Hey, welcome to the market hang. I'm

Dandy Franchesco. We got a full house

today. We got Gus and Mark in studio,

Nancy and David remote. So, a bunch of

really smart good investors and me. So,

this will be great. Um, but let's start

with obviously the market. Uh, you know,

S&P nearing records, NASDAQ up super

high, yields finally coming back a

little bit. Um, but still this question

of, you know, are we close to this edge?

Should we be nervous or not? And um

Mark, I want to start with you. Uh you

had an interesting blog or a newsletter

the other day where you had the great

line, the stock market is wearing

noiseancelling headphones, which I just

love. And for the record, always go

transparency mode. Never go full noise

cancelling. It's very dangerous out

there, people. But I'd love for you to

kind of expand a little bit on that and

uh what you're seeing in the market and

what the the risk that the rest of us

maybe aren't.

>> Yeah. I mean, I think that's the

challenge of the day for all of us,

right? So, we've all been trained over

the years to worry about yields going up

and up and up and up. And they weren't

going up and up and up over the years.

And then 2022 happened, 2023 happened,

and we all learned that when yields go

up, sometimes stocks go down. And so,

both bonds and stocks can go down at the

same time. So, we're at this crazy crazy

situation where we see these yields

right on the longer end of the yield

curve that we haven't seen since 2002.

And some people that are probably

watching us right now weren't even

involved in the market at the time.

>> Weren't even alive. Maybe

>> weren't even alive. I was there. Um so,

you know, that is the big challenge. So,

the question is is, you know, we see uh

stocks, as you said, all-time highs. Um

and of course, these super high bond

yields. Question is is, you know, when

is the stock market going to realize

that or is the stock market going to

realize? One of the two has got to be

right. It's usually the bond market that

usually wins out

>> always. But so far that's the big

question right now. And so right now not

all stocks,

>> some stocks, right? That's the that's

the big challenge here. It's not all

stocks. The indexes are doing well.

>> Sure. So

>> right now the

>> I think that's where you got it wrong

though. Like everyone says that it's the

equity market guys versus the bond

market guys and it's always like, "Oh

yeah, the bond guys are the smartest

guys in the room." I had equities here,

so I take umbrage at that. But I think

the equity guys have been right over the

past few years. All right. I just think

that the bond market and the equity

market, they're just focusing on two

completely different things. They're not

conflicting at all. I think the equity

markets, they're focusing more on

profitability and overall economic

growth, while the bond market, it's kind

of changed its focus from monetary to

fiscal policy. And you've seen the term

premium go up to about 70 to 80 basis

points right now. So, I don't think

they're saying something different.

They're just focusing something

completely opposite. Well, David, I'm

glad you chimed in here because I wanted

to pull up a a tweet from it's a little

ways back, but it sounds like you're

kind of still holding the same position,

which is you said in an interview, you

know, the biggest risk investors have

right now is not being risky enough,

right? You can see it right there. You

know, kind of risk on. Is that I know

that was, you know, back September 15th,

so obviously things have changed a

little bit in the past almost month, but

is that still the position? It's it's

time to be risk no matter what.

>> Yeah, my position has not changed

whatsoever. I mean, that's a question

we're getting a ton right now. Like,

hey, should we start to own more fixed

income than equities? And I I think that

is the absolute wrong decision because

when you live in kind of the fiscal

backdrop that we have when you're, you

know, printing money, running a 6%

deficit as a percentage of GDP, when you

have the debt problem that you have

right now, like if you own just fixed

income, you're just losing money safely.

I mean, there's so much debasement of

your capital. Even with nominal rates at

5%, if you look at tips, they're closer

to 2.7%. I think the inflation rate on

that number is much higher. I think

you're just kind of setting yourself up

for mediocrity moving forward if you

continue to own fixed coupon payment

vehicles. And that's why I think, you

know, the only game in town continues to

be stocks.

>> Yeah. I mean, you see the big board

here. Lot lot of big numbers, lot of

green. But Gus, Nancy, I'd love to bring

you in here. What kind of side do you

fall on?

>> Well, I think you have to look at why

rates are going higher. You had a supply

shock, right? oil's gone higher that

maybe comes to a head say 6 12 months

whatever it is you end up having no

strong growth and that's something else

that you have to look at right so you

have strong growth um also we just

talked about the oil you talk about you

know underlying inflation I'm looking at

labor kind of holding in we're looking

at you know the price of housing which

has kind of stayed also you know based

in a level that doesn't look like it's

inflationary and then the third thing is

you're looking at goods inflation and

that's where part of the problem is and

I think the interest rate increase that

we have is something that isn't going to

affect all of the investment that's

being made in AI that's already from

free cash flow coming from maybe a lot

of the hyperscalers and some borrowing

so we're in a position where if I look

at that it's not inflation debasement

you know like it was in the 70s or early

80s as I remember um but you're looking

at an environment where interest rates

are up but markets are growing pretty

substantially and they're moving higher

we started the year at around 320 and in

terms of what earnings are going to be

>> or you know and now we're we're

somewhere in that 260 270 and next year

we're looking at 420,

>> right?

>> So yeah, we're discounting that.

>> Nancy, what about you? Where do you come

in on this?

>> Yeah. So, um I'm I'm just going to say

ditto [laughter]

and then add some color. Um well, first

of all, stocks are cheaper now than they

were at the beginning of the year. Uh so

so that's important. We've seen multiple

compression. uh we're expected to see

somewhere between 30 32 33% earnings

growth in Q3. Uh and and and that's

going to be looking backwards. So what

we're going to be focused on is

guidance. But I think importantly I I

was managing I may be the oldest person

in the group but I was managing money in

the '9s. Uh we had higher interest rates

tenure was between 5 and 8% that

coexisted quite nicely with robust stock

returns. It matters why and how quickly

yields rise. And I think for me it looks

to me like a return on capital trades.

So if I can borrow at five five and a

half% and I can uh get a return of 20, I

should be doing that as a corporate CEO

all day long. Uh and and so for me rates

are um I mean I don't want to sound even

older than I am, but they are

normalizing. My first mortgage was 12

a.5% so we sort of cut our teeth on

higher interest rates. I don't think the

problem with mortgage rates is that

they're at seven plus percent. It's that

they've they're being compared to 2 and

3%. But if you step back and say, is

this a reasonable um amount to pay for

debt? I would argue the answer is yes.

And I think that's why stocks continue

to drive higher. And if you just look

since the Fed hiked rates, best

performing group is technology. Yeah. uh

counterintuitive because I don't think

the economy is slowing, but I think it's

part of um I still want to own earnings

growers even in a growing environment.

