Latest / The Financial Exchange Show / Why markets keep failing to broaden out beyond big tech

Transcript

Why markets keep failing to broaden out beyond big tech · The Financial Exchange Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Financial Exchange is produced by Money Matters Radio and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is hosted by employees of the Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. All opinions expressed are solely those of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the hosts. Do not reflect the opinions of Armstrong Advisory
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: or anyone else. Investments can lose money. This program does
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: not offer any specific financial or investment advice. Please consult
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: your own financial, tax, and estate planning advisors before making
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: any investment decisions. Armstrong Advisory and the advertisers heard on
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: this program do not endorse each other or their services.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Armstrong and Money Matters Radio do not compensate each other
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: for referrals and are not affiliated. This is the Financial
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Exchange with Chuck Zada and Mike Armstrong, Your exclusive look
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: at business and financial news affecting your day, your city,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: your world. Stay informed and up to date about economic
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and market trends, plus breaking business news every day. The
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Financial Exchange is a proud partner of the Disabled American
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Veterans Department of Massachusetts. Help us support our great American
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: heroes by visiting DAV five dot Boston and making a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: donation today. This is the Financial Exchange with Chuck Zada,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and Mike Armstrong.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Well, it is Chuck, Mike, excuse me, and Tucker with
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: you here. And as we look to wrap up the week,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: just taking a look at what's been going on in
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: markets this week. The first thing in our stack is
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: a piece that Tucker had put out that well Tucker
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: didn't put it.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Out, but he wrote it himself.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Bloomber put and Tucker put it on top of the stack,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: and the headline is stocks rise as fresh burst of
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: tech momentum builds. And I think it's really important to get.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: A little bit.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Into the nitty gritty on this in order to talk
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: about what's happening specifically. When we talk about this tech
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: momentum that's building, it's happening in one specific area for
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: one day. Good context, Semiconductors were up yesterday if you
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: look at the last week, and semiconductors are up this
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: week more broadly, but yesterday was was basically the day.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: More broadly, when we look at this week, and I'm
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: looking at the tech sector as a whole, and there
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: are you know, call it five or six different major
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: subsectors within there You've got and these are how SMP
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: divides them, Technology, software, infrastructure, semiconductors, Consumer electronics and software
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: application are kind of the big ones. There's computer hardware
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: as well, electronic components, but those are you know, we
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Piicaneo just like not not worth paying attention to software infrastructure.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Big players there, Microsoft, Oracle, Palenteer all are down this
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: week between one and five percent. So that's not the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: tech rally. We're talking about consumer electronics. There's one company
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: in there. Apple, They're down this week, so that's not
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the tech rally. We're talking about software Apple Cations, this
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: is your salesforce into it ADP service now Adobe Data Dog, Autodesk,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Uber somehow falls into this category. I don't really think
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: they should, but you know, it's fine, Like it's how
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: they're classified. These docks are all down anywhere from aside
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: from one company this week, they're all down anywhere from
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: two to sixteen percent this week.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: So where is it, Chuck, Where is it hiding?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: It's semiconductors. Like semiconductors are rallying largely on the back
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: of the strong report from Taiwan Semiconductor earlier this week,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: and the rest of the tech sector is anywhere between
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: okay and obliteration.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I was gonna say you know, depending on how you
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: listeners might invest in this sector. The NASDAK, for example,
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: is exactly flat this week, like precisely has earned nothing
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: this week, within like two one hundred seven percent. So yeah,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: the optimism or the turn. Yes, there was a one
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: day rally, but I don't think we call a one
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: day move in stock prices a rally a fresh burst
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: of tech momentum, if you will. Now, I wouldn't classify
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: it as such. The market as a whole, what's the
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: S and P up now? Like one percent for the year,
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: I think like one in a something.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, It's not to diminish or to say that we're
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: going to see this broadening out or that tech isn't
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: going to lead markets.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: I just think a lot of these pieces are a
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: little bit preemptive and give maybe a little bit of
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: a misleading take on where things have really gone, because
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: as you point out, for the last five days, yes
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: you saw a rally in one of them, but you
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: saw prices fall in others, and we're about flat for
