To paraphrase Justin Timberlake in his iconic turn in the 2010 film "The Social Network," a trillion dollars isn't cool. You know what is? $3 trillion. The big picture: That's roughly how much money seven Big Tech companies, including Google, Microsoft and Nvidia, have committed to spending on AI-related infrastructure in off-balance-sheet commitments, according to a new analysis from Morgan Stanley. - And that's on top of the estimated $770 billion in debt and lease obligations that are on the balance sheets. Why it matters: The analysis finds that the total amount of spending on AI is much bigger than the already-mind-blowing headlines suggest, and — more of a red flag — it's more leveraged than is perhaps appreciated. How it…
Data: FactSet; Note: As of June 30, 2026 market close; Table: Matt Phillips/Axios The market's giant winners this year — memory-related stocks — also look ridiculously cheap. Why it matters: Their low price-to-earnings multiples reflect the market's worries that the current boom times won't last. Yes, but: Some analysts argue that this time is different because of the arrival of AI as a giant new source of demand for memory. They say the market should start valuing memory shares more like other tech companies. - If the memory bulls are right, it could keep the market climbing. Case in point: Take SK Hynix, the South Korean memory chipmaker and market darling that soared more than 500% over the last year. - It just raised $26.5…
Data: FactSet; Chart: Matt Phillips/Axios The momentum trade is having a terrible start to the second half. Why it matters: Momentum shares drove the market gains early in the year, and it will be harder for the rally to continue without their participation. How it works: Momentum is one of the "factors" some mathematically minded investors, known as quants , use to describe and organize the market according to certain well-understood market trends. - Momentum stocks are defined, more or less, as shares that have been going up — and outperforming the broader market — for roughly a year. - The academic research that quantitative investing is based on has found that such trends have a tendency to persist. - In other words, a momentum…
Income growth is accelerating — supporting consumer spending — while inflation is rising even beyond the energy-price shock. Why it matters: That combination, shown in new data out Thursday morning, creates a complex reality for Kevin Warsh's young Federal Reserve chairmanship . - It's good news for the economy's underlying resilience, but it raises fresh questions about whether interest rates are exerting as much downward pressure on demand as Fed officials may believe. What they're saying: "The U.S. consumer is not cracking," Olu Sonola, an economist at Fitch Ratings, wrote Thursday morning, adding that the oil price shock has not derailed consumer spending. - "Headline inflation may be nearing a peak as energy prices fall, but…
State of the Union: Worries over an AI bubble and rate hikes helped to drive down tech stocks. The post Technology Stocks Face Uncertainty Following Previous Day Sell-Off appeared first on The American Conservative .
The NASDAQ composite index ended Tuesday down 2.2 percent, a dive driven by falling tech stocks. AI and chip stocks spearheaded the decline, with key companies like Tesla (TSLA ), and Nvidia (NVDA ) down 5.82 and 3.91 percent respectively over the past five days. One key driver of the decline was fear ahead of earnings reports from Micron Technology, a key chipmaker, after market close on Wednesday. Micron fell 13 percent on the day, alongside the South Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which fell 12 percent over the same period. These declines come as major AI companies, OpenAI and Anthropic, plan to offer shares on the public markets, raising questions about their long-term profitability. Corporate…Open
Data: Financial Modeling Prep ; Chart: Emily Peck/Axios Investors seem to be hitting pause on the AI run-up. Chip stocks in particular are slumping from their record highs. Why it matters: We're in a bit of a reality-check moment in the AI buildout — both for the businesses blowing their budgets on compute and for the investors bidding up stock prices for any company engaged in the new technology. The big picture: AI is moving faster than ever before, and the cost of some compute , or the price to rent the processing power needed to run models, is going down. - But prices to run the flagship frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic are far more costly. - At the same time, demand for AI technology is still growing. State of play:…
Anthropic raised $65 billion in a Series H funding round, valuing the AI lab at $965 billion post-money, in one of the largest private funding rounds in tech history. Why it matters: With the round, Anthropic leapfrogs OpenAI, which was most recently valued at $730 billion. Driving the news: The round was led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital. - The company said the funding will support safety and interpretability research, expand compute capacity and scale Claude products and partnerships. - Anthropic said its run-rate revenue crossed $47 billion earlier this month. Zoom in: The round includes $15 billion of previously committed hyperscaler investments, including $5 billion from Amazon. - Infrastructure…