Japan stocks PLUNGE! Tech stocks in correction - nearing bear market. What does the crystal ball tell us? Where is the PPP? PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter DONATIONS ? Warm Up - OMG - Did you see that? - Fear - blood in the streets - Looking for someone to blame for the selloff - Boeing news....Finally Market Update - RISK off - all risk assets (aside from bonds) down in August - Bitcoin - CRUSHED - as with other cryptos - so much for safe-haven - 13:1 Day Decliners to Advancers (that is pretty significant. - Records broken - Worst day in 50 years for one stock Where is the PPP? - Now we are hearing about an emergency cut - looking for a 0.75% cut (Jeremy Seigel) - Investors looking for a save - Plunge Protection Team!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Seems like Tuesday in Japan - PPP to the rescue - +10% Bitcoin and ETH - Seriously - takes it on the chin down 15% with global market sell-off - What happened to it being a safe-haven - all but discounted at this point.... Japan's first increase in decades - Actually, last increase was 2017 - so 17 YEARS OF LOW RATES - The Widowmaker trade is finally working - but for how long? - Japan's major stock market - YEN Up 11% since 7/11/2024 and  the Nikkei is down  23% (28% at low on Monday) since 7/11/2024 - Carry-Trade (borrow Yen at low rate and reinvest) BLOWING UP - WORST day for Japan's markets since Black Monday in 1987 --- The loss of 4,451.28 points on the index was also the largest in terms of points in its entire history. -=-=-=-= This is not the first time Japan's central bank has caused this type of situation. Their entire investing and monetary process is very dangerous. -=-=-=-=- - Japan's Nikkei had the best day since 2008 on Tuesday Repercussions - Stocks around the world got hammered - worrying about YEN unwind as well as the earnings and outlook from Tech - Kospi -8% down Monday - World stocks off by 3%+ - UGLY moves and lots of trading opportunities - $1 Trillion in market cap erased from Mega-Caps Monday (Mag7) AND - A sharp drop in U.S. stocks is provoking selling from volatility-sensitive funds, exacerbating a selloff - Volatility control funds - systematic investment strategies that typically buy equities when markets are calm and sell when they grow turbulent  have gorged on stocks as indexes soared to record highs in 2024 - More recently, they have begun selling, as worries over the economy and tech earnings rattle investors: volatility control funds have dumped about $83.6 billion of U.S. equity futures over the last two weeks VIX - SPIKES to 65 on Monday morning.... (Then comes down to about 36 on the close) - Historical spike like that  are  interesting signs that it may be end of route (or getting close) - - 80's for Pandemic and peak of Financial Crisis ---- Unbelievable move in 3 days that seems that most people were unprepared for Economic Issues - Nonfarm payrolls grew by just 114,000 in July, below the downwardly revised 179,000 in June and the Dow Jones estimate for 185,000. - The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.3%, its highest since October 2021, triggering an economic rule on recessions. - Health care again led, adding 55,000 to payrolls. Other notable gainers included construction (25,000), government (17,000), and transportation and warehousing (14,000). - Average hourly earnings increased 0.2% for the month and 3.6% from a year ago. Both figures were below respective forecasts for 0.3% and 3.7%. Google loses Anti-Trust - Google’s payments to make its search engine the default on smartphone web browsers violates US antitrust law, a federal judge ruled Monday,