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Bulls vs. Bears

Bulls vs Bears is a weekly Australian stock market podcast from MPC Markets. Every Friday, Mark Gardner, Jonathan Tacadena, and Kai Chen wrap up the week in markets, what moved, what mattered, and where the opportunities are heading into next week. Part weekly market recap, part investment debate, p

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 47 min
Latest: 9 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026 · 51 min

Is it Over? OpenAI & Firmus Flop

OpenAI printed $50 billion. The figure in circulation was $68 to $70 billion. A $20 billion miss, against commitments that need 75 to 80 per cent compounding for three years. On their own numbers they were already about $300 billion short of those commitments by 2030. Firmus was the local disaster. $43.7 billion was the valuation ASX investors would not wear. The "oversubscribed" line lasted until the price was cut to $8.25 and the float was pulled. Front page of Bloomberg. Front page of Reuters. Morgan Stanley and the lead brokers own that one. Valued above Transurban. This is why ASX tech…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S2 · E139 · 2 Oct 2026 · 59 min
Inflation & SUPER INTELLIGENCE
CPI at 4%. A White House AI pact with zero legal force. And 59% of the S&P already more than 20% off its highs.This week Mark, Kai, Jonathan and Finn (Phil is on the boat) sit down with client and fifth-generation farmer Dan. He ran apples for 27 years, then switched to cattle because frost at blossom is not a cycle you can sit through. The inflation half is diesel, supermarket pass-through, feeder cattle off the Carcoar yards, US herds at 50-year lows, and why the export cow does not have to bargain with Woolworths. There is also a kelpie, a highland copperhead, and a bloke near…
S2 · E138 · 25 Sep 2026 · 57 min
Bond Yields Spike but Meta Muse Saves the Market
Bond Yields Hit 5.21%. Stocks Didn’t Get the Memo Risk-on in equities. Bond yields up 20 basis points in a few days. That pairing is usually mutually exclusive. The US 10-year hit 5.21 — highest since 2007 on the long chart they keep rolling out. Auctions were soft. Hyperscalers are now competing with the US Treasury for the same pile of debt. And in Australia the RBA is a 90% hike next week, with all four majors on board. So why did stocks bounce? Meta. Muse launched, the stock was up nearly 20%, and that was enough to drag the S&P up about 0.7% and the Nasdaq about 1% while the Dow and…
S2 · E137 · 18 Sep 2026 · 55 min
Will they Actually Slow Down AI?
Will they actually slow down AI? Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Elon Musk say we should pace AI development — but we're not buying it. The three leaders of the AI race all agreeing on regulation? Smells like incumbents pulling up the drawbridge. This week Mark, JT and Kai unpack the AI safety debate, $9 diesel in California and what it means for inflation, 924 Aussie construction firms entering administration off the back of the Bartholomew collapse, private credit risks that nobody wants to talk about, and why the Fed just changed the game with three more rate hikes on the table. Plus — what…
S2 · E136 · 11 Sep 2026 · 52 min
10% Chance AI Kills Us All
Oil at $103. Treasury yields at 5%. Trump handing out $5,000 cheques. And former AI safety researchers say there's a 10%+ chance artificial intelligence ends humanity within the decade. In Episode 136 of Bulls vs Bears, the MPC Markets team cuts through the noise on AI existential risk — is it a genuine warning or conveniently timed ahead of capital raises and IPO season? Plus: why analyst earnings forecasts have failed to warn investors ahead of every major crash, Uber burning through its entire annual AI token budget in four months, and the fertiliser angle no one's talking about. All four…
S2 · E135 · 4 Sep 2026 · 48 min
Oil Catches Fire, Nvidia pays 13b for Hugging Face