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: the week when you take a look at tech shares
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: or the Nasdaq as a as a general composite index.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: So I think.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Overall, the question that's out there in my mind is Look,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: the last couple of times that markets have tried to
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: broaden out and and successfully continued to rally, they've gotten
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: bopped pretty hard. Summer of twenty twenty four, spring of
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. Things didn't go well there. Sure you
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: can say there were you know, other factors at play.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Only the last two times markets tried to broaden out,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: it didn't work. So is it different this time? And
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: can that broadening out you know, persist for an extended period.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: But the other piece is, look, if if you think about.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: It this way, that this is the really interesting thing is, Look,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: you've had, you know, a broad swath of the market
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: that has been surging ahead this year.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: You know, you take a look at year to date.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Performance on you know, names in the S and P
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: five hundred and you've got you know a lot of
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: different areas. When you look at this just on we'll
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: get a sector by sector basis, because I don't want
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: to go through five hundred different stocks.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: That's kind of exhausting. I don't like it.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Energy up six and a half percent this year, Industrials
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: up six point eight percent this year, real estate up
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: three communication services down one to quarter again, that's you know,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: meta and those guys are in there dragging that consumer
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: staples up six percent, materials up eight percent. You know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: those are kind of your big gainers that you've seen.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: But how many people coming into this year we're sitting
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: there going, oh, it's gonna be a great year for
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: industrials while financials lose you know, three quarters of a percent.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Like no, like no one was like coming and saying that,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Which is why this is interesting to me. So I
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: think that ultimately I said that, by the way, which
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: which did you say, I don't know whatever, whatever part
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: made me right, that's what I said last year.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: I like that.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think this is you know, an interesting
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: start to the year. I don't know if it has legs,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: because you know, two weeks does not really make a
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: trend in my opinion, and we need to see this,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: you know, able to last. But here's the piece that
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I find really interesting is with all all of those
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: sectors that are up like seven eight percent, the SP's
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: holes up only up one.
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: And a half.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Because this is a tech market and so this is
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: the thing that would be really fascinating this year is look,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: what if the S and P makes like two to
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: four percent this year, but you've got six or seven
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: sectors that are up fifteen percent plus, and that would
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: be the really interesting market to me, That would be
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the stark reversal of what we've seen the last three years.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Is it going to happen, don't know, but these are
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: interesting thought exercises just to kind of look at and say, hey,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: you know, could could something come of this?
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: That is a point that I've made a few times
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: to folks. I think it's worth just reading this out again.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: When you're talking about the US market, like it or not,
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: you're talking about a pretty big bet on artificial intelligence,
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: and so I just I want to list these out
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: again for folks. These are the top ten companies in
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: the S and P five hundred today, and just send
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: to the names and tell me which of them don't
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: have massive bets on AI.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Okay, now, so.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: Top ten in Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Google's parent company, Broadcom, Meta, Tesla, Berkshire, Hathaway, Walmart.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: They just eked out Lily today for the number ten spot,
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: which is over Lily. So I just listed out ten
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: companies I can point to three that I don't think
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: I have either poured a lot of money into AI
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: already or are talking about doing so now Berkshire yeah,
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Walmart Yeah, And then I would either go Tesla or Apple,
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: and I think both of them are like Tesla kind
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: of has been pouring a lot of money.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Apple is a third one that hasn't.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: But even there it still might be like broadly tied
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: to that ecosystem still.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: And they are talking about signing a massive contract with
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: Google to pay them a whole boltload of money for
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: their AI.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: So I took it.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: I take a look at this list, which by the way,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: comprises a huge portion of the total sm P five hundred,
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: about forty forty now, and it's really tough to make