So, uh we're bullish. We've been um

we've been right, thank goodness, but uh

it it's been it was a challenging

summer. Yeah, let's just

>> Nancy, you bring up such a good point

with the rates because as someone that

bought a house uh a little over a year

ago, right, having to stomach, you know,

you know, at that time we got a little

over 6%. It sucks, right, when your

friends are like, "I'm on two and a

half. I'm on three and a half." But it's

kind of one of those things like it's

old the you ever seen this show,

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, like it's

over. Find a new show. Like those days

are gone. And I and I do agree that we

need to understand the context of like

just because what once was doesn't mean

what will be. Um so I I think that is

good. Now obviously the big thing coming

down the pipe is earnings. That's kind

of been the big bell weather for the

stock market. Does anyone you know the

what's what is that the one thing that

could slow it down and and you Nancy you

talked about projections that's going to

be the big focus. What's the the the red

flag that people are nervous about as

these companies start reporting?

>> I think the outlook

>> it's margins I think. Oh sorry I thought

that was me. Margin

>> margin. Okay.

>> Um you you saw the micro report uh 80

you know they're only going to generate

86% margins and the market was

horrified. So, I I think that's going to

be where the critical focus is going to

be. We're near um I we're at highs for

operating margins. So, um we'll be

watching that as well, but I I think the

market needs to sit back and and as Mark

might say, put the noise cancelling

headphones on because an 86% margin for

micron is is it's it's tolerable for me

as an investor.

>> Sure, Gus.

>> Ditto ditto on that. But the other

thing, right [laughter] back at you,

Nancy, the the other thing I wanted to

say is it's going to be the conference

calls

>> because you're hearing about in Texas

[clears throat]

and in Virginia the two biggest areas

for data centers, you know, some

slowdown potentially, but you also have

in Texas, I know they're going through

audits in terms of energy usage. So, are

you going to get allocated? Are you

going to have some sort of a delay? Are

things going to back up at all? And that

puts a question mark into the AI trade

which then flows down into industrials

and some other players that might not,

you know, have the computing power or

things that they need to in institute AI

in the fast way that they're expecting

to.

>> Sure. David, anything? Gus market. I got

I got one. You know Gus Mark and N like

debunk my theory here because you know I

was just talking about some clients the

other day and obviously we're going to

see some type of growth slowdown. And to

NY's point we've seen overall valuations

of the market go down from 22 times to

start the year to 19 times to start the

year. I think everyone wants to say it's

like rates that is bringing valuation

down. I think it's the index becoming

more you know asset heavy and less free

cash flow centric. So if we know you

know if growth is going to come down or

we just see the hyperscalers start to

grow less I think everyone thinks that

the market is going to fall apart. But I

would actually disagree and this might

be a hot take. I think that valuation

has already come down enough that if you

see the hyperscalers you know spend less

on capex their overall free cash flow is

going to go you know higher which while

earnings may hurt earn earnings may hurt

overall return I think pro I think

overall valuation can actually go higher

and I think that can really insulate the

market if hypers scale or capex does

slow down

>> but will it slow down right I mean you

know muse just came out and talked about

charm and all these other things that

they're coming out it seems like the the

the status quo has been plowing more and

more money in. It doesn't feel like

there's going to be a pullback because

it's this frantic race that if if I pull

back that means I'm going to lose that

much more in this race, right?

>> I don't um here. Sure. Um Mark, why

don't you, you know, um chime in here as

far as kind of where your position is.

>> Yeah. First, I feel like I have to sort

of

>> I have to remind Yeah. Like, okay. No,

no, I'm not throwing cold water. I just

made have to make myself clear. Uh I'm

very constructive on equities, okay?

because you know I came out of the I

came hot out of the gate with the bonds.

Okay, I'm just saying I am watching

rates very very closely. Rates I do

believe we have to watch we do have to

watch interest rates, right? So I do

believe the earnings growth at least for

the next 12 to 18 months is going to

continue. Of course it'll be bumpy. We

too just like uh just like Nancy, we're

watching uh margins uh very very

closely. That might be some of the early

sort of signs that things are getting

tough. Look, even if things are bad,

they're still so much better than they

have been historically. There are still

great thesis to own most of these,

especially in the tech sector, uh,

specifically in the AI ecosystem. The

the fundamentals are really, really

strong in terms of valuations, etc.

However, again, I hate to be that, you

know, that guy. A lot of these

hyperscalers and a lot of these

companies are relying more and more on

debt. Okay? Um, you can't just turn that

spigot off. They're all needing that

capital right now. Um, and by the way,

oh, we're talking about debt, okay? That

means if yields are going up, that debt

is becoming a little bit more expensive.

I'm not saying it's going to crash the

party, uh, and everything's going to

repric and it's going to be bad. It's

just something that we have to watch

carefully, right? They don't exist, both

of them, in separate, uh, in separate

categories, right? You say you're an

equity guy, I'm an equity guy. Um, but

that said, you know, equity guys have to

see what's happening over the nerds on

the bond desk. And so, you know, I

learned early on to pay attention to

what the bond guys are up to. And then I

learned that, oh, they're the guys at

the repo desk that sit like in the

basement with the stock loan guys.

That's where you really find out what's

going on. Um, and so, you know, it's

just all about sort of these things

which were, I think, for many years kind

of detached. They're just becoming more

and more attached. And so, like I said,

I don't think the bond market's going to

crash the equity market. Uh, but it's

definitely something we got to watch,

right? So, I mean, it's definitely it's

got its finger on the pulse of a lot of

what's going on in the economy right

now. I think a lot of the economic data

that we're seeing, which is a little bit

backward looking, is not really very

helpful in looking, you know, the macro

data, not very helpful in looking at

stocks at this point. We're looking

very, very closely at stocks. But there

is a point there is a point where you

know if if this things start to happen

with consumption uh with all these other

areas that kind of we all laugh at now

right because stocks just keep going up

and up and up and up and you know look

um again you know you could have been

you could I don't want to make fun of

equity people

>> but you know you made fun enough about

people I think we can get

>> I you know I know a lot of fantastic you

know equity people who just you know

bought equities what everyone was buying

and did very very well. You know, bond

people, it's much more difficult, right?

Right. Because there's so many

challenges in making money with bonds.

Um that

>> Go ahead, Nancy.

>> Well, I'm I was just going to jump in

and I I wanted to get them

[clears throat] going. [laughter]

>> Got you. Got you. Pulled them in the

bait. You grab the bait.

