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Four stories today — all connected to your portfolio. NIO's US-listed shares jumped nearly 4% in overnight trading after the company rolled out a major upgrade to its NIO World Model driver-assist platform — reaching over 700,000 vehicles, including cars sold up to four years ago. The update runs across both Nvidia Orin-X chips and NIO's own in-house Shenji chips simultaneously. NIO claims lower latency, smoother vehicle control, and industry-leading route selection without HD maps. Driver-assist usage has doubled since January and the AI compiler boosted inference performance by 20%. NIO's head of autonomous driving R&D, Ren Shaoqing, said this week that NIO has caught up on its "smart driving lesson" and that technology innovation in this space is about to restructure the entire competitive landscape. William Li separately warned of a potential 20% contraction in China's auto market this year — yet NIO maintains its 50% delivery growth target regardless. Noam Shazeer, co-inventor of the transformer architecture that powers every modern large language model including GPT, Claude, and Gemini, just left Google for OpenAI. Shazeer previously left Google to found Character.AI, returned in a multi-billion dollar deal in 2024, and is now switching labs again less than two years later. The AI talent war has reached the point where the literal inventor of the foundational technology is being recruited between every major lab simultaneously. Gas prices dropped below $4 per gallon today for the first time since March — a direct result of Brent crude falling to $79 as markets price in tomorrow's formal Iran deal signing ceremony in Switzerland. The sequence is playing out as forecast: oil down, consumer prices down, inflation pressure easing. Shippers are already reporting a slow recovery through Hormuz shipping routes. Chinese EVs now represent 6 of every 10 electric vehicles sold globally. Nearly 75% of all EVs produced worldwide are made in China. Export growth to markets without import controls has been staggering — up 130% in Southeast Asia, 60% in the Middle East, 55% in Latin America year over year. Canada alone sold 940,000 Chinese-made electric cars last year, up roughly 50%. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book and Paperback available NOW on Amazon. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Six stories today — NIO leads and the China EV global expansion story is the one your portfolio needs to hear. NIO Champion Edition deliveries start Saturday June 20th — ET5, ET5 Touring, and EC6 all launching simultaneously. Starting at 313,000 yuan, better equipped and cheaper than last year's versions. The 5566 lineup has been struggling — down 56.3% year over year in May — and the Champion Editions are NIO's answer. William Li said making EV models lighter takes courage. In May pure EVs outsold combustion cars in China for the first time ever. He expects 70% NEV penetration by Q3 2026. Chinese automakers can't enter the US because of 102.5% tariffs. So they're flanking. Geely acquired Ford's factory in Valencia Spain. BYD is in talks with Stellantis for idle European factories. Xpeng is talking to Volkswagen about a European plant. BYD's Brazil factory holds 12.8% of Brazil's auto market, outselling Volkswagen and Fiat. And several Chinese automakers are exploring Mexico as the route into North America under USMCA preferential trade access. China's auto exports are up 61.5% year over year in the first four months of 2026. The tariff wall didn't stop Chinese EVs. It redirected them. Kevin Warsh held his first Fed press conference and repeatedly stressed "price stability" as his guiding principle. Money markets immediately priced in a rate hike by October. S&P 500 fell 1.2%. Two-year Treasury yields climbed 16 basis points. The most hawkish Fed signal since the Iran war started. But the Iran deal signs this Friday in Switzerland. The 14-point memorandum covers a permanent ceasefire, Hormuz reopening, and immediate Iranian oil export waivers. Brent crude is already at $79. Oil futures are pricing $72 by February. When oil falls inflation follows. When inflation falls rate cuts return. When rate cuts return growth stocks re-rate upward. Friday's signing is the real signal for your portfolio. BMW cut its 2026 profit guidance citing China demand weakness that "cannot be compensated" by Europe and US gains. State Farm's new agent contracts face massive backlash as AI looms over the insurance industry. SpaceX shares are losing post-IPO steam. And the USA World Cup opener smashed every US soccer broadcast record — the business story behind the headline. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book and Paperback available NOW on Amazon. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY BONUS: Before June 30th — new users who deposit $5,000 get an EXTRA $30 in SpaceX stock 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Five stories today — one of the most stacked news days of the year. SpaceX confirmed Tuesday it is acquiring Cursor — the AI coding tool developed by Anysphere — for $60 billion in an all-stock deal closing Q3 2026. Cursor generates $2.6 billion in annualized B2B revenue and is used by Fortune 500 developers globally. SpaceX's stock gained 16% on Tuesday, surpassing Amazon in market cap. Elon Musk now controls SpaceX, xAI, Grok, Tesla, X, and the world's most used AI coding tool. SpaceX has also signed $26 billion per year in compute deals with Anthropic and Google combined. NIO Day 2026 preparations just started — advisory group applications are open now with a June 18 deadline. Deutsche Bank expects NIO's Q2 non-GAAP net profit to reach approximately 180 million yuan — a second consecutive profitable quarter driven by high-margin ES8 and ES9 SUV performance. NIO AGM is June 24th. Deloitte surveyed 3,235 business and IT leaders across 24 countries: 74% want AI to grow revenue, only 20% have seen it happen — a 54-point gap between ambition and reality. 80-85% of enterprises miss their AI budget forecasts by more than 25%. Uber blew its entire 2026 AI coding budget by April. One company racked up a $500 million Claude bill from forgetting to set usage limits. The era of AI accountability has started. Yum Brands is selling Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion. Brand recognition without innovation is nostalgia with a price tag. BlackRock is laying off for the third time in 18 months as AI replaces financial services roles faster than anyone predicted publicly. The US confirmed it will lift Iran oil sanctions the moment the accord is formally signed. Accord signed. Sanctions lifted. Iranian oil returns. Oil drops. Inflation eases. Rate cuts return. Growth stocks re-rate upward. Watch for the signature. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book and Paperback available NOW on Amazon. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY BONUS: Before June 30th — new users who deposit $5,000 get an EXTRA $30 in SpaceX stock 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Four stories today — all connected to your NIO position and the broader Chinese EV investment thesis. William Li spoke at the China Auto Chongqing Summit on June 13th and said something most CEOs would never say publicly. China's domestic auto retail sales declined 19.5% year over year in the first five months of 2026. Early June accelerated to down 22%. The full year could fall 15-20%. He called this the most brutal competitive environment he's faced since entering the industry. Then he reaffirmed NIO will grow 40-50% this year anyway. That's not a contradiction. China's passenger vehicle ownership has reached 370 million units — the market has shifted from growth to replacement demand. Saturated markets reward brands with real differentiation and punish brands that competed on price alone. NIO spent 68.8 billion yuan on R&D and 20 billion yuan on charging and battery swap infrastructure. The ES8 is number one large SUV in China for six consecutive months. The ES9 has a 17-week queue. The Firefly outsells Mini and Smart combined. NIO designed itself for this exact moment. From the Chinese internet — are American automakers isolating themselves from the world? Chinese EVs face 102.5% tariffs in the US but are winning Canada, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East simultaneously. China and Canada just agreed to allow 49,000 Chinese vehicles in at reduced tariffs. The US consumer is being priced out of the world's most competitively priced EVs. The security arguments are real — but so is the market outcome. US auto faces higher costs and fewer global opportunities while Chinese brands expand everywhere else. The Pentagon added NIO to its Chinese military companies list on June 9th. NIO called it unjustified and threatened legal action. This is not a sanctions list and does not restrict trading of NIO securities. Some institutional mandates force selling — that's real but finite pressure. 18 analysts have buy ratings. The average price target implies 27% upside. NIO's AGM is June 24th — nine days from now. That's the meeting that actually matters. China's NEV penetration rate hit 62.9% in May. Pure battery electric vehicles were 42.2% of all new car sales. William Li said the transition is irreversible. Six out of ten new cars sold in China are electric or hybrid. That's not a trend anymore. That's a completed transition. NIO is built for the world that already exists. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book and Paperback available NOW on Amazon. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Four stories today — starting with the controversy dominating Chinese automotive social media right now. Li Auto posted a chassis comparison video on their official platform comparing the Li L9 Livis to the NIO ES9. The video was designed to make the ES9 look inferior. NIO's VP of Branding Ma Lin went public on Weibo and challenged the video's authenticity — stating that what it showed was physically impossible given the ES9's suspension specifications. Li Auto deleted the video without responding. This is not the first time. The pattern is a company under sales pressure reaching for competitive tactics that keep backfiring. Li Auto's year-over-year sales have been falling for most of the past 12 months. A company that is winning doesn't need to manufacture evidence against a competitor. NIO president Qin Lihong confirmed the All-New ES8 will complete its 120,000th delivery in June. At the same time the ES9 hits its 10,000th delivery — in its very first full month of production. Two milestones. Same month. The barbell is working. NIO June total deliveries are expected to top 40,000 units. My Discord raised the honest bear case questions this week. NIO is running on a few demand engines. If those slow down without new ones behind them Q3 and Q4 gets complicated. The R&D restructuring concern — subsidiaries absorbing innovation spend off the consolidated books — is a real question. Is profitability being achieved by weakening the long-term innovation engine? I don't want that trade. NIO's approach is more conservative than Xpeng's physical AI moonshot. Conservative can be right. Conservative can also mean getting outflanked. The jury is still out and these questions deserve honest answers. NIO fell 5.8% on the week because the May jobs report doubled consensus at 172,000 added. The 10-year yield spiked to 4.54%. "Good news is bad news" — strong jobs means the Fed doesn't cut. Kevin Warsh walks into a rate hike environment nobody expected. This is a macro story not a NIO thesis story. Watch oil. Watch the Iran deal. That's your real signal. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

NIO is playing a different game — and Motley Fool just called it out. While competitors chase export volume and watch margins collapse, NIO focuses on winning the domestic market with brand, tech, and community. William Li’s warning that China’s automotive golden era is over actually strengthens NIO’s positioning in a mature, saturated market. Plus: Uber burned through its full 2026 AI budget by April, one company hit a $500 million Claude bill, enterprise AI costs are exploding, and founders are finally naming names on VC horror stories (including Sequoia passing on today’s $87B Cloudflare). May jobs report (+172k) adds macro pressure for the new Fed chair. Real talk from Obi: NIO’s strategy looks increasingly smart, the AI spending narrative is getting stress-tested, and capital allocation biases have real consequences. Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. Pre-order now on Amazon (E-book ready, hard copy June 12th). 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R Moomoo, Nord Security, and Discord links in the full show notes. Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi. NIO bull. Objective lens.

NIO is executing. The ES9 flagship is already on pace for 10,000 deliveries this month with strong waitlists on higher trims. Fresh today: partnership with GigaDevice on next-gen automotive chips and another smart financing move through Mirattery at ultra-low rates. We also check XPENG — strong demand on the GX SUV but a notable loss in their robotics team. Plus the hot US jobs report, Supabase hitting $10B valuation, Mira Murati speaking out, GM’s battery push, and a quick SpaceX/NASA moment. Real talk: NIO’s steady progress in the premium segment stands out while competition stays intense and macro throws some short-term pressure. The affluent buyer thesis and tech integration moves are what matter long-term. Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel is now available for pre-order on Amazon. E-book ready now, hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R Moomoo, NordVPN/NordPass, and Discord links in the full show notes. Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi. NIO bull. Objective lens.

Four stories today — starting with the luxury car conversation that connects directly to your NIO thesis. Rolls-Royce unveiled the new Spectre electric car and the Chinese internet destroyed it immediately — too conservative, no technology story, just an expensive car with a plug. A Chinese financial analysis summed it up: domestic luxury brands still have a lot to learn about what luxury means in 2026. Ferrari got the same treatment with the Luce last week but the follow-up analysis argues Ferrari prepared for it and doesn't care — their target is the tech nouveau riche globally, not Chinese internet approval. Here's the nuance everyone is missing. The NIO buyer is neither of these people. Ferrari and Rolls-Royce buyers have exorbitant disposable income — these are toys, discretionary purchases alongside yachts and private jets. The NIO ES9 buyer at 498,000 yuan is a wealthy professional making a serious primary vehicle decision. That market is enormous. Ferrari's is deliberately tiny. Western luxury brands struggling to connect with Chinese consumers is a gift to NIO — which has spent 8 years studying exactly what the Chinese affluent