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DHUnplugged #747: Bluffing and Pissing Matches

DHUnplugged Podcast
DHUnplugged Podcast
Episode • Apr 9 • 1h 4m
Tariffs are killing markets.

A glimpse int what happens when we take a difference course

Markets making some of the wort moves in decades

Billionaires - all in on Trump lost billions...

WAIT !!!!!! Maybe a 90-day pause on Tariffs now...Or Not...

More finesse, less sledge hammer?

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 Warm-Up
- Markets making some of the worst moves in decades
- Billionaires - all in on Trump lost billions...
- WAIT !!!!!! Maybe a 90-day pause on Tariffs now...Or Not...
- More finesse, less sledge hammer?

Markets
- Key Reversal Indicator - 1st Green cluster bottom on Monday.. Oversold?
- Stock markets slammed
- President Trump discussing stocks
- Economic Pissing Match - Even more tariffs, or bluffs
- VIX HITS 60!

-- A Quick Poem - Green Eggs and Navarro
--- One of the gents that responded to Vietnam's desire to have zero tariffs as "not enough"

DAX on Monday and other Markets
- Opened up down 10% - clawed back a bunch by end of the day
- European stocks down 1.5% YTD 2024
- US Stock bearing the brunt of the move
- Hong Kong (after being closed Friday) - closed Monday DOWN 13%!
- Monday in Japan, Markets halted, futures trading suspended as Nikkei and Topix plunge more than 5%
--- Follow up - then up 6% the next day
- Monday YTD US Markets:



Heads Up - Just in...
- Tuesday at 12:30PM
- 'White House Press Secretary says 104% additional tariffs went into effect at noon eastern time because China has not removed it's retaliation. The 104% additional tariff will be collected starting tomorrow April 9th' 
-Markets were trying to right themselves - up big to start the day - then this headline....
- What if  - China comes back at 200%?

More:
- Tuesday afternoon : White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt answers questions on trade at briefing: President Trump not considering delay in tariffs that are due to go into effect tomorrow at 12:01 AM
- Where is the negotiation? Seems like a pissing match or bluff with unlimited funds.

If you are interested
- Rand Paul making all sorts of sense this morning
- Trades are win-win. Trade does not mean that one side has to win and one lose.
- https://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/04/08/sen-rand-paul-on-trump-tariffs-trade-is-an-integral-part-of-capitalism.html

Stupid
- Taiwan's top financial regulator said on Sunday it will impose temporary curbs on short-selling of shares to help deal with potential market turmoil from U.S. President Donald Trump's new import tariffs, and will take other steps as needed.
- Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement it would limit the number of shares that can be sold short and raise the minimum short-selling margin ratio to 130% from 90%, starting from Monday and lasting until Friday.
- We have seen how this plays out in the past.

More references to bluffing
- "I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation, because they're playing with a pair of twos," Bessent said during an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "What do we lose by the Chinese raising tariffs on us? We export one-fifth to them of what they export to us, so that is a losing hand for them."

VIX
- Hits 60 on Monday - then backs off to 45
- Not often we see a run like that.
- Still at 45 shows big concerned about near-term volatility.
--- S&P 500 top to bottom 7% move today - VIX was at 37 - back to 52

BREAK - IBKR

Billionaires losing $$
- Do we feel bad?
- Sample of losses on Liberation Day
- Zuck lost $18B
- Bezos lost $15B

What?
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Americans looking to retire aren’t concerned about day...

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