>> Bonds and equities. So, I'm not just

single-minded. And I think there's this

notion that if you're bullish, you're

not as smart as the bears because the

bears can tell you everything that's

wrong. I I can tell you too. Um I I

refer to our head bond trader as the as

the worry wart. I mean he he can tell

you everything that po that can possibly

go wrong. But that's not how markets

trade. And so I think what's different

now and it hasn't been easy, Mark. I

mean this year's been a slog. And I

think you know you can say well yeah the

indices are up but below the surface

most stocks are are down. And so I I

think what you have to do when you're

thinking about it is is there

skepticism? There is a lot of

skepticism. That's good for the

sustainability of a bull market. We had

zero skepticism in the '9s and it was

just euphoria all the time. So I I know

what you're saying. It the party will

end. Growth will decelerate at some

point, but if you're three years early

or two years early on that bet, you

leave a lot of your clients money on the

table. So the dance is you got to keep

keep in the game and figure out how to

rotate.

>> Yeah, Nancy, you're so right because

even if you're right, you can still be

wrong if you don't capture all of those

gains. It's and and to your point on

the, you know, the bomb people being

super smart, it is easy to if you

continually just call the end of the

world and the end of the world never

comes, people kind of forget about the

one time it hits, you're like, "Oh,

well, the guy hit it, so perfect." You

know, so I I definitely see your your

point. Uh sorry, it looked like you

wanted to

>> can only end once, though. But hey Dan,

I think I think Mark gave the the the

Yahoo headline quote of the day there.

Bond guys, they're nerds and he's 100%

>> guys. We're crushing our [laughter] bond

audience right now.

>> So if we look at if we look at the

banks, they're going to be reporting in

another week and you're going to get,

you know, an outlook. So what's

happening in terms of net interest

margin? Bad debt. And I think that's

going to look okay. The question is

going to be six and 12 months from now

because you ended up having a lot of

software that ended up getting put on

the books in terms of loans that have to

be re-uped and they were done at much

lower prices. You're talking about

housing and your friends at 3%. Well,

you also have companies that have that

same situation.

>> Sure. Sure. And well, sorry. Go ahead.

Yeah.

>> No, just the outlooks that we're going

to get from the banks, they're great

barometers for the economy. So, where do

they see things? So, you're going to get

an answer really quickly in terms of

where the positioning should be.

>> Yes. I will also say though there is the

whole private credit world right which

is that's what we won't get the view of

and that's where you know maybe the

>> well you will tangentially you got 250

billion that was put into software

during 2001 2002

>> right

>> so that has to come up for uh you know

for refinancing

>> that's a that's [clears throat] a

valuation problem there not not a debt

problem there on that side of the

>> Sure yeah and and tech debt as a

percentage of the total debt outstanding

is like 8% u so I think yes they've been

issuing a lot of debt, but there's 38%

of the S&P plus or minus. Um, so, so I

think we have to keep that in mind. And

then also remembering that some of

that's dry powder for buybacks.

>> Uh, and and that that's important

because that puts a floor under the

market as well. So, there's an

insatiable uh in the shadow banking

system as it's called, there's an

insatiable demand for corporate debt uh

and and in particular technology debt.

So the private pension plans, the uh I'm

sorry, the insurance companies, the

state-run pension plans, they can't get

enough. I love it because they're like

low risk, but they leverage all the

debt. So

>> I want to throw

>> Would any of you guys on this call

though say that the private credit side

of things is going to be the one thing

that's going to make this house of cards

collapse right now?

>> I don't think so at this point. I think

you got time if you know to see how

things play out and you're going to

start getting revenue coming through,

right? because a lot of the AI that's

being that was put in place a year ago,

year and a half ago are starting to see

revenues being generated whether it's

anthropic in their um you know in their

10Q or I'm sorry their K's um saying you

know we're looking at I think two

billion uh in terms of revenues that are

coming through. So you know there is a

time uh as time goes on we're going to

start seeing cash flows and and monies

come in to pay down that debt and expand

what they're doing currently. I think

with the uh David to your point about

the private credit what maybe worries me

or gets me a little nervous is you know

a couple years ago when obviously rates

spike it becomes the very hot thing on

Wall Street right priv everyone wants to

get in private credit it's the hottest

job to get into um so you know sure

those those top tier right debt that

kind of lands in private credit I think

that will ultimately be fine but like as

you kind of go down the totem pole and

more and more people want to get

involved where does that debt land

what's the underwriting process you know

I mean what was it Jamie Diamond

famously called it the cockroaches,

right? So, so when does that come to

fruition and how have those cockroaches

been nesting and and how big does that

get? Maybe it's only a small pile of it

and it's something that the market can

absorb or maybe it's a lot bigger. I

mean, the big issue with private credit

is that it's private and to NY's point,

it's shadow, so we don't really have a

full sense of it, but that's where I I

get a little bit uneasy.

>> Yeah, it's just a black box at 2. That's

why people are afraid, but you know,

it's still just a $2.2 two trillion

dollar industry. So it's not huge in in

the grand scheme of things. And

obviously the software is going to be

where the quoteunquote problem children

are going to be. Not on the top end,

especially like the more vertically

integrated companies, it's might be down

the wrongs, but if you look at I think

Goldman stats put this statistic out

there. It's like of all those loans on

PC for software companies like the loan

to value on those loans is like 30 or

40%. So I think that's just what

everyone's expected to be. I don't think

it it's going to be a problem actually

at all. moving forward in the future

because the interest coverage ratios

they have on there is like two 3x. So

it's more of the valuation problem than

the the debt repayment problem.

>> Right. Mark riding in my seat. I'm

riding in my seat. You know I keep

getting sucked back into that vortex of

I don't want to be the fixed income guy.

I don't want to be that guy. I want to

join the bandwag. I am long all these

stocks that everyone else is long. I

love this stuff. Let your real colors

fly. I have been pedal to the metal. I

have been pedal to the metal and just to

be clear, I'm not saying the world is

coming to an end tomorrow. Look, we get

paid to make investments, right? That

that's what we do. Um, and you know,

look on Wall Street and I've been doing

this for a minute. Um, you know, you

learn early on that, you know, you take

advantage of an opportunity investment,

you do it until you can't do it anymore,

right? And that investment right now is

very real and really, really good. It's

really solid. The thesis on a lot of

these stocks that we all own probably

sitting here today is super strong. I've

never seen such a strong environment as

I'm seeing today. I like to tell people

it's like this. You know, you look out,

you're on the at the beach or on the

lake at Lake Tahoe and you look out on

the water, although you don't have this

problem in lakes, but on the beach we

have this problem. You look out the

beautiful you see a beautiful blue sea

>> and some people they just jump right

into the water and they swim because

it's beautiful. other people like me,

the what is it? The worry wart bond guy.

I know that there's sharks under that

water and I have to know because that's

who I am. What sharks are lurking under

the water. I still swim. I still swim.

