Key Takeaways
- Data center construction spending jumped 90% year over year to a record $96.5 billion, even as voter opposition to expansion grows.
- Semiconductor stocks have fallen sharply from their highs, with memory and equipment names down 48% to 66%.
- Bitcoin and gold are the two worst major assets so far in 2026, a combination the author says has not occurred in any prior calendar year.
- A JPMorgan AM dataset cited by Meb Faber puts discovered fraud at 1.85% of venture-backed companies that raised over $10 million between 2000 and 2023.
- At least seven advertisers have pulled from Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway's podcasts over remarks about Elon Musk and the Trump assassination attempt, and the two have apologized.
- Six sponsors ended ties with Jennifer Welch's podcast after she joked about exhuming Charlie Kirk's remains, with an estimated annual loss above $2.5 million.
1. AI Infrastructure and Market Pullback
- Data center construction spending rose 90% over the past year to a record $96.5 billion, while voter opposition to data center expansion is increasing; the author raises the question of what happens to the economy if the AI spending boom slows. 1
- As of the November 5 pullback low, semiconductor stocks were well below their record highs: Micron -48%, Applied Materials -57%, Lam Research -58%, Intel -64%, Sandisk -66%, Nvidia -26%, TSMC -28%, AMD and SK Hynix -39% each, and Broadcom -41%. 1
- Bitcoin (-13%) and gold (-6%) are the two worst-performing major assets so far in 2026, a pairing the author says has not appeared in any prior calendar year. 1
2. Venture Fraud and Macro Views
- Meb Faber, citing JPMorgan AM data, said 1.85% of companies that received venture funding and raised more than $10 million between 2000 and 2023 were involved in discovered fraud. 1
- Faber previewed a conversation with Societe Generale global strategist Albert Edwards, whose views include the Fed possibly needing to raise rates by 200 basis points rather than two or three, a 10% US 10-year yield, and the S&P falling 50% to 60% to trade at 6x forward earnings; Edwards also raised a return of crony inflation, companies milking assets, total factor productivity charts reminiscent of Thailand and Malaysia in the mid-1990s, and a Chinese credit impulse signal that he says almost no one is watching. 1
3. Podcast Advertiser Backlash
- At least seven advertisers pulled from Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway's Pivot, On with Kara Swisher and related podcasts, citing repeated calls to execute Elon Musk and jokes about the Trump assassination attempt; the author opposes censorship but says advertisers must decide whether to support political-violence rhetoric, and questions why tech companies pay the pair $10 million each per year. The pair have since apologized to advertisers in an effort to protect a podcast business worth more than $30 million. 1 2
- After Jennifer Welch joked on her podcast about exhuming Charlie Kirk's remains and doing it again, Cash App, Chewy, Boll & Branch, Lola Blankets, Zenni Optical and NOBL Travel ended their sponsorships, with an estimated annual loss above $2.5 million; Ridge Wallet was later reported as the latest sponsor to cut ties. The author downloaded the Chewy app, placed a first order and said he would order monthly for a year as a "reverse boycott" to support brands that condemned violence. 1 2 3
- A forwarded public letter from a UC professor says Galloway, one of 26 voting regents appointed by Newsom, called Musk a "traitor to the West" on Pivot and Prof G and invoked the executed Rosenbergs in a way that suggested Musk should meet the same fate; the professor argues Galloway sits on the committee responsible for student and faculty conduct and should consider resigning. A forwarded note clarified that Galloway misstated the Rosenbergs as being "shot against a wall" when they were executed in the electric chair. 1 2
- A forwarded post said Tesla director James Murdoch's Lupa Systems acquired Vox Media Podcast Network, which distributes Pivot, and argued a Tesla director should have no connection to violent rhetoric against the CEO, suggesting the podcast be sold or canceled to remove the conflict; another forwarded post questioned why CNN still features Galloway. 1 2