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: an argument that, hey, we're not as a US focused investor,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: and most you know, most people listening who have any
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: sort of diversified portfolio are it's a pretty big bet
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: on that one specific market. And so yeah, when energy price,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: when energy company rally, company's rally, it's not enough to
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: move the needle these days.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Right, Like you do the math and you take a
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: look at and you're like, oh, like energy stocks are
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: up seven percent, that must really be driving the index higher. Well,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: actually no, it's it's not really driving the index higher
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: because energy stocks make up three percent of the S
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: and P five hundred right now.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, X levels now the fifteenth largest company, making up
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: less than one percent of the overall index.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Well, it's got to be great. Materials are up, you know,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: six percent this year. That's you gotta be. Material stocks
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: make up one point seventy five percent of the S
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: and P five hundred, Your biggest sectors, if anyone's curious
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: about it, Tech is thirty four percent right now, financials
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: are twelve point eight. Communication services, which remember, communication services
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: is this weird, completely crappy sector that includes everything from
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Google and Meta to Netflix, Disney, and Verizon. So okay, communications,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: but so like, communication services is basically Google and Meta
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: consumer discretionary. You think like, oh, like that must be
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: like home deep owned stuff. No, it's mostly Amazon and Tesla.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: So even like, when you look at the breakdown here,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: you could make a convincing case if you wanted to,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: that probably about half of the United States stock market
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: is measured by the S and P five hundred is
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: really in tech related companies. Yea, let's take a quick
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: break when we come back to talk about Iran, Greenland
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: and Venezuela.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: After this, find daily interviews and full shows of the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Financial Exchange on how our YouTube page. Get cut up
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: on anything and everything you might have missed. This is
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the Financial Exchange Radio Network. Find daily interviews and full
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: shows of the Financial Exchange on how our YouTube page.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to our page and get caught up on anything
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: and everything you might have missed. This is the Financial
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Exchange Radio Network.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: All right, So we got a piece here from CNBC.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: It's titled markets are callous Why stocks aren't phased by Iran,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Greenland or Venezuela. Well, first of all, I don't think
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: stocks would be phased by the very presence of those
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: countries existing.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: So the headline I have problems with.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: But beyond that, I asked Chad Gpt to make me
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: a joke about Iran, Greenland and Venezuela walking into a bar. Okay,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: and this is what it did. Iran, Greenland and Venezuela
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: so who's paying. Iran says we're sanctioned, Venezuela says we're broke.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Greenland says I've got plenty of resources. But honestly, I'm
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: just here because everyone keeps talking about me. The bartender
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: size great geopolitics on the rocks.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: That's a terrible jokes. It's pretty bad, yea, but like
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: it's pretty bad. But in any case, like this is
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: kind of where we.
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: Are right now.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: God for all the writers out there listening, don't worry.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: You still have a job, right.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: I don't think Chad Gpt quite gets comedy, Like I
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: asked it for other ones. I was like, okay, give
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: me a Mitch Hedberg style one liner. Yeah, no, it's
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: just id it's not, but I have to do it.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Greenland says I'm neutral. Everyone else says yeah, but like
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: for now, Yeah, it's really bad at comedy, just like
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: it doesn't make sense anyways. Paid version, Yes, that should
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: be free. They should pay you, they should pay me? Right,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: do do we get anything for that? Like just wasted
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: thirty seconds of all of our lives? Like the multiplier
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: effects are astounding in any case. Here's why stocks aren't
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: phased by Iran, Greenland, or Venezuela or what's going on
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: in relation to them. Sure, last year, as an example,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: in late June, Iran and Israel got into a little
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: bit of a thing, like you know, hundreds of missiles
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: going back and forth, and you know US bombers coming in,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: like it was, things got pretty big, very heated. Yeah,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Ultimately it didn't end up impacting stock markets in any
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: way because there was nothing there that would you know,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: when when you talk about what it when we talk
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: about what impacts either stock there's three markets that you
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: can pay attention to. Equity markets, bond market, commodity markets.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Equity markets, is anything at all going to change in
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: how much stuff Walmart sells because of what's going on
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: in Venezuela, Greenland, or event or Iran?
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: No?