I'm not saying don't go and swim, but

I'm telling you that there are sharks

and I like to know what's out there. How

big are they? How many teeth do they

have? You know, how do I avoid them?

That's really it. Okay, so I made that

clear. Yeah. Now, let me just say with

regard to, you know, I don't think it's

prudent to ignore that fixed income and

bonds and borrowing and debt, um, we

can't ignore that even companies that

historically would not use that part of

their balance sheet to raise money are

doing it, right? Companies that don't

necessarily need to, but they are using

fixed income to finance data center

buildouts prudently, right? Because that

you learn that in corporate finance.

That's how you raise money to do those

types of projects, project finance.

However, it's getting to the point where

some of these companies which we are

investing in to plow money into R&D,

they're spending a lot of money on

building infrastructure. They're

starting to look like utilities. We're

treating them like they're innovators,

but they're starting to their balance

sheets are starting to look more and

more like traditional utilities, right?

And so that said, again, I'm not calling

an end to the party or anything like

that, but I'm saying that if the places

that I'm looking to see where there

might be a problem coming, I'm thinking

if it's going to start to fall apart,

it's going to start with the fixed

income side. You're going to start to

see some problems and then once the

oxygen leaves the room, um and and then

then there's investor sentiment that

will play a big factor into it. That's

not going to affect their ability to

make money.

>> Yeah. But it's [clears throat] not like

you can just turn these facilities off

overnight. You still have to pay those

bonds back.

>> I'm I'm waiting for David to come in

with stats about shark attacks now. They

only happen like once every

>> They don't have sharks in Lake Tahoe, do

they? No sharks in Lake Tahoe.

>> Just I'm going to I'm a big newsletter

writer.

>> Huh?

>> I'm a newsletter writer just like you,

Mark. And my newsletter theme over the

past quarter was Dolly Parton. And she

has all these like Dollyisms. And one of

them was like, if you want the rainbow,

you got to put up with the rain. So, I

think we recognize that there's a ton of

rain. I don't think we're going to see

the cracks on the fixed income market

first. What I would actually look for on

the equity side of things, I think there

needs to be a bifurcation on the AI

winners because there's so many

perceived AI winners on the equity side,

specifically on in the small cap

universe, that don't that are that

basically the non-earners out there. uh

they have in financial technical terms a

crap ton of debt on their balance sheets

and I think you're going to see cracks

in that area of the market first and you

haven't seen that just yet.

>> So I think go ahead spread

>> go ahead.

>> I was just going to say wouldn't it it

it really hasn't shown up in spreads.

>> Um and I think that's something that we

all look at uh as a as an indicator. It

always has historically right.

>> So I mean it that's not to say it can't

and I I think we actually all agree. Um,

it's it's just been enjoyable to watch

Mark squirm. [laughter]

>> Mark, I'm going to put the one I want I

want to hear from everybody here quick

about their take, but Mark, I'm going to

start with you. We do at Business

Insider, we do a quarterly thing where

to invest $10,000 right now. Mark was

nice enough to participate. Next time,

we're going to get all four of you

involved. But, uh, Mark, again, I don't

need to I don't need to paint more of a

picture, but something in the article.

So, where if you had $10,000 right now,

where would you invest it? So, okay. I

You caught me at a very weak point.

[laughter] All right. And And I'm

squirming right now, Nancy. I am.

>> What's the end of Fight Club? You caught

me at a very interesting point in my

life. You call Mark at a very

interesting point in his life.

>> They did. Uh, you know, I was watching

yields, you know, longer yields going up

and up and up, and I'm like, "Okay, you

know, look, maybe it's prudent to like

put a little bit of fixed income in a

portfolio of $10,000, right?" Um, you

know, I'm still I I still tilted heavy

into AI. I still I still like the S&P,

right? I still like these types of

things. So, but I thought maybe a little

prudent to buy a little bit of of uh

fixed income here at these levels, but

not a small allocation. And um just to

be fair, and I did say, and I'm going to

be honest, right, you could check me on

this, right? I did say, let's put a

little bit in bills, right? Tea bills.

But why? I put them there because if the

market pulls back, I want to have some

dry powder. And I think that's a great

place to put your money right now. You

could just take it out. The yields on

the on, you know, on this uh year and

under paper are very attractive. And

again, it's the nicest way. You know,

you you never got paid this much to hold

cash. I'm not saying go to cash,

>> but I'm saying that this is an

opportunity to buy the pullbacks. We've

been buying all the dips,

>> right?

>> So, that's really why I did to protect

myself.

>> All right. All right. You're off,

>> but you could kill me for the bonds.

>> Plus, what about you? Where do you come

out on $10,000? Where are you investing

right now? I think you want to look

where choke points are for AI and you

want to invest in those areas as well as

the leaders in AI. So those are part of

it and you end up having companies that

have been investing in this and are

starting to see the benefits whether

it's banks from looking at industrial

companies I have an energy company

that's supplying 5 gawatts of energy to

to behind the meter they call it types

of companies. So you can't get power the

guys in Texas we're talking about now

all of a sudden you flip a switch 18

months you're able to get you know your

power plant going. So, okay,

>> those are the things.

>> Choke points. Got it. Nancy, what about

you?

>> Uh, $10,000. Huh.

>> Yes.

>> Yeah. I think I would um I' I'd put it

in the cues for now. Um I I just think

you get broad diversification. Uh you

don't get all the choke points, but you

get most of the names that are going to

succeed. And I think I didn't know what

the time horizon was, but if it's fourth

quarter, that's where I'd put it.

>> Okay. And then David, what about you?

Where are you landing? I'm going 99%

beta between the S&P 500 and the Q's,

but you know, Mark said he wanted dried

powder in case the market pulled back.

I'd rather on that last 1% in long

volatility in low delta put options. So,

you know, he basically puts guard rails

on the portfolio. If you get a pullback

in the market, you know, you can

capitalize on the gains from the put

that have that be the dry capital to go

out there and buy the dip.

>> Gotcha. All right. So, we're talking a

lot about AI and let's kind of bring in

some of the pricing pressure that we're

seeing. And so there was a report about

Microsoft slashing its internal cloud

spending. Um you know that also came a

couple weeks ago when chat when openi

announced chat GBT's uh premier tier

subscription is going up. We also just

broadly have anthropic and openai

looking to go public right they want to

get their financials in order. So I

think we're seeing some of the AI

companies right increase some of their

subscription models. Maybe some of the

users pulling back in some areas. So I

wonder, you know, I've used this term in

in my own newsletter, chatbot monogamy,

right? This idea of um from the AI

companies, they want to go deeper with a

client, whether it's an enterprise or a

person, right? Muse wants everything.

