Investor's Edge with Gary Kaltbaum - Flippety flop [05.18.2026]

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

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Investor's Edge with Gary Coltbaum. Straight talk about you and your money. Now from the BizTalk Studios, here is Gary Cultbaum. And welcome once again to Investors Edge. I'm Gary Coltbaum, your host day. Thanks of being with us today. Glad you here, ladies and gentlemen, happy that you are listening. I believe it's May 18th.

It's Monday. It's 2025. 2026. No. I don't drink. Hope you're having a good day. Hope you had a good weekend. We have a five-day week. Next week will be a four-day week. Monday, we have off Memorial Day. Remember what Memorial Day is about. We have lots to cover here, ladies and gentlemen. By the way, I think you all know me by now, right? I am a man of fair play. Honesty. You know that, right? Good.

Because we're going to report the news to you without any commentary or opinion on a few things that occurred in just the last day. You know me, right? Fair play. Honesty. Okay. By the way, this is serious talk on everything that affects you. We'll do. Markets, the economy, your job, your industry.

Let's see. War tariffs, oil prices. bond yields, earnings, credit cards. Yeah, I'm going to throw that in today, credit cards. And anything else that matters to you. And if you do not get this radio show in your city, we'll post it at garyk.com. We'll also post it on our X feed.

If you don't follow us on X, just put our name in. It'll show up. And if you'd like to email me, just be nice because we will be nice back as long as you don't like Hamas. or you're a frickin' crook and all that. Okay, so this is a fair assessment of the last day without commentary or opinion. Last night, the president more than intimated that time was up for Iran and that they're about to go in militarily again.

Futures dropped markedly. Two hours before the market opened, the president said we were close to a deal. During the day, Iran said we haven't even spoken to anybody. In the three o'clock hour, the president announces he's changed his mind. This is on war. This is not on tariffs. This is on war.

Military. The market, which was really getting in trouble, well, the Dow was much better all day, real tough day for the semiconductors and NASDAQ. That came back decently, but the semis were still, we'll discuss that in a little bit. That's the first thing that happened.

Number two, It has come out that in the first quarter alone, the President of the United States did 3,700 trades. That would be 40 trades per day. Representatives have come out and said that the money is independently managed by a third party with no direct control. It has come out that some of the trades were Palantir. A few days before the president on social media said what a great company Palantir was. Big bond trades were done in a company called Corweave. Whoever did it bought a bunch of bonds of Corweave a week before a major announcement from the president.

that shot core weave stock up where the bonds look like they triple. Those are just a couple of for instances. Lastly, the president had sued the IRS for $10 billion, for $10 billion. And of course, there would have been no payout of $10 billion. And no commentary. The head, attorney general now, department of justice, whatever you want to call it, is the president's ex-lawyer. That $10 billion lawsuit was settled for $1.7 billion, which are our tax dollars. The president's criminal defense lawyer runs the DOJ and signed off on the settlement.

The president has stated that that money is for political allies. People from the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Anyone who claims they've been wrongly targeted, including all the January 6th people that were pardoned with a blanket pardon could be up to get our tax dollars. After attacking our capital, all this money is in the president's hands. hands to do what he wants and to give to who he wants. That's the news of the day. We are going to withhold comment. Just remember who I am. Honesty and fair play. With no gray areas, your tax dollars, my tax dollars. I'll end this with one. statement, maybe you want to go watch 10 minutes of the video of January 6th. Those people,

we move on. So, I'm not going to call it a changing of the guard, but I can tell you, worst was first today and first was really getting busted up until the president changed his mind again on war through social media. The NASDAQ went from, let's see. Well, on one five-minute bar went from 25,880 to 26,080, 200 points and still finished down 334, so it was down over 300. And a very rough day for semiconductors and artificial intelligence all day. Now, we'll see if that carries over. I can tell you, I scanned. I didn't scan the clothes,

but I don't think there's going to be much changes. I think we have some near-term tops being put in place. And when I say that, no, we're not going to bear market for the next. NASDAQ, we're not going to a bear market of the semis, but they have to work off some of the move that it's had. So things like, let's see what I got for you here. Storage tech down, oh, that's the music, we'll be back. Up next. On this, the one only Investor's Edge. Hi, I'm Gary Kalpom, hosted a nationally syndicated radio show Investor's Edge. We're not just

handsome radio people, we manage investors' money for a living, specializing in fee-based discretionary money management. No big commissions, just a fee on the assets that's managed. We also provide a full range of personalized services, including retirement planning, fixed income, and educational needs, all to assist you in achieving your financial goals. Understanding not all individuals have the same needs, we'll carefully evaluate your personal goals to determine a proper investment strategy. If your current approach to investing is not getting you to where you would like to be, call us to make an appointment for a complementary portfolio review. The number to call is 888-4-22-5-59.