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Likely are the number of iPhones sold this year going
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: to change as a result of that. No, And that's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: why markets don't care about this. The bond market would
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: care about Hey, do events in these areas have any
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: potential impact on either overall economic growth or inflation in
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: a couple of these cases, the answer is maybe in
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: the short term, depending on what happens with energy prices.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: So moving into commodities, and.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: That affects commodity markets as well, which we've seen. But
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: there's a reason why equity markets don't care about what's
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: going on here, and quite honestly, it's because the fifty
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: thousand people that live in Greenland are not a meaningful
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: driver of stock market activity in the United States.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: There's no revenue that's.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Generated by them in any meaningful fashion by companies, so
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: you wouldn't expect it same. By the way, with Venezuela
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: and Iran, because they're both sanctioned through through the roof.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: You don't have US businesses that are involved in those countries.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: And I think that is probably obvious to people by now,
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: and the story is not being necessary. I mean, taking
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: an event that was far more extreme than this, the
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Russian invasion of Ukraine had almost no noticeable impact on
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: markets over the course of even a month, like a
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: couple of days, yes, but you know, over a longer
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: course of time commodity prices a little bit, but no
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: no substantial impact there. The the you know, attacks on
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: Israel for example, like again no substantial And these are
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: far I think I think everybody would look at those
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: and say, far greater geopolitical events than what we've seen.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: So far in Venuzuela, Iran or Greenland.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: I think the interesting question that I have fielded recently
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: is like, I just would have expected more impact on
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: oil based on everything that's being talked about, and I
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: point out that, well, there was a pretty big effect
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: on oil.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: We were sitting at fifty five bucks a barrel, went
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: up as.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: Recently as two weeks ago and or as recently as
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: a month ago, and it went up to like sixty
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: two bucks a barrel and then dropped back down. But
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: I do think an interesting the question was asked, like, well,
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: would we have seen a bigger price move thirty years
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: from now? I think the answer is, of course, but
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: thirty years ago the United States was not such a
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: consistent producer of oil as it is right now, and
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: there's really very little that would knock the United States
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: off its track of producing the number, however, many millions
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: of barrels of oil that they are doing so annually,
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: and so I think that's kind of my answer is, yes,
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: three decades ago, five decades ago, concerns about the Middle
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: East and what's going on over there might have move
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: prices of oil a little bit more dramatically. Today, it's
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: it's a much more stable market, seemingly.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Taiwan plug two hundred and fifty billion dollars in US
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: spending in exchange for lower tariffs. Quite honestly, I just
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: don't think tariffs are a major driver of marginal economic
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: change this year. And I'm remarkably uninterested in anything tariff
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: related this year because what matters from a tariff perspective
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: is the change from what you were previously at. Given
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: that we're basically maintaining the status quo, inness like some
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: small changes around the edges, I find it hard to
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: get excited that this is going to have a meaningful
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: shift in either the US or Taiwanese economy.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I do tend to agree.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: I think the far more interesting stuff when it comes
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: to tariffs that are in place now or negotiations that
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: are happening. Twofold one Supreme Court case could be released
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: any day now, so are the trade agreements that have
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: been negotiating.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Honest, what are they waiting for? Yeah?
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: Isn't it every Wednesday at ten am? We might get
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: an announcement.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: They announced specific decision days, So like last Friday was one,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: this Wednesday was one, But like it's it's kind of
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: up in the air. But presumably they've made their decisions
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: off it should be at some point in the next
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: week or two. So we have that and then, by
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: the way, can I talk about that for one second? Yeah, sure,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: underrated thought about this that I I it's kind.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: Of bubbled up.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: The longer it goes, the more I think.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: There's a chance that they end up keeping them in place,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: which is not something that is priced into markets right now.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: In my opinion, you think that markets are pricing in
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: an elimination of the terraces.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: In some form.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it includes, you know, refunds of them,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: but like you basically look at how you know, on
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: the days when these are released, like there are all
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: these baskets that like, you know, Goldman, Sachs and Morgan's Stay,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: and we've put together break stocks that are you know,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: tariff winners and losers. And basically what it's telling you
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: is markets are expecting that all or a portion of
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the tariffs will be struck down. It's unclear again the
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: exact way that it'll play out, but I do think
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: an underappreciated idea is, hey, the longer this goes, I
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: don't know, to me, at least, that gives me more
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: of a chance that maybe the tariffs are upheld. The
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: way I think about it quick break here when we return,
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: We've got Wall Street Watch after this.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: TFE show. Breaking business news is always first here on
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the Financial Exchange Radio Network. Time now for Wall Street Watch.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: A complete look at what's moving markets so far today
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: right here on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: That markets are wrapping up the somewhat shoppy week in
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: slightly negative territory with the quiet day in terms of
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: economic data. Investor is also reacting to the trade agreement
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: reached between the US and Taiwan, where.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: Taiwanese chip and tech companies will invest at.