Oil hit $93, Fed rate hike odds swung wildly, and Nvidia bought Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. Three simultaneous shocks heading into September, historically the worst month for equities. This week we break down the oil breakout, the Warsh vs Waller showdown at the Fed, why open-source AI just became a closed shop, and what September seasonal weakness actually means for your portfolio. Plus stock picks, what the market is missing, and our bull vs bear calls for next week. Featuring Mark Gardner, Kai Chen, Finn Judell and Jonathan Tacadena. Key topics: Brent crude breakout, Fed September…
S2 · E134 · 28 Aug 2026 · 46 min
In Jensen we Trust
Jensen Huang has done it again. NVIDIA posted $59.7 billion in net income, more than 12 iconic companies combined, on 70% margins. Software stocks are surging, the SaaSpocalypse is dead, and we're only a quarter of the way through the hyperscaler capex cycle. This week the boys break down NVIDIA's monster earnings, why ASX tech is lagging US software by 43%, Amazon's robotics play, the uranium setup heating up on US-Canada trade tensions, and warning signs in private credit. Plus the full Buy, Avoid and Wild Card picks for the week ahead. Fear & Greed: 58 (Greed). Bull/Bear: 3-1 Bullish.…
S2 · E133 · 21 Aug 2026 · 36 min
US Debt Hits $40T, Gold Surges & ASX Earnings Winners and Losers
US debt hits $40 trillion. Bitcoin surges 20%. Moderna rockets 177% on a breakthrough cancer treatment. And Bessent starts buying the long end of the curve — is this the white flag on US fiscal discipline? In this week's Bulls vs Bears, Mark, Phil, JT, and Finn (filling in for Kai) break down ASX earnings season — CSL shines (+7%), BHP delivers a record dividend, and consumer discretionary gets hammered across the board. Plus the team debuts a new segment: Buy, Avoid, and Wildcard picks. Topics covered: $40 trillion US debt — what it means for fiat currency and precious metals Bitcoin's 20%…
S2 · E132 · 14 Aug 2026 · 48 min
The Forgotten Themes of 2026
Bulls vs Bears Ep. 132 — The Forgotten Themes of 2026. It's been a quiet week, so the team digs into the thematics that got buried by geopolitics and headlines. Rare earths are down 41% from highs and JT lays out three catalysts for a comeback. Software caught a private equity bid on Workday. Kai explains AI sandbox escapes and why cybersecurity keeps running. Plus, an ASX earnings wrap, next week's big reports (NAB, BHP, CSL, JB Hi-Fi), the private equity wave sweeping ASX mid-caps, and why the "neocloud" might be where the next phase of AI investing really kicks in. General advice only.…
S2 · E131 · 7 Aug 2026 · 47 min
EP131: AI & SaaS Bounce as Investors Regain Bull-ief
EP131: AI & SaaS Bounce as Investors Regain Belief The full crew reunites — JT's back from holiday, Phil's settling in, and markets are at all-time highs across the board. Record ETF inflows, fear & greed stuck at 40, and ASX earnings season is off to a flying start. We unpack AMP's gap-up, Credit Corp's algo-driven sell-off (and why buying it at the open was the move), James Hardie's US aftermarket rally, and the Nick Scali playbook. In the US, Microsoft and Amazon saved the week while Google's AI team had a mass exodus. The SaaS apocalypse is over — CrowdStrike, Palo Alto and Atlassian are…
S2 · E130 · 3 Aug 2026 · 32 min
EP130: CHIPLASH
Memory chip stocks delivered some of the most violent moves we've ever seen this week — Micron down 9% then up 18%, SK Hynix down 15% then up 29%. The index barely moved. Welcome to Chiplash. We break down the chip carnage, Microsoft's best day since 2007, Amazon's AI cloud hitting a US$26B run rate, Meta getting sold off, the chip-to-software rotation, Australia's CPI surprise and what it means for rates, oil market spin from the US energy secretary, Korea's margin call crisis, and a viewer-suggested SaaS stock that actually passed the sniff test. Plus: JT wins the Bull/Bear comp from…
S2 · E129 · 24 Jul 2026 · 38 min
EP129: Hyperscalers Turn Into Hyper-Spenders
