AI capital expenditure moved onto the credit market’s balance sheet this week: Goldman began syndicating Nvidia’s $500 billion financing programme, and the market immediately split the complex — AMD +6.42% after pricing a $4.75B bond through talk, Broadcom -8.13% on a $370B off-balance-sheet estimate. Brent gained 7.65% as Hormuz transits fell to six vessels a day. And two disinflation prints took hike odds to 49% before Friday’s retail sales miss (-0.6%) sent yields the wrong way.
MIB Weekly: Credit Priced AI on Disclosure Not Demand, AMD +6.4% vs Broadcom -8.1%, Brent +7.65% on Hulls Not Barrels, and Soft Data Lifted Yields While Three Names Sank the Dow
MIB Daily: Bad News Stopped Being Good News, Weak Retail Sales and Hormuz Risk Lifted Yields as AMD’s Bond Deal Beat Broadcom’s AI Debt Fears, Setting Up Wednesday’s Tariff Cliff for Energy Over Tech
A record intraday high evaporated: retail sales fell 0.6% and UMich sentiment crashed to 51.0 — yet Treasuries sold off, because inflation expectations rose. The 10Y hit 4.692% and GDPNow cut Q3 growth to 4.3%. AMD surged 6.50% on a record $4.75B bond deal while Broadcom sank 5.94% on hidden AI debt. Goldman began syndicating Nvidia’s $500B financing. The UAE accused Iran of piracy in Hormuz. And Canada is five days from a 50% tariff cliff.
MIB Daily: Silver Lake’s $43B Workday Bid Buys the AI Discount, SanDisk +13.67% vs Cisco -8.40% on the Same Memory Squeeze, and a 10-Year That Won’t Follow the 2-Year Down — Own Software LBOs, Watch Hardware Margins
S&P 500 closes above 7,800 for the first time — flat July PPI knocked 2026 hike odds from 55% to under 35%. Hours later, Cleveland’s Hammack demanded an immediate hike, and said one won’t be enough. Silver Lake circles Workday at $43B; Ackman buys six AI-discounted franchises. SanDisk +13.67% on memory tightness; Cisco -8.40% on the same. Reddit joins the S&P 500 next Tuesday; Anthropic’s October IPO is being modelled at $2 trillion. Six days to the Canada tariff cliff.
MIB Daily: CPI’s In-Line Core of 2.5% Steepens the Curve on a $432B Deficit While VIX Craters to 14.55 — Rotate Dell and Oracle Over Microsoft and Amazon as Capex Risk Builds, but What’s Left to Buy Into a Busy Calendar?
July CPI landed exactly on consensus — core at 2.5%, slowest since March 2021 — and the VIX collapsed 4.78% to 14.55, an eight-month low. But the 10-year rose anyway: Treasury booked a record $432B July deficit with customs receipts turning negative. AI hardware ripped (Dell +9.87%, Oracle +5.36%), funded by selling Microsoft and Amazon. Canada rejected a sweetened US offer seven days from the tariff cliff. Meta fell 3.38% as its 29-state trial began. Crude posted its biggest build since 2023.
MIB Daily: Wall Street Sold the Fear, Not the Risk — Chips Reload on AI Capex as Defensives Fund the Trade and GDP’s 6.3% Price Index Keeps the Question Open
Wall Street erased Wednesday’s Fed-day rout: Nasdaq 100 +3.36%, S&P 500 +1.67%, VIX -17.33%. Microsoft surged 15.5% on 43% Azure growth; Meta sank 7.95%. Semis went vertical — Micron +18%, Lam +18%, AMAT +15%, AMD +13%. But Q2 GDP undershot at 1.5% with the price index spiking to 6.3%, and Dow Transports fell 1.74%. June core PCE cooled to 3.3%; jobless claims held at 197K. US strikes hit Iran overnight, yet crude closed lower and the dollar broke below 100.