That's 8-8-8-5-9. That's 888-4-2-2-5-9. Investment Advisory Services offered through call-bomb capital management. It's time to switch on the integrator units and get the brain cells working. You're listening to. Hey, this promises to be fun. Investors Edge. The last bastion of quality programming.

With Gary Coltbaum. It doesn't get better than this. Okay. So let me give you some examples. Seagate Tech was down today $54. We'll call that almost 7%. but may I state for the record, if I can get my track price, before the president made the announcement that he's changing his mind on war for the 50th time was down 84. Sandisk was down $74 today.

but at one time 23 and 33 is 50 was down 124 was that finished down over 5%. Light which got added to the NASDAQ 100 today finished down $85 today. Almost 9% was down at one time another $27. Mike Ron finished down a juicy $43. down 6%, but it was down another 18, so it was down 61 at one time. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index

did finish down 285, which is a pretty good drop. At one time today, before the president changed his mind, minus another 200. It was down 485. So that came back a decent amount. KLAC down 45, ASML down 30. Let me do some. Sienna down 30, Caterpillar, down 25.

This is all artificial intelligence, all that crap. Fix, down 138 bucks. I don't need to do any more, right? It's a rough day. I have no clue if it's a one day wonder or not. But I would say odds favor, probably got some work to do pulling back these names. That said, money flowed into the weakest of areas today.

You know, it was green today? Well, first off, oils because of oil prices, but they came down after the president, changed his mind on war again. But defense stocks bounced. We'll see if they come down tomorrow. Just remember, we may not do war again now. Medical stocks bounced.

But most, just remember, when we say bounce, unless I say it's out of the bare market, they're still in the bare market. Housing bounced a little. Staples bounced. I will tell you in the consumer staples, tobacco stocks are strong. I don't understand anybody smoking cigarettes. but tobacco stocks are strong. Insurance had a very good day, and I got to tell you, I have some insurance stocks that are in pretty good shape. A lot of them are way down.

PFG, TRV travelers, anyway, what else bounced today? I mentioned housing, medical, not really retail, but Costco broke out to all-time highs today. I almost bought it today. I may buy it tomorrow. Just letting you know, don't hold me to that. I'm a big believer when a big name like Costco breaks out in a 15-month range. If it fails, it fails. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

I don't think they report earnings until July. But the rest of the retail, blah. In the Dow, you got to be able to. bounces. I'd like to say this is good news. McDonald's was up six bucks today. But the stock just went from 341 to 275. $6 is about 40 Dow points. By the way, the Dow finished up 160. It was down about 150 when the president changed his mind on war through social media. What else was up in the Dow today? Oil, Chevron was up five. That's about 30 some odd Dow points. Salesforce.com. We'll get to the software in a little bit.

That was up six points, about 40 Dow points. How about IBM up three and a half? That stock's been trashed. We'll call that 20 Dow points. How about 3M was up six? 40 Dow points. Visa was up six. We'll call that 40 Dow points.

And that's done nothing for a long while. Even Home Depot was up a couple of bucks. And that stock has been New Yearly. lows. By the way, they do report tomorrow. I have to tell you, I don't bet before earnings, but if I was a betting man, I got to think Home Depot will act okay towards earnings, right? After the stock just went from 400 to 300, right? Don't you think? I went to two Home Depot's this weekend, and I just mull around. I don't speak to the managers of the place. I speak to some of the people that work there. And both Home Depot's, they said it was not busy. Then again,

it was 95 degrees in Central Florida yesterday. And I think that would maybe take people away from home depots. I think, would hot weather keep you out of a Home Depot or send you to Home Depot? I've got to think about that one. So the Dow got the money flows today and my stuff screen and then software. So there is a separation of powers in software. Crouch strike has made the mother of all U shapes. It went from new yearly lows, right around new yearly lows, to new yearly highs in four weeks.

And we're not talking small move. We're talking $3.50 down to up to $5.67. And guess what? It broke through. It's $618 already. You have gone in the last three, four, five, eight days, $460 to $618. Security software. Palo Alto is another one doing the same.

Fortinette had earnings and gapped it up. Software security also. So that group is given the middle finger to artificial intelligence. Other software is better, but not even close to the software security names. Not even close. But software had another good day versus the semiconductors and artificial intelligence. The IGV is the symbol. It was up 1% today, while the soccer.

was down two and a half and I'm always surprised by going from the outhouse to the penthouse in just a few weeks like Croutstrike is done now there was some news about artificial intelligence working with the software security I don't think Einstein could understand some of the crap that was said all I can tell you is the stocks have you shaped up It's a big you. Doesn't happen often. Up next. What else is going on?