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: Least two hundred and fifty billion dollars in production capacity
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: in America. Right now, the Dow is down by about
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: a quarter percent, or one hundred and twenty two points lower.
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: S and P five hundred down over a tenth of
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: a percent or nine points lower. Nasdaq also down about
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: a tenth of a percent. Russell two thousand actually up
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: over a third of a percent. Tenure Treasure reeled up
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: two basis points at four point one eight nine percent,
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: and crude oil up about one percent higher, trading a
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: fifty nine dollars and seventy seven cents a barrel. Several
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: chip makers are edging higher following yesterday's upward movement, driven
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: by a record quarter from Taiwan Semiconductor. Meanwhile, logistic company
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: JB Hunt recorded lower quarterly revenue as trans continental load
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: volumes fell. JB Hunt shares are dipping mostly flat. Elsewhere,
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: Nova Nordi's shares are climbing four percent on optimism about
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: the drug maker's new weight loss pill. The UK also
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: approved a higher dose of we go vy four obesity patients.
• 21:15
  Speaker 6: Competitor Eli Lilly is now up slightly after seeing losses
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: in early trading. More bank earnings after PNC Financial reported
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: to a higher quarterly profit on the back of loan
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: growth and increased demand for its financial services. P and
• 21:28
  Speaker 6: C stock is up three percent. M and T Bank
• 21:31
  Speaker 6: also posted a higher fourth quarter profit, lifted by growth
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: and net interest income and net interest margin. That stock, however,
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: down by two percent, and Honeywell rising about two percent
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: after the industrial giant was upgraded to overweight from neutral
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: at JP Morgan with a Bank sited Honeywell's planned breakup.
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: I'm Tucker Silva and that is Wall Street Watch.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: This is something that is pretty cool here, So the
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Trump administration is working with the main interconnection company that
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: basically helps supply power to the region of you know,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: kind of the mid Atlantic through the Midwest. It's called
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: PJAM is the is the interconnection company, and basically what
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: they do is they help to you know, they helped
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: to get power from point A to point B so
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: that you can have electricity.
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: They're a wholesaler of electricity basically.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And the problem that we've been having in the last
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: year is electricity prices have gone up lots. The average
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: US retail price for electricity was up seven point four
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: percent year over year in September to a record of
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: eighteen point oh seven cents per kill a wade hour.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: And the big thing that we are seeing here is
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: data center construction has significantly increased demand beyond pretty much
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: what was you know, priced into construction plans over you know,
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: the previous decade or so. Because remember, if you want
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: to go build new power plant in the United States now,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: it's a fifteen year process to do so if everything
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: goes smoothly. So what they're talking about doing here, and
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: this is I think a really cool idea is basically saying, look,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: if you are a tech company that is operating on
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: this interconnection, we want to have a special auction later
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: this year that instead of it being a twelve month
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: auction for power, where utilities are saying this is how
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: much we need. Instead the tech companies are going to say,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: here's how much we need over the next fifteen years.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: So they are pre committing to saying we are going
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: to use this much power over that time, and whether
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: they use it or not, they are going to pay
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: for it. That's what this special contract is going to
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: commit them to. Okay, so what does that do? Just
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: it's a put up or.
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: Shut up moment for tech companies.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: If you think you're actually going to be using this
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: demand long term, you got to go and buy it
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: right now. If you don't, then you're not buying it
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: and you're not going to get access the same way
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: that you've gotten access previously.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: I guess that's the question that I have.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Right So, if you are an existing data center in
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: northern Virginia, where this is like the biggest concentration of
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: data centers in the country right now because it's close
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: to d see what happens if I don't bid, right
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: I assume since I'm hooked up. I'll continue to get access,
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: but new construction will be difficult to do, and I won't.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Be hurd the future.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: It's the new stuff, I think, is what we're talking
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: about here. So I think that this is pretty interesting
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: here again, because i'll quote you from the Bloomberg piece,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the administration's prescription for PJM is what's known as a
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: reliability backstop auction, something the grid operator already envisioned in
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: the wake of repeated failed sales, but the administration and
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Governor's plan and made holding the emergency auction right away
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: after one clear failure with unusual terms meant to foster
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: a wave of rapid new construction and the only bidders
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: being data center owners and operators. And so this is
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: something that again it would basically be Look, if you
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: want to build data centers in the future in this region,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: in this area, you need to commit to buying the
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: electricity at whatever prices go off in this auction for
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: the next fifteen years.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: I can't think of a better way to do it.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Here's the one wrinkle in this whole puppy. Let's say
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: that I am a small company named open AI, and
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: I'm pretty unprofitable. Right now, let's say that I bid
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: on I want to buy ex capacity for my data.