They want all of your details. Um and

then from a user perspective, is it

really realistic for me to manage a

bunch of different subscriptions? We

were talking before um with some of the

producers about streaming, right? Like I

can only have so many streamers. Do you

do you see that as a realistic future

now that people are going to start pull

back and there's going to be winners and

losers and how does that impact all

these companies? Mark, you're shaking

your head.

>> Yeah, totally. Um, this brings up such

an interesting point, right? Because um,

you know, these companies, and I dare

say this, it it hurt it gets me nervous

to even say it. You know, these

companies where they are right now,

they're starting to look to me like

commodities in a weird sort of way,

right? Because at some point, yeah,

there are notable differences and we all

know the notable differences between the

different models that are out there, but

at the end of the day, they're all going

to serve some sort of a function and

companies or individual users are going

to be able to select their favorite

based on price, based on all these types

of things. You see them now, they're

talking about price. They can't, it's

going to be very difficult to continue

to exist as a differentiator, right? And

at some point, uh, even sort of the

users, the corporate users, the B2B

users are going to be like, "Oh, we're

just going to go for the one that makes

the most fiscal sense." It's going to

be, uh, it's going to be a CFO decision.

It's not going to be the nerds making

the decision, saying, "Oh, no, no, no.

This one here is, you know, is smarter

at this or smarter at that." Yeah,

there'll be nuances, but, you know,

we've seen this happen in technology

before. It's going to be very hard to

continue to differentiate. Now people

below that level below the the providers

themselves I'm talking about the open

AIs and the anthropics right those guys

will still be able to differentiate

themselves better chips you know better

power cheap you know all that kind of

stuff that's all sort of organizing

right now but the people that we're

expecting the most from in the next year

as these two companies the big ones go

public you're going to that's going to

be the question we're going to have to

ask ourselves is this some sort of a

sustainable

moat that they're building that's going

to make this one the winner. That's not

going to ultimately put price pressure

on companies that have very very high

costs to produce their products,

>> right?

>> I'm going to take it from the other

side. You have power users. They're

maybe five uh you know 10% maybe of all

of the AI users. Now, those guys are

going to probably look for what's the

best utilization? How do I get these

models to work the best? How am I making

more profit in terms of my company? Then

you have the guys kind of middle in the

the the we'll call it the entry level.

They're looking at, you know, um what

goes into this recipe and obviously

that's going to be more of a

costconscious thing more so than anybody

else probably. Um and then you do have

the CFOs that are probably going to get

involved with the power users over time,

but I think you're going to draw down

the pricing of this uh in terms of like

any other model. Um and you know you're

going to have lower and lower costs who

gets more utilization and those are the

people that you're going to look to is

probably going to be the winners.

>> David, you look like you want to

>> It's 100 Yeah, it's 100% kind of a

commodity side of things. Obviously like

the Muse news, you know, not being on

the enterprise side of things is

interesting, but like can you blame

Daario for coming out and you know

giving all this fear porn out there to

try to people make people afraid of AI?

Like

>> oh I love that

>> he knows what his mode is and it's going

to be on the regulation side of things.

So, I'd be doing exactly what Dario was

saying before, but I mean, we're just

seeing Jeban's paradox really play out

in real time. I mean, you have cheaper

tokens, far more tokens, bigger total

bills, but like every time the price

drops, usage is going to explode higher.

And I think that's what continues to

make me very bullish about the entire

space, even if it is commoditized.

>> Do you think, and N, I'd love to get

your take, too, but David, do you think

that the other foot will eventually

drop? What I always think about, I'm a

millennial, right? And I was raised on

the millennial subsidy, right? We had

Door Dash and we had all these great

apps that gave us super low prices

because they wanted growth, growth,

growth. And then all of a sudden, I look

at my Uber Eats and I'm like, wait,

there's this fee and this fee and this

fee and my Door Dash and and my gym

subscription is this and all of a sudden

it spikes up. So do you think there's a

little bit of like draw up it down, get

the usage in and then as we right when

we get addicted then the price spikes?

>> Yeah, I mean that's likely going to

happen. I mean, we kind of had this

exact same thing happen during Google. I

mean, people can now look stuff up. I

mean, that was kind of the narrative

around Google to, you know, try to bring

down overall costs. I mean, now you can

just look stuff up even more faster and

efficiently. So, I I definitely think

it's going to happen. I don't know, you

know, Dan, I don't know if I'm a

millennial not. I lived 23 days in the

80s. Drug, sex, rock and roll. I don't

remember any of it. Um, [laughter] but

you know, I'm unfortunately I have not

been able to look at my uh my Uber Eats

build, but I definitely probably have

those uh piles of fees stacking up where

I need to utilize Muse. [laughter]

>> Yeah, I mean I haven't jumped into the

Muse, but sorry, Nancy, I want to bring

you in as well. What where do you fall

on all this? [snorts]

>> Um, I don't know. I'm back on sex,

drugs, and rock and roll. [laughter] Um,

what what were we talking about? Um I I

think I think you watch what the the

smart leaders are doing and what what we

heard from uh Jensen Wong about I don't

know maybe it was six months three

months ago was that they Nvidia was

pivoting away from the large language

models which is not to say they're not

still dumping chips in the to the LLMs

but they were focusing on industry and

they were focusing on sovereigns and I

think that's where we're going to start

to see bifurcation like and by the way

one of the big winners is probably going

to be Microsoft. Not the best product,

certainly not. Um, but embedded in the

enterprise. And so, you know, go back to

when I was growing up and it was the

question was, do you want to own a Sony

Betamax uh player or a VHS player? Sony

was superior, but VHS stole stole the

brand. And so, we ended up with an

inferior technology. Um, but because it

was it was omnipresent. And so I think

you're going to start to see changes.

And I think that's what Daario's worried

about. Uh and Sam Alman as well. You

don't pull an IPO or push an IPO uh

because you're you're optimistic about

about the future. You you pull back and

try to recalibrate. And last thing I'll

say is this whole

nonsense about the end of humanity. Um

[clears throat] it and please regulate

us. We can't help ourselves. Oh, by the

way, we just released a new model. Um,

but I behind the scenes while this was

all going on. But just remember, it

wasn't that long ago that Mark

Zuckerberg was like, "I'm sorry, did we

censor? Please regulate me." So, I think

it's an old playbook for Silicon Valley.

>> Also interesting that Mark is on the

other side. He's not the one. You know,

it's cuz he learned his lesson. But

David, I got a Dolly Parton quote for

you for your next newsletter. It costs a

lot of money to look this cheap. Um, so,

you know, just, you know, there

something for for your next newsletter.