We welcome Phil Deloughery to the team and dive straight into the hyperscaler CapEx blowout — Google's first-ever negative free cash flow quarter, Oracle's spend ballooning 26x in five years, and all the major cloud players expected to go negative free cash flow next year. Plus: Iran escalation and Houthi disruption shutting down the Bab el-Mandeb strait, US oil reserves at 45-year lows, Brent at $100, Tesla down 14% on zero robotaxi/Optimus updates, Aussie employment blowing past expectations (+76K) making another rate hike near-certain, the ASX SaaS stocks getting crushed, and Trump…
S2 · E128 · 17 Jul 2026 · 51 min
EP128: is it time to "Abandon Chip" or buy the "Chip"
Chip stocks are getting hammered. TSMC beat earnings by 10%+ and still dropped. Netflix lost 9% after pulling more transparency. IBM got flogged 37%. Is this the dip to buy — or the start of something worse? Mark, Finn and Kai break down the wreckage, the CapEx risk heading into Alphabet and Tesla earnings, and where the real opportunities are sitting. Oil gets a deep dive — US reserves at 40-year lows, Hormuz back in crisis mode, and refining margins 20% above previous records. Buy-the-dip picks include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Coinbase, and Arista Networks. Kai explains why Arista's…
S2 · E127 · 10 Jul 2026 · 38 min
EP127: Be fearful when others are greedy
The optimists are away — JT's sailing to Japan and Finn's in Tonga with the whales — so the ex-bond traders are running the show. Mark walks through 12 risk factors that have been quietly building: record margin lending, rock-bottom cash allocations, almost zero downside protection, and corporate bond demand starting to dry up. Meanwhile, the semiconductor sector is splitting in two — memory chip makers are printing money while the hyperscalers writing the cheques are starting to feel it. Plus: Meta making its own chips, Apple's luxury AR glasses play, the India-Australia uranium deal,…
S2 · E126 · 3 Jul 2026 · 49 min
EP126: The Half Time Report
The best first half in the Dow in fifty years is in the books. Mark, Kai and guest Finn unpack a monster six months — the record SOX rally, why chips just cracked (Micron down 20% in two sessions), and where the money's rotating next. Plus: the ASX halftime card, why healthcare could finally be turning, Kai's Pro Medicus trade of the half year, and a deep dive into the AI stack — infrastructure, cloud, application — and why the cloud distribution layer is the opportunity most investors are sleeping on. MPC Markets also turns three. Happy birthday to us.
S2 · E125 · 26 Jun 2026 · 36 min
EP125: Chips Ahoy!
Micron beat earnings by $6 billion and hit record highs. Memory chip stocks — MU, SK Hynix, SanDisk, Lam Research — are all running. The catch? It's coming out of the Mag-7's margins. Hyperscalers are paying through the nose for HBM RAM and it shows in their charts. This is the clearest divergence in the AI trade right now. We also cover SpaceX raising $85.5B in equity plus a $25B corporate bond and reportedly building its own gas pipeline for data centers. Sam Altman has pushed the OpenAI API IPO to next year. CATL dropped a sodium energy storage system — bad timing for lithium stocks. On…
S2 · E124 · 19 Jun 2026 · 49 min
EP124: The next Mega IPO's
Bulls vs Bears EP124: The Next Mega IPOs — SpaceX, OpenAI vs Anthropic & What Actually Matters SpaceX just listed. OpenAI is burning $14B this year. Anthropic just hit a $965B post-money valuation. So which one is actually investable — and which ones are traps? In this week’s episode, Mark Gardner, Kai and JT cut through the noise on the biggest IPO and AI stories moving markets right now. We break down: The full SpaceX share lock-up release schedule and the five dates that could make or break the stock (QQQ inclusion, Starship Flight 13, Q2/Q3 earnings unlocks, and Musk’s 366-day lockup)…
S2 · E123 · 12 Jun 2026 · 48 min
EP123: Are the 3 MEGA IPOs Signalling a Market Bubble?
