The latest episode of the investing podcast DH Unplugged, titled 'The Doldrums,' arrives on August 18, 2026, with a summer news flow that refuses to sit still. Despite the seasonal lull implied by the title, co-hosts Andrew Horowitz and John C. Dvorak argue that every headline is being amplified as investors try to decide whether all-time highs are sustainable or setting up a reversal. From strategic oil reserves at 10% of prior levels, to Michael Burry's fresh top call, to Nvidia's audacious new financing scheme, the episode maps a market that hates itself but keeps climbing.
Horowitz and Dvorak work through a dense docket of market-moving stories. Michael Burry, of 'The Big Short' fame, is warning of a possible 1987-style drop while shorting Palantir, Nvidia, and Tesla via options. Nvidia has announced preliminary agreements with Apollo, BlackRock, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to mobilize $500 billion for AI infrastructure. Etsy is cutting 220 jobs (roughly 12% of staff) while authorizing a $2 billion buyback. Chipotle's salmonella outbreak is tied to jalapenos, and Sweetgreen faces a Taylor Farms disaster. Eli Lilly's Mounjaro brought in $9.94B and Zepbound $4.93B in quarterly sales.
The show's signature blend of skepticism and humor runs throughout. On the endless parade of bearish forecasts, Horowitz observes: 'Markets live much more in the all-time high range than in the all-time lows. In fact, very difficult, if not impossible, for the markets to hit an all-time low.' Dvorak counters with a lens on Jensen Huang's strategy at Nvidia, noting, 'it's more important to be depended on than to be profitable,' and warning that a Nvidia unwind could combine 1999 enthusiasm with 2007 financialization at far greater magnitude.
The deeper dive lands on Nvidia's move to make compute an investable asset class. Horowitz and Dvorak explain how hyperscaler depreciation schedules collide with Nvidia's accelerating product cycle, and why collateralizing compute (rather than the underlying silicon) is Jensen Huang's answer to nervous financiers. This development could have significant implications for the AI industry, as it may enable massive infrastructure investments without traditional balance sheet constraints, potentially reshaping how AI projects are funded and scaled.
Elsewhere, they unpack Berkshire Hathaway's first net-buyer quarter in 14 quarters under Greg Abel, a new 15% tariff on polysilicon solar imports, drone tariffs benefiting Unusual Machines (UMAC), Donald Trump Jr.'s stake in that name, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Trump-flavored superlatives, and the still-unrecovered 18-karat gold toilet ripped from Blenheim Palace.
The episode is available now at dhunplugged.com and wherever podcasts are heard, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. As investors navigate a market that continues to climb despite warnings, the insights from Horowitz and Dvorak provide a valuable perspective on the forces driving today's financial landscape.