But no, Nancy, I I totally agree with

you about I I think I've kind of I've

written about this a lot. The whole oh

regulate us. I think it's far too

convenient. You have the rise of openw

weight models which are a real risk to

the business model for open AI and

anthropic. You also have other players

kind of coming in whether it's the big

guys like Google and Gemini continues to

kind of make progress there. Um and I

think also it's an easy scapegoat for oh

we can't release our new product not

because maybe it's not as good as we

thought maybe not. No, it's because the

regulators like we the fate guys, the

fate of humanity is at hand here. So we

for for everyone's sake, we need to hold

back. I think it's far far far too

convenient that all of this is is coming

down. And the other thing I I really

question is, you know, when they say

they want to be regulated, how much do

they really mean that? You know, how

much do they really want the government

getting in their models, getting in

their source code? Like these are

trillion dollar companies. There's so

much valuable IP. I read a story the

other day about at Meta the people who

are working on their top AI models. They

don't even have them on the internal org

chart. These are like the, you know,

another millennial. These are like the

unspeakables in Harry Potter. Like

you're not even allowed to look at these

people. You can't know who they are, you

know. So if that's the secrecy that they

have around this thing, they also at the

same time want to turn over to the

federal government. I I don't I don't

necessarily um buy all that.

>> Sorry. Go ahead.

>> And and the federal government, they

can't regulate anything including crypto

or the internet.

>> Track is not great. track record is not

great.

>> I'm going to play play on that with

Dolly Parton and Nancy. I mean the

government only works 9 to5 [laughter]

AI 24/7.

>> Um I want to talk about Gus. You

mentioned choke points. So we had an

interesting deal today. Google with

constellation, right? Nuclear power. Now

I'll be upfront with my bias. I come

from a nuclear power power family. My

dad was a nuclear engineer. So I've been

I have lots of propaganda of of nuclear

power, but I can be unbiased in that. I

think it's a really interesting deal.

But I think it's also interesting for

the markets because um you know nuclear

power had an interesting run last year.

This year not doing that great but we

are seeing this deal done. What's the

disconnect between it seems like the the

way forward with um AI and the way to

power it is probably going to be nuclear

power but the markets aren't necessarily

recognized that is that because the

value's already been built in or what's

what's your take on that?

>> In constellations uh example I think

part of it has been because they had

five approvals for plants that they

could put down. So they're past the

approval process, right?

>> So they can get to market quicker than

anybody else. And that's why I think it

was discounted

>> already into the pricing. Um when I look

overseas, I mean it's been used in

France for uh years. You know, it can be

used here. Uh you end up coming out with

a model that is our biggest problem is

we haven't built these plants. There was

one built down in Georgia. It was

supposed to take three years. I think it

took seven.

>> Takes a while,

>> right? So you have to have that muscle

memory. So I think that this is actually

the way to go and you'll probably see

the government get involved after the

election trying to get it, you know,

push start this to get more nuclear

plants going because it's one of the

fastest ways that you can actually get a

lot of power.

>> Sure.

>> And push it out safely and it's also

clean,

>> right? Which is it's just as again as a

child of nuclear power hearing about

it's you know our governor at the time

was not a big fan of hearing this is not

clean, this is bad. Now it's the clean

nuclear it's clean. It's just it's all

it's an upside down world. But um I

don't know if anyone else has thoughts

on on the nuclear push in power or no um

or sorry Nancy

>> I'll just say one thing I I thought I

wanted to be a nuclear power activist

after uh the China syndrome uh which you

probably none of you remember but it it

came out Jane Fonda so I mean who didn't

want to be Jane Fonda at that age so it

was it was a nuclear power meltdown and

then and 12 days later we had the three

mile island meltdown and here's here's a

fun fact no one died But we shut down

all the nuclear power regulators and we

poisoned the earth if you're following

with the climate people for 40 years uh

using fossil fuels all the way all the

while yelling at the fossil fuel

companies. So I I think it's awesome

that we're finally back there. Um I I I

grew up in an age where you hid under

your desk duck and cover nuclear bomb.

Um and I was always curious how that was

going to protect me, but you know we

obeyed. Yeah. and um desks were sick.

Yeah. Yeah. They made desks really well

back then, [laughter]

>> but I do think it's I do think it's

awesome. And we have a a strategy we run

that is invested in all the technologies

we think are going to change. It's a

thematic portfolio. So, highly volatile.

I'm not hawking it here. I'm just saying

we're in the names. Uh we we we like the

space and I think uh I think it's going

to really change the way the things

we're talking about.

>> Sure. I'll I'll just say not an

investment advisor. don't hold any of

the fancy certifications you have. I

think one interesting thing to look at

is people who handle the nuclear waste,

right? That's always been a big problem.

We were supposed to have Yucka Mountain

in Nevada. Never fell apart. Now, as we

have more of this nuclear power, we're

going to have more of these radioactive

rods that are going to be created as a,

you know, as a byproduct of this. We're

going to have to put it somewhere. They

can't keep out on site. So, I don't

know. Just one to look out for. Again,

not a financial adviser, but just my

thought. Um let's uh let's talk a little

bit about AI adoption, right? Because we

talked a little bit about Muse now. And

one interesting thing, we had a story um

a CEO told us how actually Muse is

driving him away from Amazon purchases

and boosting Shopify. And the the

backstory here is that Amazon has

blocked Muse, right? It's considered a

competitor. So Muse is not playing and

there is a big relationship with

Spotify. Um, again, it's just one

example, but I'm curious if if this is

the start of maybe bigger things as more

and more people leverage Muse and and

shopping is a big piece of the puzzle

here. What do we think there?

>> I mean, is that going to be a worry for

the overall market? I mean, let's just

say that happens. All right. You know,

uh, the corporations, maybe they spend

less. Well, you know what? That boosts

profit margins. What's the one thing

that markets love to see? Increasing

margins. Or if they take it somewhere

else, you know what? All right, maybe

we're spending less here. We trim the

fat to save money, but we're probably

going to spend it somewhere else, which

then encouraers, you know, some type of

other revenue growth. So, I I don't see

it being a a bearish aspect whatsoever.

It's just a better stewardship of

capital.

>> Sure. Is anyone here on the Muse game

yet?

>> No.

>> No. No buyins. All right. What about

Instinct? Instinct. No. So, you guys are

not involved on the You guys aren't No

one's in on the AI agents yet.

>> What's What's holding you back?

Mine's not on the consumer side of

whatever. Like I'm not worried about the

agents. Like everyone's worried like,

"Oh, they're going to steal my data." My

data has already been stolen probably

[laughter] a million times and it's

going to continue to be stolen. But I

definitely need to get on the train,

Dan.

