Markets on a Rollercoaster: Big Tech Earnings, KOSPI Meltdown, and SpaceX's Post-IPO Slide

In the latest episode of DH Unplugged, titled "Rollercoaster Ride," hosts Andrew Horowitz and John C. Dvorak navigate a week of extreme market volatility. With Dow swings of 1,000 points up and 700 points down, the episode covers Big Tech earnings, a collapsing Korean stock market, and a SpaceX unwind that has captivated Wall Street.

Horowitz, recovering from meniscus surgery, walks listeners through a packed docket. Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon all reported earnings, with Amazon crossing the $3 trillion market cap mark, while Apple fell 7% on memory chip cost warnings. The hosts also delve into the KOSPI meltdown, where 350,000 Korean retail accounts were blown out due to single-stock leveraged ETFs.

SpaceX's post-IPO slide from $135 to $108 is a major topic. Horowitz calls it a "rug pull," citing insider selling, expired lockups, and a lack of support from major banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch. Dvorak remains skeptical of the AI safety marketing cycle, framing the escalating "capture the flag" breakout stories as a regulatory moat play. "Their large marketing campaign goes around the idea that their AI is going to kill us all. So buy now, don't miss out on having the evil machine work for you," he says, noting OpenAI has run this playbook since GPT-2.

Other segments cover Reddit's 20% plunge on weak AI licensing demand, a Meta miss tied to its Scale AI acquisition, and Google's new selfie-based authentication push. The hosts also discuss housing market imbalances, with Miami showing 140 sellers for every 100 buyers, and compare stuck listing prices to unsold Beanie Babies on eBay. Additional topics include TSMC's $100 billion Arizona investment, Delta's confidence in higher fares, a 1.6 million dozen egg salmonella recall, and PCE inflation stuck at 3.3% core.

With a mix of market commentary, economic news, and offbeat observations, this episode offers a skeptical and unrehearsed look at the forces driving today's markets.