Yields Up, Robots Flexing
The bond market cleared its throat, and tech sat down. Meanwhile Unitree unveiled a humanoid called Superman, and the AI trade wobbled without falling over.
For most of the summer the AI trade shrugged at everything. Then Treasury yields spent a week grinding higher, and by Tuesday the Nasdaq was leading the Dow and the S&P 500 lower — the familiar 2026 choreography where every basis point on the 10-year gets subtracted straight from a chip multiple.
Nobody panicked, and that is the interesting part. After July, when Micron erased $38 billion of market value in a session and Intel dropped 21% over seven trading days, this market has learned to wobble without falling over. Even Washington has gone quiet on the tape: the White House has retired its stock-market-cheerleader act, which means the market will have to pump itself up for a while.
Meanwhile in Hangzhou, Unitree pulled the sheet off a humanoid it is calling Superman ahead of its Shanghai debut — the latest entry in China's escalating robot arms race. The humanoid supply chain is turning into what EV batteries were in 2019: the thing every sovereign wealth fund suddenly needs an opinion on.
Positioning note for the degens: that is usually how it works. The dip you hate is the one that pays.