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: Centers and then deliver.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: What happens if I don't exist three years from now?
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: It's not a concern with Microsoft, it's not a concern
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: with Google, it's not a concern with Meta. Those companies
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: are going to exist. They might, you know, go through
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: some fluctuations in stock price and profitability and this and that.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: But I'm not worried about Microsoft going out of business.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: I am a little worried about open Ai going out
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: of business. And so that to me is something where hey,
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: what if they're one of the main bidders in this
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: area and then they go bankrupt, and then they go bankrupt,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: and now you've got a power plant that was built
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: that doesn't have anyone.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: To supply to. What happens?
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: Then?
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: That's my one concern on this, and it's an open
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Ai specific issue.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Now I also don't know if they're building in this region.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: Their Stargate project is in Texas, which is not covered
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: in this That is part of Texas's power grid, which
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: has its own unique issues associated with it.
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: From time to time.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: Honestly, what happens there is they leave behind some very
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: expensive infrastructure, and.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: Which is the worst thing.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: But like what happened when a bunch of companies that
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: built out the internet fiberwire went belly up, we still
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: held on to the fiberwire. What happened to all the
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: companies that built out the rail system across the country
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: and then you know, a couple of them went belly up,
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: we were left with some pretty darn good infrastructure that
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: got auctioned off and eventually was made usable. And so
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: I guess my point would be, there absolutely will be
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: bidders here that do not have an executable plan and
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: end up going belly up five years from now, and
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: history would tell me that they end up, you know,
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: leaving behind some pretty valuable infrastructure that if data centers
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: don't need, we certainly do as consumers, and might result
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: fifteen years from now in cheaper electricity five years from now,
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: I I don't.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Know, right, still pretty rough.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: And the other thing that I think you can say
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: that that ties in with that is if there's one
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: problem that you can say the US has definitively not
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: had for the last twenty years, it's been building too
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: much power infrastructure.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: True, you know, like if we.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Want to air a little bit too far on that side,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: I think that's a risk that we should be willing
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: to take. Yeah, is you know, overbuilding the grid and
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: power generation capacity right now.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: So this I think is a really interesting move.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: I think it's something that again I don't know if
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: it like solves the problem necessary.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: I was going to say, I don't know if this conclusively,
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: but it prevents short term electricity costs from going higher
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: for consumers.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: But I think it's a really it sounds to me
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: as someone who again knows enough to be dangerous about
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: the electric grid, it sounds to me like a really
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: interesting idea that potentially addresses a broad swath of the problem,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: and I'm interested to see how it ends up working.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: Right Like, I like this proposal a lot better than
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: the idea of capping electricity prices for consumers.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: I like it better than.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: Any other way of you know, kind of meddling with
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: the economic system of electricity. This is one that is
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: specifically designed to increase supply, yes, which you know, if
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: your goal is a to have more supply and b
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: to keep prices at a reasonable pace of increase for consumers,
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: this would logically make some sense to take a.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Quick break here. When we return, let's talk a little bit.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: We got to dig in more on this Verizon outage,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: because I gotta tell you, I've thought more and more
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: about this over the last couple days.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: And what was that Chuck angry? No, I'm not angry,
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: I'm scared. Hell, let's take a quick break and we'll
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: come back right after this.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Breaking business news as it happens only here on the
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Financial Exchange Radio Network. The Financial Exchange streams live on YouTube.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Like our page and stay up to date on breaking
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: business news all morning long. Base is the Financial Exchange
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Radio Network.
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: The Financial Exchange is incredibly proud to be a partner
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: of the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts. Planning as
• 29:42
  Speaker 6: well underway for the twenty twenty six DAV five K.