🚀 SpaceX, OpenAI & Anthropic: Are the 3 MEGA IPOs Signalling a Market Bubble? | Bulls vs Bears In this week's Bulls vs Bears, Mark Gardner and the team dive deep into the biggest financial story of 2026 — the wave of mega IPOs that could reshape global markets. With SpaceX reportedly listing at $1.77 trillion , alongside OpenAI and Anthropic, we're witnessing what could be the three largest IPOs in history. Is this the peak of market euphoria or the start of a new era in space, AI, and technology investing? We break down: The explosive valuations and retail frenzy around SpaceX IPO — Elon…
S2 · E122 · 5 Jun 2026 · 44 min
Ep 122 | 10-Week Win Streak Starts to Wobble
Bulls vs Bears Ep 122 | 10-Week Win Streak Starts to Wobble — Dow Rallies, NASDAQ Dips & Software Stocks Update The S&P 500's historic 10-week winning streak is under pressure. In this episode of Bulls vs Bears from MPC Markets, Mark Gardner, JT, and Kai break down a week where old-school indices fought back — the Dow and Russell 2000 both surged ~1.5% while the NASDAQ slipped 0.5%. What we cover in this episode: 00:00 — The 10-week streak wobbles: Dow & Russell rally, tech pulls backMicron joins the trillion-dollar club after an extraordinary run from ~$419 to $1,080. Samsung memory workers…
S2 · E121 · 29 May 2026 · 39 min
Fresh Record Highs for Stocks on AI Frenzy
🎙️ Bulls vs Bears Podcast EP121: Fresh Record Highs for Stocks on AI Frenzywith Jonathan Tacadena & Mark Gardner from MPC Markets In this episode of Bulls vs Bears, Jonathan Tacadena (JT) and Mark Gardner (MG) break down the explosive market action as global stocks hit fresh record highs, fuelled by the unrelenting AI frenzy. From Nvidia and the Magnificent 7 dominating the US market heatmap to strong moves in Apple, Broadcom, and other tech giants — the bulls are charging. We also dissect the ASX heatmap, where miners and select stocks are holding their own amid the global rally. What we…
S2 · E120 · 22 May 2026 · 49 min
EP120: Rockets & AI IPOs: SpaceX
SpaceX is heading to the Nasdaq — and it could make Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. In Episode 120 of Bulls vs Bears, the MPC Markets team unpacks the SpaceX IPO: valuation, timeline, and a total addressable market of $28.5 trillion (that's 25% of global GDP). We also dig into NVIDIA's record earnings and why explosive growth might have a ceiling, Anthropic hitting $10 billion in monthly revenue ahead of schedule, the Cerebras "wafer-scale" chip that's redefining AI inference, Elon's plan to build data centers on the moon using Optimus robots, bond yields flashing red at 5.9% on…
S2 · E119 · 15 May 2026 · 43 min
GPUs CPUs TPUs rocket higher on I.O.U's
Bulls vs Bears: GPUs, CPUs & TPUs Rocket Higher on IOUs | AI Chip Financing Exposed + ASX Budget Reaction In this week's episode of Bulls vs Bears, Mark Gardner and Kai Chen (JT is on tin-foil leave) dive deep into the explosive semiconductor rally. Nvidia, Micron, AMD, and the entire SOX index are surging — but how much is real demand vs circular vendor financing and IOU accounting? We break down: The complex web of AI chip financing, vendor deals, and backlog accounting between Nvidia, hyperscalers, and startups CPU vs GPU vs TPU explained simply (perfect for beginners) Cerebras IPO — 30x…
S2 · E118 · 8 May 2026 · 48 min
EP118: Peace, Love and Semiconductors
Mark, Kai and JT from MPC Markets are back for Episode 118 of Bulls vs Bears: “Peace, Love and Semiconductors.” This week, the team breaks down record highs across global equity markets, the ASX lagging after the RBA, oil’s sharp moves, sticky inflation, rising bond yields, and the relentless semiconductor and AI trade. They also dig into Nvidia, data centres, market concentration, thematic ETFs, commodities, and why structured index exposure may be a smarter core strategy than chasing the next hype stock. Markets are hot, risk is rising, and the boys have plenty to say. Subscribe for weekly…
S1 · E117 · 1 May 2026 · 44 min
EP117 Datacentres Baby!
Mark's living his best life on a boat in Cairns, so Kai and JT are joined this week by crypto-turned-TradFi convert Finn Jadel. The verdict? If you're not building data centres, you're falling behind — and the market is making that very clear. This week the team breaks down Google's blockbuster earnings (spoiler: it's all about the infrastructure), digs into Meta's AI talent war and its ongoing $80B Metaverse hangover, and debates whether the US economy would even be growing at all without the data centre CapEx boom. They also cover the Strait of Hormuz signal hiding in the oil futures…
S2 · E116 · 24 Apr 2026 · 48 min
EP116 (Tinfoil Hat Edition): Trump, Mad Genius or Just Mad?
