The latest episode of the investing podcast DH Unplugged, titled 'I Am the House,' arrives amid a turbulent week for markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 600 points in a post-Labor Day selloff. Hosts Andrew Horowitz and JC Dvorak zero in on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's eyebrow-raising claim that he holds inside information on the Japanese yen, a statement they interpret as a watershed admission that policymakers now act like 'the house' in financial markets.
Horowitz recounts Bessent's remarks, saying, 'His way of putting this is, I have an edge. And he even said, because I have the information, I have the inside information about what Japan is doing, therefore when I say something, it's not going to be speculative. It's going to be absolute.' Dvorak places this in a broader historical context, arguing that since 2008, the government has increasingly behaved like the Roman Senate before Caesar, and the Trump era has made this dynamic impossible to ignore.
The episode also grapples with a range of market-moving events, including a 'dead-quiet' Strait of Hormuz on AIS trackers and Goldman Sachs' $120 per barrel oil target. Rising 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields are examined against a backdrop of a $40 trillion national debt. Horowitz explains that his firm is buying only short-duration Treasuries, citing a crush of new issuance from Washington and from data center operators tapping capital markets globally.
Other topics include Meta's roughly $18 billion multi-state settlement over youth safety guardrails and NVIDIA's reported $13 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, which Dvorak says he called a week early. The hosts also discuss Shein's downsized Hong Kong IPO, Good Good Golf's Callaway ad backlash, Nike's exit from the S&P 500, Argentina beef imports, a 162,000 payrolls print, and Astra's partial proof of the Navier-Stokes equations.
The hosts preview Friday's Consumer Price Index (CPI) print, which many strategists are calling the ultimate credibility test for the Federal Reserve. With markets already on edge, the CPI data could determine whether the Fed can maintain its inflation-fighting stance without triggering further selloffs. The episode also touches on the 'dollar milkshake' conspiracy theory circulating online, adding another layer of uncertainty to currency markets.
In the tech sector, strength in Intel, AMD, and SK Hynix is noted ahead of Broadcom earnings, while Bloom Energy's addition to the S&P 500 sparked sympathy rallies in Oklo and other small modular reactor companies. The hosts' skeptical, unfiltered tone is a hallmark of the show, which blends Fed watching, earnings analysis, commodities, and tech trends with offbeat cultural commentary.
Episode 817 of DH Unplugged is available now at dhunplugged.com, via RSS, and on major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. As markets brace for the CPI release, Bessent's remarks and the broader signals of policy-driven market influence underscore the challenges facing investors navigating an increasingly uncertain economic landscape.