MIB Daily: META +8.85% threatens the chip trade from within (SOX -7%) — short semis, own Financials as Thursday’s NFP decides the stagflation exit
META +8.85% on AI cloud reports; global semi selloff (KLAC -11.8%, MU -10.57%, SOX -7%) split Q3’s opening session. Atlanta Fed cut GDPNow to 1.2% from 2.5% — 2026’s largest single-day revision — as ADP missed at 98K; Thursday’s NFP is the binary risk event. Warsh at ECB Sintra refused July guidance with hike odds at 54%; 10Y +6 bps to 4.48%. WFC +3.99% on Goldman upgrade and 11% dividend raise as all 32 banks cleared stress tests; Financials +1.61%.
MIB Daily: Micron’s AI Windfall Is Apple’s Cost Crisis — PCE 3.4% Signals a Hike as RUT Hits All-Time High
Micron (MU +15.74%) posted $41.5B in Q3 revenue — quadruple year-over-year — lifting semiconductors while Apple (-6.12%) and Microsoft (-3.46%) fell on AI memory-driven hardware price hikes. Core PCE hit 3.4% YoY, highest since Oct 2023; Williams and Goolsbee hawkish, September hike window rising. Q1 GDP revised to 2.1% but consumer spending +0.5%, weakest since 2022; GDPNow cut Q2 to 2.5%. Russell 2000 closed at an all-time record as capital fled mega-cap tech. Bitcoin breached $60K, now 50% off its 2026 peak.
MIB Daily: Good news is bad news — Warsh reprices 2Y to 4.21%, AVGO/GEV defy selloff; can $75 WTI hold when Iran supply returns?
Fed Chair Warsh’s inaugural FOMC strips the easing bias; 9 of 18 members project a 2026 rate hike, dismantling the rate-cut thesis that anchored 2025 equity valuations — S&P -1.21%, 2Y yield to a 14-month high. Retail sales +0.9% handed Warsh hawkish cover; good news is now market-negative. US-Iran peace MOU opens Hormuz, WTI -5% to $75; IEA projects an 8 mb/d 2027 supply glut. AI hardware (AVGO +4.30%, GEV +6.77%) defied the selloff; META -5.44% on AI product executive departure.
MIB Weekly: Dow Cracked 50,000 and a $2.1T IPO Debuted in the Same Week — Long Semis, Short AI Cash-Burn; Iran Holds the Key to Warsh’s June 17 FOMC
Iran’s 14-point Hormuz draft MoU sent WTI from $91.78 to $84.24 by Friday, potentially deflating the energy surge that drove May CPI to a three-year high (4.2%) and locked out Fed cuts heading into Warsh’s June 17 inaugural FOMC — now with 47% hike odds. SpaceX debuted as the largest IPO in US history ($75B raised, +19.3%), while Intel’s Google foundry win and JPMorgan’s KLAC upgrade drove the semiconductor equipment complex +20–32% on the week.
MIB Daily: Intel Wins Google and NVIDIA in One Day (+11%) — Long Semis and Fiber; Wednesday’s 4.2% CPI and Warsh’s Debut Dare the 8-of-11 Red Market to Hold
Intel landed Google’s 3M+ TPU order and NVIDIA 18A foundry trials Monday, validating its three-year transformation and sending INTC +11%, MU +10%, KLAC/AMAT +9%. Apple reversed a 52-week intraday high to close -1.87% after WWDC revealed Siri AI as a Google Gemini reskin. Wednesday’s May CPI (headline YoY exp. 4.2%) is the last major datapoint before Warsh’s debut FOMC; Israel-Iran re-escalation and WTI near $94 add a stagflationary dimension. Corning (GLW +5.55%) secured Amazon’s AI fiber buildout.
MIB Weekly: Stagflation Confirmed, AI Capex Accelerating, Summit Resolved Nothing — Own Energy & AI Infrastructure, Sell Rate-Sensitive Duration Through the Fall Diplomatic Window
WTI crude surged +11.52% to $105.48 as US-Iran ceasefire talks collapsed — “garbage” per Trump Tuesday — while CPI 3.8% and PPI 6.0% pushed rate-hike odds from under 3% to over 50% in 72 hours and the 10Y to a one-year high of 4.601%. Kevin Warsh was sworn in as Fed Chair inheriting this stagflation stack. The Trump-Xi summit briefly drove records (S&P 7,500, Dow 50,000 Thursday) before crashing Friday on zero binding deals — tariffs, chips, and Taiwan all unresolved.
