Five Dumbest Moves in Markets: DH Unplugged Takes a Sharp Look at Bonds, Tariffs, and Bitcoin

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In Episode 815 of DH Unplugged, hosts Andrew Horowitz and John C. Dvorak dissect the five most foolish financial moves currently affecting markets, from Treasury buybacks and tariff cuts to Bitcoin's surge and Walmart's warning, offering a contrarian take on the debasement narrative.

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Five Dumbest Moves in Markets: DH Unplugged Takes a Sharp Look at Bonds, Tariffs, and Bitcoin

In the latest episode of DH Unplugged, hosts Andrew Horowitz and John C. Dvorak deliver a no-holds-barred critique of what they call the “five dumbest moves” shaking financial markets. Titled “Stupid Does Stupid,” the episode, published August 25, 2026, comes at a critical juncture: days before NVIDIA’s highly anticipated earnings report and the Jackson Hole economic symposium, as Treasury maneuvers, tariff reversals, and a weakening U.S. dollar collide with sky-high AI expectations.

Horowitz and Dvorak argue that investors are being sold a debasement narrative that doesn’t survive close inspection. “There is no quantitative easing going on,” Horowitz asserts. “The dollar is down, but not that much. The fact is that everybody just wants to buy it. This is an excuse.” Dvorak counters with a point on messaging: if retail buyers believe the story, then image control is working—even if rates snapped right back after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Friday follow-up hinting that the $4 billion monthly bond-buyback pace could climb higher.

The episode’s rundown moves briskly through interconnected threads:

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s expanded long-bond buybacks, which the hosts dub “Bessent’s Big Bond Blunder.” They also flag unusual TLT inflows on August 18, the day before the announcement, calling it “information leakage,” not luck.
  • Trump’s tariff cut on imported beef, raising questions about who actually pays tariffs.
  • New Iran sanctions targeting roughly 60 individuals, companies, and vessels under “Operation Economic Outcast.”
  • Bitcoin’s rip past $80,000 and gold’s move on a softer dollar.
  • Walmart’s consumer warning, with U.S. comparable sales up just 2.6% against roughly 3% inflation.

Dvorak brings on-the-ground detail from his consulting work with Walmart’s data science team, arguing the retailer’s predictive models make its consumer caution credible, not corporate spin. He also notes Costco’s earlier warning about shoppers swapping chicken for tuna as a recession tell.

On NVIDIA, the hosts spotlight Kingslide Works, the Taiwanese maker of roughly 70% of data center rack slides, up about 400% in a year, as an early indicator ahead of the Ultra Rubin chip cycle. They also dig into Venezuelan oil refining bottlenecks, strategic petroleum reserves near 1983 levels, salt-cavern integrity risks in Texas and Louisiana, and China’s 90% share of Iranian oil imports.

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