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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

- Elon announced that he invested $1B in Tesla shares (first time since 2020)

- It is being interpreted by the market as a strong vote of confidence in TSLA’s long-term prospects

--- OH MY Robotaxis must be near!

--- Timing on 2 fronts (Oracle and Pay package)

---- Real reason: (an bets on for him Shorting Oracle after the pop)

Billionaire List

NEW CLEAR

- The Trump administration’s top energy official said the US should look to boost its strategic uranium reserve to buffer against Russian supplies and increase confidence in the long-term prospects of nuclear power generation.

- US Energy Secretary Chris Wright comments underscore the Trump administration’s plans to promote nuclear energy as the demand for power soars with the electrification of the economy.

- Russia supplies about a quarter of the enriched uranium needed by America’s fleet 94 nuclear reactors, which generate about a fifth of US electricity.

IPO

- Gemini, the Winklevoss’ crypto exchange, pops more than 14% in Nasdaq debut

- Got to$44 on the open then faded - currently trading at $33 $28

-- Funny how all of these DEFI companies want to trade on Old School exchanges

Cash and Cash Alternatives

- There is over $7 trillion in cash-equivalent investments that have offered an attractive return for no market risk, and while much of that money is institutional or emergency funds savings, some shift out of cash-equivalent assets can be expected as the Fed begins to cut rates.

- Cash of the sidelines - money will pour into markets if rates come down as TINA returns

- - - The cash on the sidelines bull thesis has been debunked many times

On Sideline

Tariff Fun

- Swiss watchmaker Swatch has begun selling a special edition watch with the numbers three and nine reversed on its face in a play on the 39% tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on U.S. imports from Switzerland last month.

- The tariffs - among the highest set by Trump worldwide - were met with shock and dismay in Switzerland, a leading producer of high-end watches and other luxury goods.

- Costing 139 Swiss francs ($175), the watch named "WHAT IF...TARIFFS?" went on sale on Wednesday and is only available in Switzerland, a company spokesperson said on Friday.

Most Hated

-  Shares of Pfizer and Moderna fell on Friday after a report that Trump administration health officials plan to link Covid vaccines to the deaths of 25 children.

- The report comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, moves to change immunization policy in the U.S.

- The report said officials plan to include the claim in a presentation next week to a key vaccine panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and plays a key role in shot access.

Close the OpenDoor

-  Keith Rabois, Opendoor’s new chairman, said the company he co-founded needs to slash its workforce as much as 85% to fix its cost structure.

- Rabois returned to Opendoor this week, when the company named former Shopify executive Kaz Nejatian as its new CEO.

- “There’s 1,400 employees at Opendoor. I don’t know what most of them do. We don’t need more than 200 of them,” Rabois told CNBC.

- meme stock that moves on every tweet/Reddit post

Phishing

- Reuters and a Har