Big Tech Earnings Whiplash, KOSPI Wipeout, and SpaceX's Post-IPO Slide Dominate Episode 812 of DH Unplugged

The latest episode of the investing podcast DH Unplugged, titled "Rollercoaster Ride," paints a vivid picture of a market in turmoil. Hosts Andrew Horowitz and John C. Dvorak, recording on August 4, 2026, navigate through a week marked by extreme volatility, with the Dow swinging 1,000 points up and 700 points down. The whipsaw action was fueled by a mix of Big Tech earnings, geopolitical tensions, and a surprising collapse in the Korean stock market.

Horowitz, recovering from recent surgery, wasted no time dissecting the earnings reports from Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. Amazon crossed the $3 trillion market cap milestone, but Apple took a 7% hit on warnings about rising memory chip costs. The hosts also highlighted the dramatic moves in individual stocks, such as Palantir jumping 26% while AMD dropped 8% in after-hours trading. These disparate performances underscore the uncertainty gripping the tech sector.

A major focus of the episode was the KOSPI meltdown. Horowitz and Dvorak explained how the combination of single-stock leveraged ETFs and a market downturn led to the wipeout of 350,000 Korean retail accounts. This event serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of leveraged products in volatile markets.

SpaceX also came under scrutiny, with Horowitz calling the company's post-IPO slide a "rug pull." The stock fell from $135 to $108 as lockup expirations and insider selling weighed on the price. Notably, the absence of syndicate support from major banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch exacerbated the decline. Additionally, SpaceX reported a Starlink subscriber miss and priced $40 billion in debt toward junk status, adding to investor concerns.

The conversation then shifted to the AI sector, where Dvorak expressed skepticism about the safety marketing campaigns from OpenAI and Anthropic. He argued that these narratives, which often highlight the existential risks of AI, are a "regulatory moat play" designed to entrench incumbents. Horowitz countered that whether these efforts are deliberate manipulation or genuine incompetence, they unsettle investors trying to price the sector. The hosts also noted Reddit's 20% plunge on weak AI licensing demand and Meta's earnings miss tied to its Scale AI acquisition.

Other topics included Google's new selfie-based authentication push, housing market imbalances in Miami (140 sellers for every 100 buyers), and a comparison of stuck listing prices to unsold Beanie Babies on eBay. The episode also covered TSMC's additional $100 billion investment in Arizona, Delta's confidence in maintaining higher fares, a salmonella recall of 1.6 million dozen eggs, and a 50% tariff on Canadian goods. With PCE inflation stuck at 3.3% core, the hosts painted a picture of an economy facing persistent price pressures.

As always, DH Unplugged delivers a conversational and skeptical take on the week's financial news. Listeners can find Episode 812 on DH Unplugged, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.