Out there. I'm Gary. This is the one on the Investor's Edge. We're listening to. America is talking. Investors Edge. He's got to be pleased with that. The crowd is just on his feet here.

He's a Cinderella boy. With Gary Coltbaum. It comes highly recommended. You're going to feel better if you talk to him. So just a few other things I want to bring up. The froth is getting kicked in the teeth. Good to see. I never like seeing froth.

You know what they did here recently? You know our poster child for the no sale stuff is that O K-L-O. And remember, we got nothing against the company. We have everything against valuations and no sales. So just to remind you, OKLO was a SPAC. And it's involved in nuclear and stuff like that. And it rallied up from 10 to 193 with no sales. They've had announcements about things that could happen or will happen

who we'll find out, but to this day, no sales. And back in last September, when it made this run from 75 to 193, in between that, it was not just nuclear, it was quantum stocks with no sales, I don't think rare earth was going yet, some drones with no sales, and we just warned you. And we use the same language every time. What's the same language? same language is simple if and when the music stops and there's no chairs left and the areas are no hot anymore and they still have no sales they're pretty much all going to go back to where they

came from because when you go into the bearish phase valuations matter in a bullish phase with as froth and speculation. Nobody gives a crap about valuation. You remember when Rivian came out, we yelled at you. Please don't, don't, don't. They brought it out with no sales, except I believe they gave out to some cars to employees.

No sales. And it had a bigger market cap. Not at the IPO. They had gapped it up after earn, after the IPO, almost as big as GM and Ford that at the time had 260 billion sales. And we just said, and we don't usually give out numbers and stuff, we flippantly said, and this is a $10 stock. And you know what it did?

It went like the $10. Anyway, so OKLO hit 194, and it gave it like a $30 billion market cap with no sales. and that was last September. And we just warned you on the way up. And recently it went from 194, over six, seven month period, to 44 bucks. And recently, with the market getting better and some froth, it doubled almost. Went from 4488 recently, in a matter about four weeks, by the way, to a high recently of 81.50. and what did we do?

We came out and warned again on this show. And we said very simply, we don't know if it's going back to 190 or not. It could. Just remember when this froth and speculation, all valuations are thrown out, goes wherever it can go. But we just said, be careful.

Well, it's back down to 58 bucks. It's dropped from 80 to 56 in the last six days. and amazingly, I would never mention who, but an analyst put a buy recommendation on it, and I have to tell you, I'd like to meet this analyst and tell them, I ask them, what the blank are you doing? No sales because at 80 bucks,

and that's when they put it out. It still had like a $14 billion market cap, 13, 14, with no sales. And I can promise you, if we ever go into a bigger, a real bare market, which eventually we will, and they have no sales, it's gone back to 10. That's how it works. They're already killing all the other froth and speculation. The ridiculously priced IPOs, you know, we've covered those.

So just letting you know they're hitting them again in spite of a buy recommendation. And they're coming after the rare race again and the drones and some of the other. Just be careful. We're not telling you to buy, sell shorter cover. We're just saying be careful. And maybe go look. Do you want to buy a stock with no sales like OKLO that has an $11 billion market cap today? And again, it could go to 190 again.

We know how froth and speculation works in the market. Just a warning shot. That's all. As always, you decide it's your money. But man, oh man. You know how I know people are speculating these things? I get emails on it. Hey, Gary, so what do you think of this?

And I email back it as no sales. You know what I get back from people? I know it's no sales, but it's been moving up. How do you debate that? Don't know. Speaking of that, Ethereum is breaking down. That is a crypto, really broke back down. Bitcoin is not, but little rolling over today in Bitcoin.

Its nascent rally off the lows is still intact, but maybe the stair steps it was trying to build not intact anymore. We'll see. Just letting you know about the crypto. And I just, the warning shot that the people that said 150,000 by the end of December, then said end of January, then March, just be careful. And she's still out there saying $1.5 million by 2030. Yeah, because there's so many things that go up 20 fold in a matter of three and a half years, right? So just be careful.

And as I've told you with crypto, I'm not saying it's not going up or down, but nobody. can answer yet, what's the fundamentals behind it? There's nothing. Just letting you know, but it didn't stop it going from this. I think it hit a high of 125. So I don't argue that point. Just letting you know. My favorite one when somebody asked about fundamentals, you know what they said the fundamentals behind it were? It's limited amount. No more's coming out. isn't that a Ponzi scheme? Just asking. Anyway, again, just be careful.

Just be careful. Mark, it is a friendly and unfriendly place. I can promise you that. It doesn't like any of us. Got to work at it. But today, worst was first. First was worst. the president changed in his mind again on war on social media, stanched the bleeding,

stanched the move up in yields and oil prices. He said the reason why he changed his mind is because he spoke to some of the heads of the Middle East after saying they were going in tomorrow. Tomorrow's another day. Today was quite the moving around based on markets. As we have told you, we are rooting from. We, all that stuff. All that stuff.

