logo
What did tech CEOs get for pivoting toward Trump?

What did tech CEOs get for pivoting toward Trump?

Remember when all those tech CEOs lined up to give Donald Trump money and take photos with him?
They're not getting much for their efforts: Trump has frequently snubbed tech, or worse, since taking office.
That's a fairly standard take this spring, and we have been seeing a new round of it in the past few days, prompted by recent assessments of tech moguls and their relationships with Trump.
The New York Times points out that Apple's Tim Cook, who figured out how to manage Trump during his first administration, is now facing serious tariff trouble. And Bloomberg Businessweek reports that despite Mark Zuckerberg's ostentatiously pro-Trump pivot, Trumpworld remains suspicious of all things Meta — and notes that the federal government is still trying to break the company up.
All of which is true.
It's just that, as with many things Trump, you can't consistently sum up his attitude toward tech. Sometimes he's beating up the industry — and sometimes he's sticking up for it. And sometimes he changes his mind.
It's been a consistent contradiction.
For instance: The Trump administration has repeatedly yelled at Europe about fines and other punishments levied against US tech giants — something that's been a big focus for Zuckerberg and his peers.
And while Trump has once again been saying Apple will face tariffs unless it makes its iPhones in the US — despite overwhelming skepticism that this is plausible — that doesn't mean he'll keep saying it in the future. In April, for instance, Trump's administration removed impending tech tariffs on Apple — and then insisted they could return, all in one weekend.
The Times also says that Trump's recent vow to levy 25% tariffs on Apple comes after he brought up that Tim Cook didn't join him on his recent tour of the Middle East.
On the one hand, that's a bummer for Cook, who now has to clear his calendar for Trump's next junket. On the other hand: Cook visits China all the time because he has to keep China happy. So he can spend a little more face time with Trump, too.
Then yet again: Face time alone doesn't get you everything you want, all the time.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang did go with Trump on his Middle East trip, and Trump praised him for his presence. Not coincidentally: Nvidia is a partner in Trump-blessed plans for massive data centers in the Middle East.
But in April, Trump banned Nvidia from selling its most advanced chips to China — a move Nvidia says cost it $5.5 billion.
something for all the time and money they're investing in Trump. Just not everything.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Nvidia AI Chip Repairs Soar In China
Nvidia AI Chip Repairs Soar In China

Yahoo

time8 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Nvidia AI Chip Repairs Soar In China

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips keep China's repair shops busy despite U.S. export bans. Reuters reports that about a dozen boutique firms in Shenzhen have quietly built businesses fixing advanced Nvidia AI chipsH100s, A100s and morethat shouldn't even be in the country. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NVDA. One repair shop spun off a new unit late last year and now handles up to 500 GPUs a month, underscoring really significant repair demand, says a co?owner who's been tuning Nvidia gaming cards for 15 years. Meanwhile the Financial Times notes that nearly $1 billion of Nvidia AI chips still flowed into China in the three months after tighter U.S. export curbs, highlighting gaps in enforcement and the lengths firms will go to fuel AI projects. Analysts say these repair services not only keep existing hardware alive but also chip away at the impact of export restrictions meant to slow China's AI push. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Minimize Your Apple Stock Risk Before Earnings on July 31 with This 1 Options Strategy
Minimize Your Apple Stock Risk Before Earnings on July 31 with This 1 Options Strategy

Yahoo

time8 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Minimize Your Apple Stock Risk Before Earnings on July 31 with This 1 Options Strategy