>> Yeah, I I I fall in the same boat as

you. I get an email, I think once a

month, saying that all my details are on

the dark web. So, there's a lot of Dandy

Franchescos out there. Nancy, sorry. It

looks like you were going to say

something there. Oh, I was just going to

say I have two millennials that in my

household and I'm I'm just waiting for

them to come home Christmas and get me

set up on Muse. I mean, I I love the

idea of it because it solves problems.

Um, but I I as I used to tell my

students, I don't I don't have to know

how to use technology. It was my

generation that invented it. So,

>> I love it. You heard it here first.

Thanksgiving break, look for the spike

in Muse downloads and Instinct downloads

[laughter] because all the kids come

home and say, "Mom, dad, you got to get

on this." Uh, Mark Gus, what about you?

You guys not interested in the AI agent?

Is there a specific reason or just

haven't got around to it or

>> I just haven't got I think it's an

amazing thing. I mean, it's an amazing

technology. I've been embracing

technology from, you know, back in the

day when we invented the wheel. Uh,

probably before Nancy got into the I've

been around for a minute. Uh, but yeah,

[laughter] no, I've always been very

close to the tech and and I just haven't

had a chance. I think it makes a lot of

sense. I mean, we I definitely use

agents, but I use them like what would

be considered the oldfashioned way now,

right? through the the LLM, through the

other services, uh, versus having it

right there on a cute little app. But I

think it's a great thing. I mean, it's a

tool, right? It's again, this whole

question of is it going to end the

world? I remember when we talked about,

well, Nancy, of course, will remember

this, right? When the when we had when

when they first came out with

spreadsheets, right? Everyone thought,

oh my god, it's going to end the entire

accounting profession. It, you know,

everyone's going to lose jobs. There's

going to be massive unemployment, right?

But it's it actually had the opposite

effect, right? I mean we became the most

productive country in the world on the

backs of those technology tools right

>> sure enhanced it started

>> consult this is just we're going to see

this is just really the you know two and

3.0 of that, right? So, it's happening

right now. Um, you know, obviously all

these questions about

>> all these questions that people are

worried about about their their identity

and all that stuff. This stuff all

existed before. There are always

nefarious people out there that are

going to do the wrong thing. Look,

kitchen knives, they could be really

great tools if you're trying to cut

salad, but you can also kill someone

with a kitchen knife or in the hands of

somebody who's not dey, you can hurt

yourself with it. I'll I will I'll jump

on the aging myself trend. And I

remember when buying stuff on the

internet was like people would kind of

look at you like you put your credit

card on the internet like my I think it

was I think it was until 2010 my mom was

willing to uh to jump on that train. So

I I definitely appreciate that. I think

the flip side uh Andre Horowitz had an

interesting um report about the most

used apps. I think we could put up here

users for Gen Z. Um so these are the top

consumer AI apps by monthly revenue. Um

so sorry this is active users right so

chatgbt cap cut which I know I use is

like for Tik Tok cutting uh Gemini

another chatbot there canva and AI

gallery I think making your Instagram's

pretty um and then if you go to revenue

um which I think we also have that chart

so interesting that OpenAI the top but

then anthropic jumps up which that

caught out to me I think uh Claude was

maybe seven as far as users but

interesting that open eye and anthropic

are one and two as far as revenue um but

yeah I don't know if anything stands out

to anyone there. Higsfield I think is on

the the AI um you know movie side of

things. Um so yeah it's just you know

Jenz is always willing to really um jump

in. I know we talked a lot about AI so

maybe we could pivot here to the wider

economy right because there's a lot of

other companies out there

>> [snorts]

>> um and with earnings season what sectors

are we expecting or hoping some

outperformance from? Uh Mark

>> jump in. Yeah. So we talked a little bit

about banks before. Um um you know I I

love that banks come first, right? Um

not because I love banks or anything

like that, but no because you know again

you mentioned earlier that they give I

look at them more for a read on what's

going on in the broader economy, right?

Every single one of those banks is kind

of unique in the in the clients that

they serve, right? So you get to hear

something interesting from each one of

those. And you mentioned the credit

issue. So for me in the last um again

because I am Dr. doom. Um I'm always

looking for when's that next crack going

to come, right? Um and so look, I I

think all of us are, but you guys

probably have gone away from that. You

know, I'm waiting for that consumer to

break. All right? And that consumer is

not breaking. And every single quarter,

I'm like, the consumer is going to break

this quarter. Consumer is going to break

this quarter. And consumers just keep

spending. And I love to hear the banks

talk about, you know, their credit cards

and things like that. And every quarter

it's like, oh, our defaults are lower.

And I'm like, wait, when is it gonna

finally break? But I'm gonna Here's my

thing, right? This quarter, I'm gonna be

looking for something different. Here's

your doom quote of the day.

>> As if I haven't already rolled 10 of

them here. Um, you know, I'm going to

start to look at how their higherend

customers are are doing with their

credit right now, right? Because I know

there's the wealth effect and I know but

a lot of the wealthier the top part of

the K uh has been really supporting

consumption a lot, right? Um, and I can

say though that the top end of the K is

where the problems might start, right?

Because if you start to look at any

labor problems that we're having right

now, if you looked at Friday's numbers,

last Friday's numbers, you start to see

the numbers start to look worse for

white collar people, right? Because of

AI, right? Because we are all being

replaced by AI or they're basically

tamping down hiring, right? So through

natural attrition basically there's a

lot of pressure on the top end. Okay.

And so you are going to start there is a

there is a point where people even

wealthy people are going to start to

pull back and we have seen it. We've

heard it from Walmart before that

they're getting some wealthier they're

getting more wealthier customers that

are coming to shop in their store. You

see it at Costco. You you see it uh at

all these places now where people are

trading now. Higherend customers clients

are now starting to trade down. So, I

want to hear what what they're going to

say about them. That to me is what I'm

listening for. Of course, I'm looking

for private credit and all that

[clears throat] other stuff, but what's

the consumer up there?

>> So, some of the other things that we

look at, there are companies that

actually have August quarter ends and

they reported actually pretty good

numbers. Yeah.

>> So, you have that. The second thing is I

always look at TSA. So, if I'm looking

at that's probably if you're taking a

flight, it's because you have excess

cash. Yeah.

>> Right. And those are at record numbers.

>> Yeah.

>> And we're also looking at Nancy had

mentioned it before. or if we're looking

at some sort of spread widenings and

things like that, we're not seeing

credit so far. And then on the flip

side, usually earnings, you end up

having analysts bring numbers down and

then you beat it. But for three quarters

in a row, we're actually increasing

numbers going into quarter end. So right

now things look okay. Now the outlooks

are the things that we're looking at and

you know what are they going to tell us?

Are they going to pull back numbers? Are

analysts going to get more concerned?