In this extra-spiky, conspiracy-laden edition of Bulls vs. Bears, the hosts don their tinfoil hats (and look suspiciously like Hershey’s Kisses) to explore whether Trump is a strategic mastermind or simply unhinged. They open with the usual market recap—oil grinding toward $96, refinery fires popping up worldwide, and brutal sell-offs in high-quality Aussie names—before plunging headfirst into three wildly compelling theories tying peak oil, Jared Kushner’s family ties, and a Bitcoin debt-destruction gambit to current events in the Strait of Hormuz. Key Takeaways: Market snapshot: Oil prices…
S2 · E115 · 17 Apr 2026 · 42 min
EP115: if you say it enough times, it must be true
a market that continues to hit record highs despite ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, high energy prices, and rising cost-of-living pressures, with skepticism toward repeated claims of an imminent peace deal. They note the divergence between a euphoric equity market (particularly the Mag Seven) and more cautious signals from bonds and energy markets, while highlighting strong performance in lithium and uranium amid supply concerns. The episode covers Australian bank earnings driven by trading revenues, potential buying opportunities in Viva Energy after a refinery fire,…
S2 · E112 · 10 Apr 2026 · 46 min
EP114: Peace in the Middle East
In this week's Bulls vs Bears episode, the hosts discuss the chaotic Middle East conflict, Trump's rapid "fake ceasefire" announcement via Pakistan, and its immediate market impact, while expressing skepticism over its longevity given the region's history of broken agreements. They analyze the sharp equity rebound despite ongoing oil supply risks, debate AI safety concerns surrounding Anthropic's delayed model release and potential regulation, review technical chart similarities to past bear market rallies, and share their bearish outlook for the week ahead amid geopolitical uncertainty. 6…
S2 · E113 · 2 Apr 2026 · 32 min
EP113: Mission Accomplished....?
Trump's late-week announcement that US forces would hit Iran "extremely hard" for the next two to three weeks — rather than exit — sent markets sharply lower, with crude oil spiking toward $106 and the NASDAQ futures falling nearly 2% by Thursday afternoon. Mark, JT, and Kai work through a volatile week where risk-on/risk-off sentiment flipped multiple times on Trump headlines, review the Bulls vs Bears scoreboard, and assess what Australia's diesel supply constraints could mean if the conflict extends beyond expectations. Key Points Trump reversed market expectations by pledging to…
S2 · E112 · 27 Mar 2026 · 42 min
EP112: It's the Best Plan, it's the Greatest Plan
In episode 112 of Bulls vs. Bears, hosts Jonathan Takadena and the team deliver a sharp, tongue-in-cheek update amid escalating global tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, volatile markets, and a chaotic news cycle dominated by unverified Trump statements. They dissect sharp moves in oil, equities, bonds, and commodities, highlight Australia's worsening fuel crisis (exacerbated by a cyclone knocking out LNG supply), discuss sector rotations including a lithium/EV rebound, Meta/Google legal setbacks, and AI/memory chip impacts, while sharing their current bullish/bearish market views and…
S2 · E111 · 20 Mar 2026 · 44 min
EP111: Energy Infrastructure Under Attack
In this episode of Bulls vs Bears Jonathan, Mark and Kai discuss the escalating US-Israel-Iran conflict dominating markets, with oil prices surging amid attacks on key energy sites like South Pars, the Pentagon's massive $200 billion funding request signaling a prolonged engagement, and Trump's unpredictable diplomacy including threats to flatten adversaries and awkward diplomatic moments. They analyze bearish technical signals in equities (S&P breaking below its 200-day moving average), the impact of quadruple witching options expiry potentially unleashing downside volatility, private…

About Bulls vs. Bears

Bulls vs. Bears is a English business podcast from MPC Markets. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: MPC Markets
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 47 min
Latest episode: 9 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1733119809
Rights: MPC Markets

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