DHUnplugged #718: D’Bait

August ends on the high side - (like July) and then gets knocked down hard (like August) and then Rips higher on Monday (like August) Rate cut bets are in place Market very skittish - September not the best month on average VIX hits 25 last week 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 DONATIONS ? Warm Up - Another Rough Start to the month - Apple Event - market was - Last episode - ETF and Funds Education - lots of great comments on that! - DEBATE TIME - right in the middle of our show! Someone needs to look at our schedule Market Update - August ends on the high side - (like July) and then gets knocked down hard (like August) and then Rips higher on Monday (like August) - Rate cut bets are in place - Market very skittish - September not the best month on average - VIX hits 25 last week - Yen Carry trade issue not fully resolved - YIELD CURVE UPDATE Big News - Yield curve normalizes for 2/10's - Yield curve is not normal - this is what happened  in 2001 and 2008 Apple Event - Apple introduces Apple Watch Series X with a new design. - Largest most advanced display ever with 30% more screen area. - The display is larger than the Apple Watch Ultra. - Display will be 40% brighter. - Watch will be 10% thinner than Apple Watch 9. - Background noise will be surprised on phone calls. - Smart Stack will add widgets whenever you need them. - Adding translate application. -Apple Watch can track menstrual cycles. - Apple Watch can alert users to sleep apnea. - Starts at $399. - A few incremental updates otherwise and talk of AI to come - one day someday More Apple - Europe's top court on Tuesday ruled against Apple in the tech giant's 10-year court battle over its tax affairs in Ireland. - The Commission in 2016 ordered Dublin to recover up to 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in back taxes from Apple, at the time saying that the tech company had received "illegal" tax benefits from Ireland over the course of two decades. - So is this final this time? - How is this possible anyway - Ireland granted tax benefits for the purpose of benefiting jobs etc.... Apple Competition - Huawei's tri-fold phone receives over 4 mln pre-orders ($2,800 per) - Have you seen this? - VERY COOL device Palantir -  Palantir Technologies hits best levels since early 2021 following inclusion in S&P 500 - +15% on the  news Dell - Dell also is added to the S&P 500 - Etsy and American Airlines out Tech - Oracle Earnings - Oracle beats on some metrics and has some great outlook - Missed on EPS - Partnering with Amazon - The company said Oracle Database is thriving, and the multi-cloud agreements it has with Microsoft, Google, and now AWS make it easier for its customers to run their Oracle Databases in the cloud. - Stock at ATH NVDA - WORST DAY EVER for a stock - Slide last week took at $300 BILLION on market value in one day. - New DOJ probe in anti-trust case - The agency is asking questions about whether Nvidia makes it harder to switch to other suppliers of AI chips. - Nvidia has over 80% of the market for data center AI chips, according to industry estimates. Best Buy - People are buying... - Raising full year guidance - Comparable sales declined 2.3% during the quarter, compared with a 6.2% decline a year earlier. --- It is all about  the expectations... Glasses - Again? - Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC the chip designer is working with Samsung and Google to explore a mixed-reality set of glasses linked to a smartphone - Last year, Google, Samsung and Qualcomm struck a partnership to develop mixed-reality technology. - This is supposed to be a smaller version of what is out the...