And of course, housing, just letting you know, remains soft. We did a lot of legwork on housing this weekend. it remains very soft and I can flat out tell you inventory continues to pick up a lot of areas massive amounts of inventory and when there's massive amounts of inventory the sellers have to compete on price by lowering price not everywhere I can promise you homes on the ocean do pretty well but a lot of fantasy land has come down. Still coming down. Up next.

This, that, and the other thing. Oh, credit cards. This is the one only Investor's Edge. You're listening to. What are we waiting for? Well, what are you waiting for? One, two, ready, go. Action!

In Investors Edge. With Gary Culper. So, I noticed, that Dave Ramsey has some sort of symposium here in central Florida today. The only reason I know is because somebody announced it on TV today. So I'm thinking to myself, boy, I got a radio show, and I know what he talks about a lot, and that is debt and credit cards and all that.

So every now and then, and every now and then, we like discussing credit cards. and things that I think you know, but so many are not in position to act accordingly. In case you don't know, the credit card companies, and I want to be careful with my words, they make their big bucks on interest and late fees in case you don't know interest and late fees. If you get, if you sign up for a credit card, you will get something in there. It's paperwork and stuff. And you, most people don't read it, but it'll tell you, 29% if you don't pay it off.

every month. Now, I don't know about you, but add up 29% a month. I'm not, I haven't really checked. It used to be where they would never tell you if you didn't pay it off, how many years it would, if you only pay the minimum amount, the credit cards will send the minimum due, the minimum due, the minimum due, the minimum do. Yeah, just send the minimum. Oh, you owe $3,000? Just send us $30. Oh, okay.

And we're going to charge you 29% on the rest. You catching my drift? That's where they make their big bucks. Do you know how MasterCard? By the way, MasterCard went public. I'm looking when back in 2006, has a split cost of $1,000, bucks. It's 505 today. Visa went public in 08. We'll call, let's say 13 bucks split. It's

332. They're the greatest bookies on earth if you let them be. I have told you time and time again, I've never paid interest on a credit card. And in case you don't know, and I don't want to like I think you're dummies, but it's debt. And if you're not paying off your credit card every month, that means you may have bought things that you probably maybe, maybe shouldn't have bought. I know there's necessities and stuff like that, but I'm just letting you know they got you by the you know what's. Now, of course, they disclose all of it. And some of the writings they discloses in the letters of the size Superman couldn't read. And there's so much mumbling jumble in there.

But we're just letting you know, I have my American Express bill in front of me. And every month I see interest charged, nothing. Nothing. Fees, nothing. And due to the fact, I have minimum dues. on this one. I don't know how that's possible. But just letting you know, and as I go to the next page, that's where how we calculate your balance, how to avoid paying interest, your due date and all that crap. Dave Ramsey's got it right. If you are not paying off every month,

there's a chance you probably could not afford. what you got. Just think about it. I've known people in the past that got 12 different credit cards over a two-year period, one higher limit than the next and couldn't ever pay off anything.

So we're just letting you know. Do you know every day I get 5, 6, 7 calls from spam wanting to give me money? And they sound, oh, they're doing you a favor. No, it's all debt. It's the enemy. Don't get caught with it.

You know, I've never met Dave Ramsey. I want to one day. And he's built an empire on good, on good. Just letting you know, I've never paid interest. I think one time they tried to, I called them up. they took that sucker right off. So just letting you know, know the enemy, lottery, the enemy,

scratch-offs the enemy. And all you got to do is look it up. The odds to win lottery, you can get hit by lightning two days in a row at the same time, same place, and have better odds of that than winning the lottery. But they got you, you know why? They do commercials.

You never know. The person that wins. My favorite one is the casinos now because gambling's proliferating. They only show you the winners. The draft kings of the world. The winners, the winners, the winners. You know who the winners get paid by? The losers.

I just want you to remember all this. It's things I taught my children early on. There are certain things out there that are being foisted upon you. Lottery by your government. Just remember, that's your government. You can't start a lottery, right? Why can't you start a lottery? But government can. And you know who gets hurt the worst by the lotteries and the scratchoffs? The poor and the lower income class, just remember all that. They got you. They're good at it. Hey, that all says. said, have a great evening drive carefully.

Who the hell knows what happens tomorrow with the war and the press and all that stuff. And when you get home, do like we do quite simple. Make sure you hug your family, hug your children. They will feel better. You will feel better. I promise. Stay well, be well. Serenity now.

Good night all. Bye, bye. This has been Investors Edge with Gary Cult Bomb on BizTalk. To listen to past episodes or to get in contact with Gary, go to GaryK.com. That's GaryK.com. Thank you.