out and ISM Manufacturing, Employment Report Friday

- Apple - Bigger and Bigger

-AI name - Did anyone hold C3.AI? UP BIG!

DONATIONS ! That was better - but we are going to hit the debt ceiling at DHUnplugged - need your help.

SPECIAL GOODBYE to William O'Neil - Investor Business Daily Founder - pioneer of charting - passed at the age of 90

Housing and Eco

- Case Shiller DOWN 1.1% YoY

- Consumer Confidence up to 102 - still high (down slightly from last month)

-  UK - Consumer prices rose by 8.7% in annual terms in April, down from 10.1% in March but still leaving Britain with the joint highest rate of inflation among Group of Seven advanced economies alongside Italy.

----In Western Europe, only Austria had a higher rate.

- Food +20% YoY

( Observance - NO RECESSION IN LONDON - Lots of spending going 0n)

Cathy Woods - Talking Valuations

- The "visionary investor" sold out the fund's position in NVDA in January due to valuation concerns

- - Meanwhile, when has valuations mattered to CW before?

Vaping Crackdown

- The British government said on Tuesday it would close a loophole that lets retailers give free samples of vapes to children in a clampdown on e-cigarettes

- 2023 survey by public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) of 11-17 year olds in which 2 out of 5 young people said they smoke vapes just to try it, while 1 in 5 said they do it due to peer pressure.

- Have there been any good studies on vaping vs traditional smoking?

China Stocks

- Re-opening craze - not playing out as expected

- Small - retail investors have turned pretty bearish on China's stocks

- China's small investors are also such a large force - accounting for some 60% of turnover, according to China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Yi Huiman, compared with a JPMorgan estimate of less than 25% in the United States - that their lack of interest shows up in market data.

- CSI 300 down about 16% from October high

Turkey

- The Turkish lira slumped to yet another all-time low Tuesday, extending its slide after the re-election of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

- Erdogan believes that lower interest rates help to curb inflation

- LIRA down 7% YTD - MULTI DECADE LOWS

  LIRA - USD

Debt Ceiling Talks

- Agreement in Principle

- McCarthy says it will be transformational for Americans

- WAIT - wasn't this just supposed to be about raising the limit so bills that were already outstanding could be paid???

--- How much fat have they put into this?

- Example: Manchin added a feature to approve all of the remaining permits to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline that has been stalled for a long time. (pork/earmarks)

- Watch for many 3PM - 3:30PM "surprise" announcements

Disney Chess Match

- Walt Disney Co is scrapping plans to relocate 2,000 jobs to Florida in part because of "changing business conditions" in the state, according to an e-mail to employees seen by Reuters.

- Disney parks chief Josh D'Amaro said "leadership changes" and "chang...