Markets in the Doldrums? Not So Fast: DH Unplugged Tackles Burry's Warning, Nvidia's $500B AI Play, and More
Found this article helpful?
Share it with your network and spread the knowledge!
Despite the lazy days of summer, the financial news cycle is anything but quiet. In Episode 814 of DH Unplugged, titled 'The Doldrums,' hosts Andrew Horowitz and John C. Dvorak navigate a market that seems to be climbing ever higher even as warnings of a pullback grow louder. The episode, released August 18, 2026, dives into a dense docket of stories that have investors on edge.
One of the biggest headlines is Michael Burry's latest bearish call. The investor known for predicting the 2008 housing crisis is now warning of a possible 1987-style drop and has taken short positions in Palantir, Nvidia, and Tesla through options. Horowitz and Dvorak take this in stride, with Horowitz noting, 'Markets live much more in the all-time high range than in the all-time lows. In fact, very difficult, if not impossible, for the markets to hit an all-time low.'
But the real focus of the episode is Nvidia's audacious plan to raise $500 billion for AI infrastructure. The company has signed preliminary agreements with Apollo, BlackRock, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to mobilize capital for what would be a new asset class: compute. Dvorak explains Jensen Huang's strategy: 'It's more important to be depended on than to be profitable.' He warns that an Nvidia unwind could combine the enthusiasm of 1999 with the financialization of 2007 at a far greater magnitude.
The hosts unpack how hyperscaler depreciation schedules clash with Nvidia's rapid product cycle, and why collateralizing compute rather than the underlying silicon is Huang's answer to nervous financiers. It's a deep dive into the mechanics of making compute an investable asset.
Elsewhere in the episode, they cover Etsy cutting 220 jobs (about 12% of staff) while authorizing a $2 billion buyback, Chipotle's salmonella outbreak linked to jalapenos, and Sweetgreen's Taylor Farms disaster. Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound posted impressive quarterly sales of $9.94B and $4.93B, respectively.
The show also touches on Berkshire Hathaway's first net-buyer quarter in 14 quarters under Greg Abel, a new 15% tariff on polysilicon solar imports, drone tariffs that benefit Unusual Machines (UMAC) and Donald Trump Jr.'s stake in that company, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Trump-flavored superlatives. And in a lighter moment, they note the still-unrecovered 18-karat gold toilet ripped from Blenheim Palace.
Throughout, Horowitz and Dvorak maintain their trademark blend of skepticism and humor, questioning whether the market's resilience is a sign of strength or a prelude to a downturn. As Dvorak puts it, the market 'hates itself but keeps climbing.'