Apple (AAPL) is certainly a familiar name for investors. But it has been acting strangely this year, especially for a stock that was the first to cross the $3 trillion market cap level. As we see here, it is still above that perch. However, questions about the firm's ability to continue to deserve its lofty multiple, currently around 30x trailing earnings, and its ability to compete in the artificial intelligence business have dogged AAPL this year. The stock is off more than 14% year to date, well behind the broader market. More News from Barchart Low IV Alert: Stocks that Could be Ready to Pop Unusual Volume in Las Vegas Sands Call Options - Investors Bullish on Macao Gambling Alpha From Ashes: 'Big Loser' Comstock Resources (CRK) is Flashing a Statistically Significant Reversal Signal Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! That makes next week's earnings report even more of an 'event' than usual. So if you look at investing first as an exercise in risk management, and not as a sport or a casino game, an option collar might be a way to get exposure to AAPL while reducing the risk associated with a post-earnings decline. Show Me the Chart First! That's what I say to myself, as well as the folks I coach on using collars. Sure, you can technically collar any stock or ETF with a liquid options market. However, 'throwing good money after bad' is not a great habit. So as a 40-year chartist, and one who has seen a ton of manic markets, I only want to move forward if the stock chart indicates to me that there's a fighting chance the stock will go higher. That said, we're seeing again this earnings season that any company can be 'taken out back and shot,' to use a phrase from old Western movies. So with AAPL, I look at the daily chart below with my eyes wide open. I see a stock that is trying to mount a comeback. That 20-day moving average in yellow is trending well. But the PPO below is a bit choppy. And while many technicians wax poetic about this or that indicator, I'm a bit more visual, and less jargony. The weekly chart below is more encouraging, and also less. What? Allow me to explain. This is a market characterized by stocks that have been down on their luck suddenly surging in price. That makes traditional technicians happy, because it is positive momentum. However, like a sprinter in a horse race, if the speed can't be maintained long enough, the finish will not be as successful as the start. I see that risk with AAPL's weekly chart here. The 20-week moving average is still in a downtrend, and the PPO just crossed up. That latter aspect of the chart is good, but when that occurs so far below zero, it is less reliable. This all paints a picture for me of a stock that has a chance to move higher, but that an event like the forthcoming earnings report on Thursday, July 31 could easily blow that out of the water. But for those who like AAPL, collaring it can allow you to have your cake and eat it too. Here's one collar combination I zeroed in on. The table below shows four different combos, so you can see a small fraction of the variety of strike prices, expiration dates, break-evens and upside/downside combinations one can explore using Barchart's tools. How to Collar Apple Before Earnings: An Example The combination I'll focus on is the top one above. It goes out 5 months to Dec. 19, the last AAPL expiration date this year. So there's some time. The stock was trading near $214 on Friday morning, and the collar involves buying 100 shares of AAPL, buying a put option with a strike price of $205, and selling a call option struck at $260. This means I can sell AAPL at $205 if it declines below that level between now and Dec. 19. And if it rises to $260, roughly its all-time high reached at the end of last year, I could be forced to sell it. Talk about a high-class problem! That range is not the 'final' range for this collar setup, however. There's the net cost of the options. The puts cost $8.85 a share and the calls bring in $1.83, for the downside protection and for giving up profits, respectively. That nets out to about $7 a share. So if we take that $205 to $260 range and drop both levels by the net cost of $7, viola! We have an 'effective range' for this collar of $253 to $198. Recall that AAPL trades at $214 in this example. That produces upside potential of 18% and downside risk of 7.5%, for about a 2.5-to-1 reward/risk ratio. Option Collars Are Just 1 Way to Manage Risk To me, that ratio is as important a factor in investing as anything, whether you achieve it through an option collar or another strategy. So whether it is collaring popular stocks like AAPL, tactically managing assets, other options strategies, or simply using the strategy of 'position-sizing,' there are more ways than ever to manage risk in these modern markets. Earnings season is a great reminder of that. On the date of publication, Rob Isbitts did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Nvidia Reaches New Peak as Google Lifts Cloud Spending Forecast
Nvidia Reaches New Peak as Google Lifts Cloud Spending Forecast

Yahoo

time8 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Nvidia Reaches New Peak as Google Lifts Cloud Spending Forecast

July 25 - Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) hit a fresh intraday high Friday, edging up 0.5% to $174.53 in early trading, on track to close at a record if it holds. The GPU pioneer gained momentum after a 1.7% pop Thursday, as investors brace for a wave of tech earnings next week. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NVDA. Wall Street sees Nvidia chips as the go?to for AI model training, and expectations remain lofty. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) underlined that demand by lifting its 2025 capital?expenditure forecast by 13% to $85 billion, signaling more server and data?center builds, including Nvidia's gear. While Google touts its custom TPUs, it still backs GPUs to meet broader cloud needs. Ben Reitzes of Melius Research states that Google Cloud is currently capacity constrained but anticipates subsequent growth in the second half because Google can deploy more capacity. Such a dynamic would fuel a long-term market of Nvidia sales and other conglomerates, such as AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), which would be able to sustain an AI-fueled GPU demand. As significant Nvidia reports are still ahead, its stocks might remain unstable, but the boom in AI infrastructure does not appear to have reached its limit. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store