And is it going to break the difference

between the winners and losers or just

start to do that at this I mean, well,

banks had a fantastic quarter last

quarter, right? So, the question is is

can they keep it up, right?

>> Will they be able to have those fees

that they had last quarter?

>> Looks like bonuses are going to be big

now, too. I saw a report.

>> I just think if anything is, you know,

that's that that's the one sector that I

think can can provide the most amount of

let's call it queasiness, right? Cuz,

you know, it can go either way because

they they were just so good last quarter

and the expectations right now are so

high. Um, so you know, for me, you know,

obviously that can set the tone for what

what follows.

>> David, what are you looking at?

>> That's I mean that's why Brian Moahan's

comments are really the only comments I

want to look at during uh bank earning

season. It's actually not JB Diamond. I

think he's been wrong a lot here lately.

Like let's go back to the 1957 novel

novel by Ein Randall talk. It's called

Atlas Shrugged. All right. You know, we

know that the consumer drives like 70%

of the GDP spend here in the United

States. Like, and if the consumer ever

shrugs, that's what's going to create a

problem for the economy. But we always

want to talk about that K-shaped

economy. You know, the top part's doing

great, the bottom part's doing terrible.

But I I actually don't agree with that

at all. If you go back to pre-COVID,

like the top 1% has grown its net wealth

by 108%. If you go to the bottom 50%,

they've grown their net wealth by 129%.

Obviously, it's off a much smaller base,

but obviously if you look at the top

cohorts, and I know Mark, you made a

great point that, you know, if we're

going to see some spending slow, it

might be on the top end. I fully

disagree with that because if you look

at who owns stocks, who looks own homes,

like that's what's driven the majority

of the net wealth over the last 10

years, and that just continues to

skyrocket. And, you know, I don't like

quoting Buffett. I think he's over

pontificated. But if if consumers have

the money in their pocket, they're

they're going to spend it. They're not

going to let a bul burn a hole in their

pocket.

>> That's not Dolly Parton. [laughter]

>> Taking shots

>> all over all over the board, guys.

>> I love it. Taking shots of Jamie

Diamond, Warren Buffett, and physically

showing the Atlas shrug. Nancy, what

about you? What's uh what's what are you

looking at on the for earnings? [snorts]

>> Um well, I I think I said it. I think

we're we're focused on margins and

guidance because um I I do think um God

bless America, the consumer is going to

continue to spend. Uh even if you look

at energy costs, I mean they were higher

a few years back. Uh and so I don't

think um I don't think energy costs are

going to derail the consumer. It h they

haven't yet. Uh and and the if you look

at the lower end of the income cohort,

that's actually been the group that has

enjoyed the highest level of salary

increases. So to Dave's point, but um

that said, uh they matter a lot and um

so we'll be we'll be paying attention.

Uh, but I I want to see some activity in

the IP IPO market uh get restarted. I

think that'll help the banks that we

own, which are Goldman and JP Morgan.

Um, Meg, just in general, I hope you

cannot hear my dog barking.

>> No, you're fine. [laughter]

>> Okay.

>> Are there bears around? Are there bears?

>> Are there bears around? Is it protect?

Do you [laughter] need to Do you need to

go?

>> I'm not a bear. I'm not a bear.

>> Please, please.

>> I'm a bull.

>> It's afraid of Mark.

>> He's [laughter] He's reacting to Mark.

Um yeah no so so anyway I think I've

said it but yeah we're going to be and

and also the spread of AI across sectors

that has been our investing theme for

the last four years old economy

companies that are um pivoting to the

new technologies we started with

digitization remember that one nobody

could say it before 8:00 in the morning

but um and so we're we're watching that

across you know multiple sectors

>> so we've done a lot of you know

nostalgia here which is very timely

because the nostalgia economy is

growing. Um, there's a story recently

about how CD sales are booming. Um,

which is fascinating. So, I'd love to

hear from all of you if there's a '90s

trend that you don't want to make a

comeback. Before we do that, I have a

great business idea. For any of the Gen

Z, only Gen Z viewers, I will offer you

12 CDs for a penny, and you just have to

send me your credit card details. There

might be some further, you know,

charging, but don't worry about that.

Just send them. And for the people who

are confused, I'm talking about Columbia

House. You might remember there was a

famous subscription service in the back

of the magazines. You got 12 CDs for a

penny and then every CD after that was

like $45 and they wouldn't stop coming

unless you sent your firstborn. They

actually just shut down I saw in

September. So it's very Yeah. F which is

crazy that it lasted till 2026. Um but

uh nostalgia. Gus, let's start with you.

What's What trend would you not like to

see make a comeback?

>> Mullets. [laughter]

Well, look, Andrew Wang, you know, the

the the Facebook guy. Um,

>> I don't feel like I can weigh in on the

mullet thing. I'm just saying. And I'm

thinking maybe not you either, but you

know, [laughter]

>> Mark, what?

>> I'd love to see a mullet come back,

personally.

>> What would you not like to see come

back?

>> Oh. Oh, boy. I love the '9s, man. So, I

I can't say that there's anything I

didn't like. I think all of us are now

grasping for that time where we had our

feet at least one toe on the ground, but

right now everything's moving so fast. I

think that's why you're seeing that. But

I will say that if people are grasping

for those comfort things, those things

are not as easily disrupted as maybe

everything else in our lives which

operate on a you know millisecond to

millisecond basis where you actually had

to listen to a tape all the way through

and if you were lucky enough it

automatically turned over. You didn't

have to pull it out of the machine and

put it back in.

>> David, what about you? I hopefully you

remember the '90s as opposed to the 80s.

What's one thing you'd like to uh

[laughter]

>> I love mullets. I go to like 10 NASCAR

races a year. I may own Jorts. So, don't

leave the leave those. You can maybe

take like Frosted Tips, but I I wouldn't

bring [laughter] back uh Beanie Babies.

Okay. I feel like that's very

reminiscent of what we saw in like 2021

and 22 and2 with the I don't know what

those monkeys were called or the meme

stocks, the gamification of the market.

I feel like that early entrance was a

Beanie Baby. So, don't don't bring back.

>> I love that. Nancy, real quick. What

would you like to bring back from the

90s or not?

>> I have quick I'm a portfolio manager, so

I'm going to answer a different

question. I have a great CD story in

Europe in Budapest. This guy comes over

to the table. He's playing and I just

like wanted him to leave. So, I bought

his CD. Okay.

>> And I got home and I was like, "How do I

play this thing? I don't have a CD. Not

one in my car. Not one in Yeah.

>> All right. Well, listen, this has been

great. Thanks so much for being here and

uh we'll see you next time on the Market

Hang."

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you. Yeah. That was great, guys.

Great job.

Hey, thanks everyone.

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