MIB: Stagflation Confirmed, $105 Oil, China Stalled — Warsh Has No Good Move; REITs, Chips, & Long-Tech Now Lose
Trump-Xi Day 2: zero binding deals on tariffs, semiconductors, or Taiwan; S&P -1.24%, 10Y +14 bps to 4.60%, stagflation pricing confirmed. WTI +4.26% to $105.48 on Hormuz collapse — ~10% weekly gain compounds the tariff-inflation stack. Warsh sworn in as Fed Chair with >50% 2026 rate-hike odds; June 16 FOMC is his first test. Chip leaders MU, INTC, AMD down 5–7% on NVDA pre-positioning and unresolved China export overhang. Ackman disclosed MSFT at 21x, exited GOOGL; MSFT +3.05% vs. Nasdaq -1.54%.
MIB: Triple Shock — OpenAI Revenue Miss, UAE Exits OPEC, and Trump Rejects Iran’s Hormuz Deal Ahead of $700B AI Earnings Week
OpenAI missed revenue and user targets (WSJ), gutting AI chip stocks — AMAT -5.87%, KLAC -4.79%, AVGO -4.39%; Nasdaq -1.01%. UAE quit OPEC after 58 years, effective May 1. Trump rejected Iran’s Hormuz reopening proposal — Brent hit $112.70 intraday, US gas $4.18/gal (highest since Aug 2022). Powell’s final FOMC opened Tuesday. Coca-Cola (+3.86%), Visa, and Starbucks all beat and raised guidance. GOOGL/MSFT/META Wednesday — $700B AI capex on trial.
MIB: Stagflation Trap — Iran Sends Oil Past $101 While Google’s AI Crushes Semis and Meta Faces $Billions in Verdicts
Iran denies US peace talks, pushing Brent crude past $101 and extending the Hormuz chokehold. Google’s TurboQuant crushed semiconductor stocks (LRCX -9.4%, AMAT -8.3%, AMD -7.5%, MU -7%). Meta shed 8% on a landmark social media addiction verdict. Nasdaq entered correction territory (-10%). OECD raised US inflation forecast to 4.2% for 2026, highest in G7. BlackRock downgraded US equities to neutral as stagflation fears mount.
MIB: Four Days to War — Iran Denial Sends Gold to $4,509 as Tech Cracks and Bonds Flash Stagflation
Iran ceasefire countdown (4 days remain) fades as Iran denies talks — Gold surges to $4,509 (+1.58%). Alphabet (GOOGL -3.85%) faces EU DMA fine deadline tomorrow; potential $34B fine looms. Tech rotation intensifies: Nasdaq -0.77% vs. Russell 2000 +0.53%; Oracle -4.70% despite BofA Buy reinstated. GE Vernova +3.03% on Morgan Stanley $960 target. Richmond Fed manufacturing hits 0 — first non-negative in over a year. Goldman Sachs delays first Fed rate cut to September.
MIB: Precious metals rout, Qatar struck again — Hormuz Week 3 Rewrites Every Portfolio Playbook
Gold crashes -5% through $5,000 as real yields spike — silver -6%, platinum -4%. Iran strikes Qatar’s LNG; Dutch TTF gas surges +13%. Chip equipment stocks surge (LRCX +4.13%, AMD +2.91%) on Micron AI beat, but MU -3.78% sell-the-news. Jobless claims 205K beat, defying stagflation fears. S&P -0.28% but Russell 2000 +0.64% as Israel pledges Hormuz reopening. FedEx beats AMC, raises guidance.
MIB: FOMC Day One, Oil Resumes Rally, Amazon’s $600B AI Bet, and a Brutal LLY Downgrade
Oil resumed its climb — WTI $96, Brent $103+ — as FOMC Day 1 began and Monday’s de-escalation optimism faded. Amazon CEO Jassy doubled AWS 10-year target to $600B on AI demand (AMZN +1%). HSBC issued a rare Sell on LLY (-5.3%) citing GLP-1 market TAM saturation and imminent price wars. February retail sales beat (+0.6%) showed the consumer holding firm. Delta (DAL +6%) and American (AAL +4%) lifted Q1 guidance — travel demand crushing oil cost headwinds.