professional buyer wants. Bloomberg published "How the Iran War Is Boosting Clean Energy in Asia and Europe" today — the same thesis this channel has been making since February. The energy price shock from Hormuz is accelerating EV adoption globally. Chinese companies supply the alternatives. NIO exports are already reflecting it. Broadcom reported earnings and missed — stock plunged double digits. CrowdStrike also dropped sharply. The Nasdaq fell 0.76% while the Dow gained over 1% as investors rotated out of chip stocks. First real crack in the AI chip trade. Speed bump not collapse — the underlying AI infrastructure spending is real and continues regardless of any single earnings miss. The House passed a war powers resolution limiting Trump on Iran — he called it meaningless. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire today — oil and yields slipped. The direction is toward resolution. Jobs report Friday morning sets the tone for June. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Four stories today — all connected to the biggest month in NIO's history. NIO has burned approximately 100 billion yuan — $14.6 billion — over 8 years since William Li founded the company in 2014. June is the verdict month. NIO delivered 67,061 vehicles in April and May combined. To hit Q2 guidance of 110,000-115,000 vehicles it needs 42,939 to 47,939 in June alone. The ES9 is in its first full production month with over 50,000 pre-orders. Onvo L60 deliveries begin June 11. Gen 5 swap stations arrive mid to late June. NIO's short interest just hit a 32-month low — the bears are leaving. The setup has never been better. A major Chinese analysis this week asks why Chinese cars are getting bigger. The answer: margin pressure is forcing every automaker upmarket into flagship territory where profits still exist. But the article makes a critical point — most brands launching flagships above 400,000 yuan are bystanders. Only brands with years of authentic premium investment can actually convert those buyers. NIO has spent 8 years building that identity. Most competitors have not. Lotus — the iconic British sports car brand owned by Geely — just walked back 8 years of all-electric commitment and is reintroducing hybrid powertrains. Pure EV was correct as a direction. But for a performance brand whose customers track their cars, range anxiety and charging limitations made the all-electric bet commercially unworkable. The Chinese internet put it perfectly: "Going fully electric was correct. Retreating from fully electric is rational." NIO's battery swap network was built specifically to solve the problem that just forced Lotus to retreat. Trump confirmed in a Wednesday interview that Iran has already agreed not to pursue nuclear weapons — and that the Strait of Hormuz could reopen as soon as this month. That triggers a sequence: oil drops, inflation falls, rate cut expectations return, growth stocks re-rate upward. Watch oil tonight. Watch Treasury yields. June could be historic for your portfolio in more ways than one. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Quick correction upfront — yesterday's story about William Li preparing an 8th IPO came from a Chinese article headline I could not fully verify. I'm pulling it back until confirmed. Credibility first always. The ES9 launched May 27th and already has a 17-week delivery queue. NIO stock surged 6.79% on June 1st and is trading at $6.18. The demand is real. But a serious question is being asked — the ES8 sold 110,000 units in 8 months. Can the ES9 replicate that in a market where product half-lives keep shrinking? The honest bull case: the ES9 at 498,000 yuan targets a different buyer than the ES8 at 406,800 yuan. If NIO opened a new segment rather than cannibalizing an existing one, the ES9 has its own ceiling to find. The honest bear case: the 17-week queue reflects initial pent-up pre-order demand. The real test is August and September when that normalizes. Huawei, Aito, Zeekr, and Yangwang are all competing for the same buyer above 400,000 yuan. The S&P 500 crossed 7,600 for the first time today. HPE surged 30% on its biggest earnings beat since 2018. Alphabet announced plans to raise $80 billion from stock sales dedicated to AI infrastructure. The AI trade keeps running regardless of macro headwinds. SpaceX's IPO roadshow is live this week. The company targets $1.8 trillion. Morningstar values it at $780 billion. The gap is Elon Musk's broader vision — xAI, X, Starship — versus just the proven rocket and Starlink business. Watch the order book when it opens. Florida's Attorney General sued OpenAI and is seeking to hold Sam Altman personally liable for alleged harms. First major state-level action targeting an AI CEO individually. If it gains traction every AI company's risk calculus changes permanently. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Four stories today — starting with the most important week in NIO's 2026 delivery story so far. NIO delivered 37,705 vehicles in May 2026 — up 62.3% year over year and up 28.4% from April's 29,356. Three brands all firing: 20,013 NIO brand, 12,029 Onvo, 5,663 Firefly. Year-to-date deliveries hit 150,526 — up 68.7% year over year. Cumulative deliveries reached 1,148,118. The ES8 has been the number one selling vehicle above 400,000 yuan for five consecutive months. The ES9 has over 50,000 pre-orders — with deliveries only starting May 28th. June is when the ES9 volume really arrives. William Li is reportedly preparing to take Mirattery — NIO's battery asset operator — public as his eighth IPO. Mirattery owns the batteries in NIO's 3,846 swap stations. It recently closed a Series C total of nearly 2 billion yuan with state-backed institutional investors. A Mirattery IPO gives the battery swap infrastructure its own public valuation — separate from NIO's stock price. NIO shareholders already own a piece of that business. The market hasn't priced it in yet. The May Chinese EV delivery rankings reshuffled. Leapmotor delivered 81,569 units — record high for the second consecutive month. Zeekr delivered 34,377 units up 81.81% year over year. Huawei HIMA delivered 46,122. Xiaomi exceeded 30,000 for the month. BYD delivered 376,990 — ending its 8-month year-over-year decline streak. The market is forming a barbell — premium brands and value brands winning, the middle getting squeezed. NIO is firmly on the premium side of that barbell. The Iran 60-day MOU is still waiting for Trump's signature. Hormuz remains largely closed. Oil at $92.56. June brings Gen 5 swap stations, Onvo L60 launch, and ES9 volume ramping. The setup for Q3 is building now. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Four stories to close out May — starting with the most underrated bull case in the NIO thesis right now. NIO's battery swap network delivered 16% of all EV charging energy in China over a five-day period. Not 16% of NIO vehicle energy. 16% of ALL electric vehicle charging energy across the entire Chinese market. From one company's infrastructure. In five days. The market is pricing NIO as a car company. The swap network is becoming an energy infrastructure business — a recurring revenue platform with a flywheel that gets stronger with every vehicle sold. Gen 5 swap stations arrive mid to late June, unified across all three NIO brands for the first time. The number that is already 16% goes higher. Software stocks closed May as their best month since 2001. The SaaSpocalypse — the fear that AI would destroy SaaS — didn't happen. Dell surged 33%. Snowflake 36.5%. AI is making software more valuable not less — selecting for the companies that use AI as a feature rather than running from it as a threat. SpaceX trimmed its self-assessed valuation to $1.8 trillion and is still on track for the largest IPO in world history. MiniMax — the Chinese AI company recently compared to DeepSeek — is pursuing a China listing. SoftBank announced plans to invest up to €75 billion in French AI data centers. The AI infrastructure arms race is now a global story. The US and Iran are "mostly agreed" on a 60-day memorandum of understanding — ceasefire extended, Hormuz reopens, nuclear talks begin. The deal still needs Trump's signature. Oil closed May at $92.56 — down nearly 19% for the month — worst monthly performance since COVID. Watch Monday morning. If the deal gets signed the market opens at a new record and everything that's been held back by the macro overhang since February starts to move. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Four stories today — all connected to the future of the Chinese EV market and your portfolio. BYD unveiled the Xuanji A3 — China's first mass-produced automotive-grade 4nm smart driving chip. 2,100 TOPS of computing power in a three-chip configuration. Built for L3 and L4 autonomous driving. Already in mass production. But the real story is the 24-year infrastructure behind it. BYD set up its chip division in 2002 — before the iPhone. 7,000 chip engineers. 5 wafer fabrication facilities. Over 2,000 chip products across 13 categories. Chips supplying 46 other automotive brands. BYD is the only automaker on earth with full-process chip manufacturing capability — from architecture design through wafer manufacturing to testing. Wang Chuanfu said it directly: "The second half of intelligentization is all about chips." Xpeng reported Q1 with revenue down 17.6% year over year while R&D jumped nearly 50% in the opposite direction. That scissors gap swallowed every positive effect from improved margins. Xpeng has 42 billion yuan in cash burning at over 5 billion per quarter — chasing Robotaxi, humanoid robots, a flying car, and the Turing chip licensing business. He Xiaopeng is betting that 2026-2028 are the three most critical years for physical AI and that bleeding now means dominating later. High risk. High ceiling. A suspected mine was reported in the Strait of Hormuz by Omani authorities this morning. A ceasefire framework sits waiting for final signatures — 60-day extension, Hormuz reopens, nuclear talks begin. Oil is down 20% from 2026 highs — worst monthly performance since COVID. Watch Treasury yields Sunday night. Watch oil Monday morning. Those two numbers tell you what the market believes. Audi started pre-sales for the China-specific E7X — and dropped the four-ring logo entirely, replacing it with just the letters AUDI. Co-developed with SAIC. Starting at 289,800 yuan. When a brand that competed directly with NIO's target customer strips its most recognizable identity to survive in China — that's the most bullish NIO data point of the week. