DHUnplugged #820: Gullible Markets

Howie Mandel Negotiations with Iran….Deal or No Deal?

Robot Soldiers – new and exciting.

30-Year Bond Mayhem and gullible markets.

So much economic news coming up – let’s dig in.

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Warm-Up

- Closest to The Pin???????????

- Howie Mandel Negotiations with Iran....Deal or No Deal?

- Robot Soldiers - new and exciting

Markets

- 30-Year Bond Mayhem! Alliteration or Tautogram?

- This week in Economics - plenty to come

- What is wrong with Nike?

- How gullible can markets be?

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GAME: IS IT AN ALLITERATION OR TAUTOGRAM

----- Alliteration: The repetition of the same initial sound in neighboring words (for example, "big bad bears").

-------Tautogram: A strict form of alliteration where all words in a phrase or sentence begin with the identical letter

- Which is it? ::: Bessent's Big Bond Blunder Backfired!

How about this? Brash Billionaire Bessent’s Botched Big Bond Blunder Backfired Bitterly!

THIS WEEK IN ECONOMIC NEWS...............

TUESDAY - THE CONSUMER AND JOB OPENINGS

- Consumer confidence and August job openings arrive at 10 AM ET.

- Watch whether households are getting more worried about prices and whether employers are still hiring.

WEDNESDAY - INFLATION AND SPENDING

- August PCE inflation, personal income and spending arrive at 8:30 AM ET, alongside updated second-quarter GDP figures.

- The key question: is spending holding up while inflation stays elevated?

THURSDAY - FACTORY CHECK

- September ISM manufacturing arrives at 10 AM ET. Watch new orders, employment and prices paid for signs that growth and inflation are pulling in different directions.

FRIDAY - THE BIG ONE

- September payrolls, unemployment and wages arrive at 8:30 AM ET.

- The current forecast is about 100,000 jobs and 4.1% unemployment, down from August's 162,000 job gain.

FAST FOOD'S SQUEEZE

- McDonald's CEO expects elevated inflation and flat restaurant traffic to persist. US same-store sales rose just 0.8% last quarter as visits fell.

- McDonald's plans $8.5 billion in support for restaurant upgrades through 2036, betting better operations and value offers can win back customers.

-- Wendy's faces its own traffic problem and plans to close up to roughly 350 underperforming US restaurants in 2026.

-- Meritage Hospitality Group, a franchisee operating 314 Wendy's locations, filed for bankruptcy protection on September 17. Wendy's itself did not file.

- The common problem: customers are visiting less often while food, labor and restaurant costs remain high.

- La Vie on Saturday ($36 Mezza Plate!)

MCD CHART

AMERICA.GOV

- AI for all Americans!

- Did you see the images?

CHINA'S AI LABS BORROW CLAUDE

- Anthropic accused several Chinese AI labs of extracting Claude's capabilities to train competing models.

- Alibaba allegedly generated more than 151 million Claude exchanges.

- Moonshot generated more than 23 million; DeepSeek more than 12 million.

- Some customer prompts were allegedly routed through Claude without users knowing.

- Anthropic tightened verification and account controls in response.

$5,000 MIDTERM PROMISE

- Trump promised $5,000 to every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain Congress.

- A universal payment would cost well above $1 trillion.

- He told voters to "pretend that I'm on the ballot."

- No detailed funding mechanism or legislative structure was presented.

ROBOT SOLDIERS

- Chinese military researchers are studying humanoid robots for battlefield use.

- Possible roles include reconnaissance, logistics, infiltration and urban combat.

- One study modeled six robots clearing a building alongside human troops.

- China produced about 95% of global humanoid shipments in 2025.