RiskReversal Pod

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Guy Adami and Danny Moses open with a brief New York Giants aside before turning to markets, focusing on Jerome Powell’s final Fed press conference as Chair, his plan to remain a governor, and expectations that Kevin Warsh will become Fed Chair as the administration seeks more influence over the Board. They discuss how markets have stayed resilient despite $100 oil, rising global yields, a weakening yen with Japan intervention near 160, geopolitical stress, and a subdued VIX, attributing much of the strength to passive flows and forced institutional chasing. Moses flags inflation beginning to filter through via price hikes and warns the consumer may eventually feel higher energy costs. They debate energy stocks’ durability even if crude eases, remain constructive on gold amid fiscal/geopolitical risks, note elevated valuation signals like the Buffett indicator, and address concerns about “fantasy math” in AI, citing OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar’s tempered adoption comments and cautioning retail on private-market secondaries.

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Dan Nathan speaks with David Rosenberg about a market week packed with tech earnings, GDP, PCE, the Fed, oil above $100, and a sharp USD/JPY move. Rosenberg argues the U.S. economy is K-shaped, with Q1 GDP growth heavily driven by AI-related tech capex while non-tech business investment contracts, and consumer spending exceeding flat-to-negative real disposable income mainly due to a falling savings rate, wealth effects at the high end, and credit reliance at the low end amid rising delinquencies. He says most sectors are losing jobs, productivity has driven nearly all recent growth, and an oil price shock is a supply-side tax likely to weaken demand rather than create sustained inflation. They discuss a divided Fed under new chair Kevin Warsh, high market concentration, extreme valuations with a near-zero equity risk premium, and whether yen moves or oil are bigger risks for equities.

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Dan Nathan is joined by Guy Adami for a deep dive into a Wall Street Journal report on OpenAI's sprint toward IPO — and the growing tension between CEO Sam Altman and CFO Sarah Frier, whose candid comments about the company's financials are raising eyebrows. Dan and Guy unpack what $120 billion in fresh capital, massive enterprise contracts, and a web of vendor financing really mean for the AI trade — and whether the whole ecosystem is as solid as it looks.

From there, the conversation widens to the broader hyperscaler picture: which companies are spending big on AI infrastructure, which ones (like Apple) are quietly waiting it out, and what upcoming earnings from the biggest names in tech could reveal about whether the AI build-out is paying off. The guys also touch on Microsoft's setup heading into earnings and where the stock might be headed.

Show Notes

OpenAI Misses Key Revenue, User Targets in High-Stakes Sprint Toward IPO (WSJ)

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Dan Nathan interviews Michael Nathanson, co-founder of MoffettNathanson, on the RiskReversal Podcast about his 28-year analyst career and pivot from linear media to digital advertising and Big Tech. Nathanson explains why Google and Meta became a hedge against cord-cutting-driven declines in cable networks, noting their strong growth, performance-ad monetization advantages, and durable distribution. He reflects on mistakes (notably underestimating Netflix) and lessons about backing secular winners while monitoring capital formation and competitive narrative shifts. The discussion focuses on AI’s impact: Nathanson defends Alphabet’s willingness to innovate, infrastructure advantages, first-party data, and TPU strategy, while questioning Meta’s heavy AI and metaverse spending without a clear long-term plan or returns framework. He also describes MoffettNathanson’s industry-first, supply-demand research process and independence from investment banking conflicts.

After the break, Dan hosts Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, on the Risk Reversal Podcast to discuss Taboola’s role in the open web advertising market outside Google and Meta. Singolda explains Taboola’s performance ad platform serves thousands of advertisers and pays partners about $1.5B annually, helping publishers, apps, and OEMs monetize and drive engagement. They discuss publisher pressure from LLM-driven “Google Zero” traffic declines, and Taboola’s “Deeper Dive” answer engine that sits on publisher pages to enable conversational engagement; Taboola data shows users who ask questions generate 3+ times more revenue and 2–3 times more engagement than traditional ads. Singolda also announces a Claude skill that lets users launch and optimize Taboola campaigns agent-to-agent based on performance goals, argues OpenAI will struggle to build an ad business while Google’s Gemini will likely succeed, and outlines how companies must adopt AI aggressively to accelerate growth and profitability.

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Dan Nathan and Peter Boockvar discuss a narrow, under-the-hood stock market rally driven largely by AI beneficiaries—especially semiconductors and data-center hardware—while hyperscalers lag as they turn asset-heavy and free cash flow falls. They note extreme momentum in semis (record RSI/long winning streak) and debate catalysts for a reversal, including hyperscaler CapEx guidance, potential demand destruction from higher component costs, and front-loaded ordering tied to war-driven supply fears. The conversation broadens to geopolitics: war-related commodity impacts, Strait of Hormuz risks, and U.S.-China leverage via rare-earth magnets critical to defense production, with expectations Trump’s China trip may be pragmatic. They touch on defense stocks’ vulnerability to drones, Fed-chair transition expectations toward Warsh, early earnings takeaways (banks steady, homebuilders fragile), and focus on upcoming hyperscaler results for ads and CapEx.

Show Notes

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