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Dell Technologies just had its best single session in company history — up 33% after beating earnings and raising full-year guidance. AI server demand is flooding Dell's infrastructure division. Snowflake surged 36.5%. Best Buy up 15.8%. And today I want to have the honest conversation this channel has needed to have. I am a news guy first. I found the NIO story because it was one of the most compelling business stories of the decade — a Chinese EV company surviving bankruptcy, rebuilding from nothing, competing against the world's most advanced automakers — and almost nobody in the English-speaking world was telling it properly. I opened that window. That's still what this channel is. But I own Dell. And today was a very good day. The NIO vs Dell comparison isn't a competition — it's a portfolio conversation. A concentrated bet on NIO misses the AI infrastructure wave. A concentrated bet on Dell misses the Chinese EV expansion story. The mistake this community sometimes makes is treating NIO as an identity rather than an investment. You're not a NIO person. You're an investor who has NIO in your portfolio. Those are different things. Bloomberg confirmed a tentative US-Iran deal is being discussed. S&P 500 closed at 7,580 — a new all time record. The Dow crossed 51,000 for the first time in history. Oil slipped on the deal optimism. If this holds — every macro headwind that's been weighing on growth stocks since February starts to reverse. Rate cut expectations return. And the stocks held back by the overhang — including NIO — get re-rated upward. NIO launched its fifth Q2 product today — Onvo L60 pre-sales kicked off at the Shenzhen Auto Show. Official launch June 11. I'm a news guy. I document stories. The Chinese EV story is one of the most important business stories of the decade. But I own Dell too. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.

Welcome back. A lot happened. Let's get into it. NIO ES9 deliveries kicked off yesterday — one day early. NIO hired NBA legend Yao Ming as Chief Experience Officer. The stock surged 9.3% in the US and 10.45% in Hong Kong. The higher-priced Executive Signature Edition and Horizon Special Edition trims are selling far above management expectations — a margin story that flows directly into Q2 revenue per unit. NIO Q1 2026: Revenue $3.7 billion — up 123% year over year. Deliveries 83,465 — up 98.3%. Vehicle margin 18.8% — fourth consecutive quarterly improvement. Net loss narrowed to 332 million yuan from 6.75 billion yuan a year ago. Q2 guidance: 110,000-115,000 deliveries. Bank of America doubled its stake. Morgan Stanley and Bernstein both upgraded. Xpeng Q1 2026: Revenue $1.89 billion — down 17.6% year over year. Deliveries 62,682 — down 33.3%. Gross margin 20.6%. Same market. Same quarter. Two completely different stories about brand positioning and where each company sits in the Chinese EV landscape. Ferrari unveiled the Luce on May 25th — their first fully electric production car, designed with Jony Ive, priced at $645,000. Italy's deputy prime minister said it doesn't look like a Ferrari. The Chinese internet compared it to a Nissan Leaf. Ferrari's stock dropped 8% on launch day. China's luxury EV market — NIO ET9 at 818K yuan, Maextro S800 at 1 million yuan — doesn't need Ferrari's validation. It's already here and already won. PCE inflation hit 3.8% for April — highest in nearly three years. And Wall Street is quietly profiting from the same war it publicly says it wants to end. The financial incentives keeping Hormuz closed are enormous. Follow the money. 📖 Dial Tone: A Modern Salesman's Story — my debut novel. A novel for everyone quietly wondering if there's more. E-Book pre-order available now. Hard copy June 12th. 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1VRFS5R --- 📊 Moomoo US: Up to $1000 in NVDA shares with deposit + limited time 8.1% APY 🔗 https://start.moomoo.com/0AY120 Terms and Conditions apply. Securities offered through MFI, Member FINRA/SIPC. See Full Disclosures: https://invest.us.moomoo.com/_disclosure Promo 8.1% APY is for new users only. Cash Sweep Required. Rates may change. Actual APY may vary. Moomoo is not a bank. Click the link for Bank List and Program Terms. 🔐 Nord Security: - NordVPN: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902 - NordPass: https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356 💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR Courtside Financial. Hosted by Obi.