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: The event sold out in record time last year, so
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: head to DAB five k dot Boston for all the
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: information about how you can participate this November or make
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: a donation to support our great American heroes. Your gifts
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: help on free rides to medical appointments for veterans, and
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: the Nations for DAV lead housing initiative providing homes for
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: single veterans and veteran families. Go to DAV fivek dot
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: Boston and make your donation today. That's DAV fivek dot Boston.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: So let's talk a little bit more about this Verizon
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: outage that happened Wednesday.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, it was Wednesday.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Okay, after this, I'm more convinced than ever that you
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: know how earlier in the show we were talking about, Hey,
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: why didn't markets react to anything going on in Greenland
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: or Iran or Venezuela.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, I remember.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: The reason why is because if there actually were an
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: extended outage of US cell service across the major three networks,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: society would not be able to function.
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: Let's talk about all those different reasons why society couldn't
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: really function.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: So there are a number of them. The first is
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: we've become so it's all tied to one thing. We
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: are so dependent on our phones to be able to
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: do anything in our lives now, from navigating to places,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: you know, like when I was a kid, it used
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: to be, hey, were you're trying to go to this place? Okay,
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: you're gonna turn right at the water tower, left when
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: you see the blue house. And then finally you'll be
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: on Elm Street and.
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: You'll you'll get there.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: I have to sidetrack from it.
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: That was one of my favorite things about my father
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: in law whenever we visited him, whenever we would go anywhere,
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: he would give me step by step instructions which I
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: would just nod along with and like, honey, you know
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: that the second we leave here, we're just plugging it
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: into the GPS.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: But I was my favorite. Frank would give you step
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: by step directions. When you see that, you know costco
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: make sure you turn right there.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: So we just don't do that anymore. That muscle memory
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: is not there, just for like directions. Beyond this, some
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: of you listening may have heard of something called two
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: factor authentication, which is the idea of Hey, when you
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: log into something that has sensitive data in it, you
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: get a text message with a code, or you have
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: to open an authenticator app, or you get.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: An email with a code.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: The email or the authenticator app, well, actually the authenticator app.
• 32:14
  Speaker 5: Won't work either.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: But in any case, how many people like I know
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: a number of them that we're trying to access secure
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: information on Wednesday that because the text message code could
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: not be sent, you just can't see that you can't
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: do that, and this means that you can't do the
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: work that you were supposed to do with that information.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: And this is before we even get to the fact
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: that gee, I don't know. Like, let's say that you
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: want to go to, you know, a sporting event. Your
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: ticket's on your phone now because it's all mobile ticketing, right,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: you know, you're trying to pay for something your Apple
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: pay is not gonna work, trying to grab an uber,
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: you're trying to get an uber, You're trying to check
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: into your hotel, or trying to go to the airport
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: in order to get on your plane.
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: You can, like that makes me a little bit happy,
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: like it shouldn't. But I'm just picturing people having to
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: call like the cab company like I did back in
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: twenty eleven.
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: They wouldn't be able to handle it.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: Of course, they wouldn't have the capacity to deal with
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: you couldn't call. Have I ever told my favorite cab
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: story about your home phone, of.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: Things that you're not home though, of things that you
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: just can't do anymore?
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: I think so.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: The first year that I had graduated from college, my
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: first job I ever had was for two days in Vermont,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: and I quit on my second day because I didn't
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: like it.
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: It was a job.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: I was a paralegal.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: I learned quickly what a billable hour was and determined
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: it was not for me. And so, nevertheless, the law firm,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: because they're good lawyers, they still paid me for the
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: two days of work because they're good lawyers. And so
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: I end up having to file a Vermont state tax
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: return for like, you know, one hundred and fifty dollars
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: of income or whatever it was. And I get an
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: eight dollars check from the State of Vermont because they had,
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: you know, withheld too much Vermont state taxes. So I'm
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: out one night in Boston. I'm, you know, a twenty
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: two year old kid. I've got no money, but I
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: need to take.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: A cab home. I literally walk up to this cab.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: I'm like, look, I don't have any money on me,
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: but I've got this eight dollars refund check from the
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: State of Vermont. Give me your name and I'll sign
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: it over to you so that I can pay for
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: the cab.
