Week in Review: 8 Interviews on Yields, Bitcoin, Defense Spending, and Trading Tech

Comments from Washington were driving U.S. markets last week.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a "crushing economic operation" against Iran on the same day the U.S. Treasury said it would make debt repurchases to jump-start long-term borrowing in the near term. With headlines circulating that total U.S. national debt surpassed $40 trillion last week, the Treasury Secretary on Thursday said the debt repurchases could expand.

Volatility spiked, oil rose, and the dollar weakened. But the intended effect was not realized, and Treasury yields moved higher. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index ($DJI) moved lower by 0.85%, and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) was down 1.43%. The small cap Russell 2000 Index (RUT) fell 1.65%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) fell 2.45%, and the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) slid 5.45%.

The U.S. oil price benchmark moved up more than 5% for the week, to $86.68 per barrel. Moderna (MRNA) saw a one-day spike of 177% Wednesday after it announced, with Merck (MRK), promising cancer vaccine results in a late-stage trial. After some profit-taking, Moderna shares were up 129% on the week.

Here are four topics and related interviews that will help shed light on where markets have been this past week and where they may be headed:

What Treasury Buybacks Mean for Yields

Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, talks about Treasury bond buybacks attacking ‘the symptom, not the cause’ of yield spikes.

Technology and the AI Spending Cycle: What’s Next?

AI was a theme for companies that were once considered traditional tech and e-commerce plays.

• Horizon Investments Head of Research and Quantitative Strategies Mike Dickson on yields, the Jackson Hole Fed gathering, the setup for Nvidia (NVDA) earnings and the next phase of the AI story.
• Aptus Capital Advisors Portfolio Manager David Wagner takes a look at Microsoft (MSFT) plans for Azure cloud, AI, Office, and CapEx and why they may spell upside for the stock.
• KraneShares Chief Investment Officer Brendan Ahern discusses the AI memory trade in China, as well as in earnings from Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA) and Baidu (BIDU).
• The Technology Letter Editor Tiernan Ray discusses tech history, earnings, and the state of A.I. infrastructure financing.

Bitcoin Had a Very Good Week

• Jim Ferraioli, Director of Crypto Research and Strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, talks about Bitcoin futures and examines hedge fund positions in the shifting crypto space. Bullish Factors in Bitcoin Futures, Backwardation & Hedge Fund Dynamics.
• Adam Lynch, a Director of Equity Research at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, also talked about the surge in Bitcoin this past week: Clarity Act on the Clock: Bitcoin Rallies as Legislation Faces Key Deadline

Military Defense Technology is in Demand

John Serafini, CEO of Hawkeye 360 (HAWK), discusses his defense company, focused on space-based RF data and analytics. The company, which IPO'd May 7, announced a five-year production contract with a U.S. government customer, the National Reconnaissance Office, to deliver high-quality signals intelligence. Hawkeye 360, with a market capitalization of $2 billion, also sells its products internationally. "We are seeing unprecedented levels of demand for our capabilities around the world as you would anticipate: Asia Pacific, in the Middle East, and Eastern Europe are hotspots for us. We are trying to keep up with the level of demand for our customers." See: Hawkeye 360 CEO Sees Signals Intelligence Demand Surge Worldwide

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