Tim Apple Unsubscribes From the Nasdaq, Tokyo Drops $33B in Donnie’s Oil Jar

Hey there Folks,

In tonight’s edition, we’ve got Tim Cook slipping out the back door of the Nasdaq house party, Wall Street playing AI poker with borrowed chips, and Tokyo dropping $33B in Donnie’s oil jar.

Let’s get started…

-Tim, I apologize, I wasn’t familiar with your game…

For the first time since 2006, Apple has untethered itself from the Nasdaq 100.

Apple’s 40-day correlation to the Nasdaq 100 just fell to 0.21. Back in May? It was 0.92. Normally, that’s a YUGE red flag and would beg the question: “Is Apple’s growth cycle over? Are they about to become a pure dividend stock?” But in this stage of the AI mania, it actually signals that if this tide goes out… Tim Apple won’t be caught swimming naked.

While the rest of tech is sprinting around the casino floor throwing chips at anything labeled “AI”, Apple seems content with just… chilling.

Art Hogan over at B. Riley Wealth calls it an “AI whack-a-mole” market. Capex too high? Sell it. AI might disrupt it? Sell it. AI might not pay off? Also sell it.

Meanwhile, Apple never RSVP’d to the trillion-dollar GPU buffet in the first place. Because unlike the other Mag 7 neighbors, Apple’s not pouring obscene sums into AI data centers… and Claude’s sure as heck not coding a competing iPhone in its spare time.

The numbers back it up. Apple just posted record quarterly sales, iPhone demand held steady, and guidance topped expectations. The stock jumped 3.2% while the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.1%... marking the third time this month Apple beat the index by at least 3 points.

For February, same theme applies. Apple’s up 1.7%. The Nasdaq 100? Down 3.3%. The Magnificent Seven index? Down 7.5%.

But before you crown it a safe-haven tech ETF… the stock still dropped 8% last week and trades around 30x forward earnings… richer than most Mag 7 names outside Tesla. Analysts see revenue growth slowing to 6.7% by fiscal 2027 largely in part to memory chip prices rising.  And that long-awaited Siri glow-up? Yeah… that might get pushed back too.

Translation: Tim’s still got kinks to work out.

That said, hardware still feels safer than software in this AI roulette wheel. Because no matter how smart AI gets, it can’t 3D print you a new iPhone in your mom’s basement.

So yeah, we’ve all been critical of Tim Cook’s almost non-existent AI plan… but now the market’s starting to view them as the grown-up in the room.

-Imagine telling someone who lived in Japan during WW2 their country would one day be shaking hands with America’s President and dropping bags of cash at the feet of Uncle Sam…

With all the other chaos swirling around Donnie’s second term… I almost forgot about every furniture store’s worst nightmare (read: Tariffs).

Speaking of, Donnie Politics is reportedly dancing after Japan pledged nearly $36 billion into U.S. oil, gas, and critical mineral projects across Texas, Ohio, and Georgia.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This is the first slice of capital tied to last year’s landmark U.S.-Japan trade deal, where Tokyo promised $550 billion in American-based projects in exchange for Trump shaving tariffs on most Japanese imports down to 15%.

Naturally, Trump sprinted to his favorite microphone (read: Truth Social) to celebrate: “Our MASSIVE Trade Deal with Japan has just launched!” He then credited one magical word for making it happen: TARIFFS. (Some men have wet dreams about Fartcoin exploding 10,000%… in Donnie’s case, thinking about every country wiring the US tax money gets him going).

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivered the clean, diplomatic version… that this will strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance. Translation: lower our import taxes.

The headliner of the deal is a $33 billion natural gas facility in Ohio expected to crank out 9.2 gigawatts of power. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (Epstein’s close friend) called it the largest natural gas generation facility in history. The project is being operated by SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary run by none other than Masa Son.

Down in Texas, Japan is also backing a $2.1 billion deepwater crude export facility called Texas GulfLink. At full capacity, it could generate up to $30 billion in annual U.S. crude exports. Say it with me now: Drill, baby drill.

Lastly, over in Georgia, a $600 million synthetic diamond grit facility operated by Element Six, part of De Beers Group. Diamond grit might sound kind of useless, but turns out, it’s actually critical for industrial manufacturing 

But hey, while the rest of the market is obsessing over AI valuations… Trump’s doing his part to try to keep America’s energy crisis at bay and prove that “tariffs” isn’t the dirty word everyone’s making it out to be.

The Team at Bullseye Trades