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: That and he took me, and he took me, and
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: I don't know if the check.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: Everyone was like deposited anywhere or not. But he took
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: me where I was going and took the check. And
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: you can't do that on a rideshare app. So like
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: we're missing that from our lives. But I just don't
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: think the world is positioned today for any kind of
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: extended drop in cellular service.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: And this is not a US thing.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: Only you go to China just as an example, every
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: single thing is run through web apps on your phone.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: All of your shop like everything is through them. Same
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: thing in Europe, Like you try to go anywhere in
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: Europe without a phone not feasible.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: So I am more convinced than ever.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: You know, Everyone's like, oh, think about how bad it
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: would be for the US if you took out the
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: power grid. Guys, you don't even need to do that.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: You take cell service down, it's a lot easier. We
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: can't function.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: It would take us months to develop workaround systems. Yeah. Months.
• 35:14
  Speaker 6: If you've been dreaming about a getaway that feels far
• 35:17
  Speaker 6: away but easy to get to, it's time to think
• 35:19
  Speaker 6: about the US, Virgin Islands, America's Caribbean. This is a
• 35:22
  Speaker 6: place where you can fall naturally in rhythm with the
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: heartbeat of the Islands, enjoy crystal clear water and powder
• 35:29
  Speaker 6: soft beaches, world class dining in unforgettable sunsets. And here's
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: the best part. Travels from New England is easy. The
• 35:36
  Speaker 6: US Virgin Islands are part of the United States, which
• 35:39
  Speaker 6: means no passport required and no money to exchange. Just
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: pack your bags and go. Spend your days snorkeling, sailing, hiking,
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: or simply relaxing by the water, and your evenings enjoying
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: local cuisine, live music in warm island breezes. Explore Saint Thomas,
• 35:55
  Speaker 6: Saint John and Saint Croix, three distinct islands, each with
• 35:59
  Speaker 6: its own vibe, its own flavor, in its own way
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: of helping you unplug and reset. Start planning your Caribbean
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: escape today. Visit USBI dot com discover why the US
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: Virgin Islands are America's Caribbean paradise. For more information and
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: to book your trip, head to visit USVII dot com.
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: That's visit USBI dot com. Also wanted to say, did
• 36:22
  Speaker 6: you see what Verizon offered everybody?
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: So this is the piece where I did get upset
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: so much like when YouTube TV didn't have access to
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: was it ABC or NBC?
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: Whoever? The heck it was. I'm not sure, but right
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: now who doesn't have access to whoever it was.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: They're like, oh, you can like log into like to
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: like put apply a credit to your account.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: Verizon's doing the same thing.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: They're like, we're going to identify who you know was
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: disrupted because of this, and then and then you're going
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: to be able to log onto the company app and
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: risk west twenty dollars bill and you know, apply the
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: credit to your account.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: I don't have the Verizon app.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Guys, if you know that I was affected, just apply
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: the freaking credit to my account. Like, don't make me
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: log in like a freaking hamster and be like ooh,
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: I got to jump through this soup and then I'm
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: gonna finally get the pellet that comes out of the
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: side of the container.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: What was the company that took down the internet last year? CrowdStrike?
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: No, uh, nope, no, no, no, it was cloud fair.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: Flair Flair fair Flair. What did they do? I think
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: they bought everybody like uber eats.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: Something like that. It was like there's like a five
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: dollars uber eats skips.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Or something like that.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, man, I gotta tell you just like the
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Internet out. It's brought to you by Uber eats.
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: Just a heartfelt apology, and you know, proving that you
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: won't do this again is going to be better received
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: than a twenty dollars statement credit.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: In my opinion, No, the twenty statement credits fine, just
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: don't make me log in to apply for it like steps.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Just just freaking give me the You have my social
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: Security number, you can give me the numbs. You have
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: my credit card on file. Just send me the money.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: It's not that hard. I have to pay for it
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: every month. I'm not a Verizon person.
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: I'm a Team T Mobile all the way. But uh
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: my goodness, what are we doing here? We're gonna We're gonna.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Give you money, but you have to ask for it. Yeah,
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: let me just beg for the twenty dollars.
• 38:17
  Speaker 5: Thanks.
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: Quick break here when we come back.
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: We got our two