Today we’re left to pick up the pieces after Bloody Wednesday.

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 17 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks “were mixed Wednesday, with the Nasdaq dropping sharply as techs came under dual pressure from worries about US export curbs on China and Donald Trump's stance on Taiwan. The blue-chip Dow, meanwhile, quietly closed at another record high.” (Yahoo! Finance)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield was “little changed on Wednesday as investors considered the state of the economy and outlook for interest rates." (CNBC)

+Oil “climbed about 2% on Wednesday on a bigger-than-expected weekly drop in U.S. crude stockpiles and as a weaker U.S. dollar overshadowed signs of lower economic growth in China.” (Reuters)

+Bitcoin “reversed early gains during the U.S. trading session on Wednesday with bitcoin (BTC) dipping below $64,000 as a broad-market equity sell-off weighed on the digital asset market.” (Coindesk)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Nvidia-6.6%2) TSMC -7.9%3) Visa +1.2%

The market moves you need to know about…

–Spirit took its lumps on Wednesday following a securities filing that indicated it’s about to drop an absolutely dreadful earnings report. Shares fell10.7% on the day.

– Welp, that didn’t take long. Donny Politics is already back to moving markets. TSMCfell7.9% after the former President told a reporter that Taiwan should “pay us for defense.”

– Things you don’t want a company in your portfolio doing: disrupting rich people’s summer plans. Debris from a wind turbine blade began washing up on a Nantucket beach yesterday. That prompted the government to suspend operations on the Vineyard Winds offshore wind turbine project. Shares of GE Vernova, the maker of the turbines that led to beach closures on the island, fell9.2% on the day.

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Investors: *curled up in a ball in the shower, weeping uncontrollably*

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq just had a worse day than the head of the Secret Service.

Here’s the part where I tell you exactly how bad it was…

The Nasdaq fell 2.8%, which was its worst day since 2022. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 lost 1.4% and the Dow managed to eke out a gain.

So wtf happened?

Looking at you, chip stocks. Nvidia (-6.6%) had its worst day since… 2020. And AMD (-10.2%) and Broadcom (-7.9%) fared even worse.

Ok, but why did chip stocks get rekt?

Well, for starters, investors are rotating out of the tech sector (something about it being “overbought”) as the odds that rate cuts are inbound rise.

Oh, and rumor has it that the Biden administration is considering more restrictions on semiconductor companies doing business in China. The White House is threatening to crack down further on companies exporting America’s most advanced chips to our Asian adversaries.

The fear? Chips (well, the useful AI kind, at least) will be even harder to sell to China. Friendly reminder: this is in addition to other restrictions that only allow the likes of Nvidia to sell certain, less powerful chips to our enemies.

+Remember that time AMC bought a stake in an actual goldmine? Well, this isn’t quite as big of a head-scratcher, but it’s close…

EssilorLuxottica (-4.5%), the maker of Ray-Bans and pretty much every other sunglasses brand you’d find at the Hut (think: Sunglass, not Pizza), bought streetwear brand Supreme from VF Corp. (+13.5%) for $1.5B (VF bought it for $2.1B… oof). It’s the eyewear maker’s first acquisition of an apparel company… and caught pretty much everyone by surprise.

But, that wasn’t even Essilor’s most questionable investment decision of the day…

It also took an 80% stake in *double checks notes* Heidelberg Engineering. For those of you unfamiliar with the German engineering sector, Heidelberg specializes in ophthalmic diagnostic solutions, whatever the hell that actually means.

+ “All gas, no brakes.” - the American people

According to Adobe Analytics (always boggles my mind that this is the same company that makes PDFs), shoppers spent $7.2B online during the first day of Prime Day. To put things in perspective, consumers spent $12.7B across both Prime Days last year…

+ Darden (+1.4% // -0.9% after hours) has got a fever and the only prescription is another sad excuse of an ethnic cuisine chain restaurant…

The owner of Olive Garden just went all “when you’re here, you’re family” to Chuy’s. It’s buying the Tex-Mex chain for $605M.

+Mortgage refinance demand jumps to a 2-year-high, as interest rates drop.Cannot wait to lock in at 6.87%.

+Top 5 Alternative Investments for Real Estate Investors in 2024.Spoiler: 1st edition Charizard is #2.

🔥‘Massive’ housing bubble about to burst in this US region, warns a real estate expert — see where.

⏩ Today we’re keeping an eye on…

+ TSMC, Blackstone, and Dominos report before the bell

+The European Central Bank drops its policy statement

+Netflix announces earnings after the close

Yesterday, I asked, “Are you a Zynner?”

67.5% of you were a hard pass.

Here’s today’s question…

We’re balls deep in Prime Day(s)…

This new College Football game is too realistic…

Landlord’s worst nightmare…

Oh, and one more thing…

Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?

No, it’s the face of an individual who is financially irresponsible/dumb enough to be talked into spending money on a family photo shoot that he could have just done with his iPhone. So, act accordingly...

This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.