Shares of Oracle (ORCL) set an all-time high for a second straight session Friday after the enterprise software giant reported fourth-quarter results that topped expectations and spoke of “dramatically higher” revenue growth for the current fiscal year.
After the bell Wednesday, Oracle reported Q4 adjusted earnings per share of $1.70 on revenue that increased 11% year-over-year to $15.90 billion, with both metrics topping consensus estimates of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. CEO Safra Catz said, “FY25 was a very good year—but we believe FY26 will be even better as our revenue growth rates will be dramatically higher.”
Oracle shares soared 13% to a record high yesterday, and were leading S&P 500 gainers for a second consecutive day Friday afternoon with an advance of more than 7%. With two hours to go until the closing bell, Oracle stock was trading at $214.57 after earlier climbing as high as $215.14.
The stock has gained about 29% year-to-date, including a 22% cumulative rise since Wednesday’s report.
Canal+ is on an ambitious mission targeting 50 million to 100 million subscribers.
Currently, it boasts nearly 27 million subscribers in 52 countries across three continents.
Last December, the French media and telecom giant listed on the London Stock Exchange, following a spin-off from its parent company, Vivendi, ushering in an independent future to pursue its growth ambitions.
For Canal+, which generated $7.2 billion (about €6.4 billion) in revenue in 2024, Africa and Asia offer high-growth potentials. In Africa, the company is expanding its footprint by acquiring Multichoice Group, the continent’s largest pay TV enterprise.
South Africa’s Competition Commission has authorized the deal valued at $1.9 billion.
Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada called the deal “a major step forward in our ambition to create a global media and entertainment company with Africa at its heart.”
Its timing is ideal for Canal+, which controls a 45% stake in Multichoice and has become increasingly frustrated by the company’s decline.
Multichoice acknowledges facing the most challenging operating conditions in 40 years. At the top of the list is “abnormal currency weakness,” which slashed R7 billion (about $390 million) in profits from its books over the past 18 months. It has also lost close to 4 million subscribers, with the total number currently at 19.3 million in 50 markets.
Canal+ also plans to expand across Asia through its stake in Hong Kong-based Viu. Last June, it paid $300 million to increase its share to 36.8%, and is ultimately targeting 51%.
Canal+ is not the only company stirring the telecom market. In the US, cable providers Charter Communications and Cox Communications have agreed to merge in a deal valued at $34.5 billion. And AT&T has agreed to pay $5.7 billion to acquire Lumen Technologies’ mass market fiber business. In India, the impending listing of Reliance Jio, part of billionaire Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries empire, could raise $5.3 billion.
Oil futures soared on Friday after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and Iran retaliated. The violence raised concerns that a larger conflict could disrupt global oil supplies.
Gasoline prices were down 12% year-over-year in May, one of the primary reasons inflation ran just slightly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
Analysts say an escalation that meaningfully disrupts oil trade—like Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz or Israel targeting Iran’s oil infrastructure—is unlikely, and oil prices could settle once tensions ease.
Oil prices soared on Friday as tensions in the Middle East flared following Israel’s attack on Iranian military and nuclear targets and Iran’s response.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures, the U.S. benchmark, were up about 7.5% at $73.12 a barrel in recent trading Friday, after soaring as much as 14% overnight, crude’s biggest intraday jump in years. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, were also more than 7% higher at $74.38.
Analysts at JPMorgan warned earlier this week that an all-out conflict between Israel and Iran, one of the world’s largest oil producers, could send oil prices above $100 for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted global supply in 2022.
That, in turn, might aggravate inflation at a time when economists are already watching for a tariff-driven resurgence. Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimates every $10 increase in oil prices would translate into a half-percentage-point increase in the inflation rate, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Lower Oil Prices Help Tamp Down Inflation
Low oil prices have been instrumental in keeping inflation in check this year. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.4% year-over-year in May. Inflation would have run further above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target if gas prices hadn’t fallen 12% over the last year. JPMorgan estimates that oil prices at $120 a barrel could push CPI up to 5%.
However, most analysts say the worst-case scenario is unlikely. “The primary market concern lies with Iran potentially closing the Strait of Hormuz,” through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply transits, said Kristian Kerr, Head of Macro Strategy at LPL Financial. “We think this is unlikely for now given Iran’s need to maintain oil sales to China,” Kerr added.
There is also the risk that either Israel or Iran targets regional oil infrastructure to escalate the conflict. That would have a meaningful impact on global oil supply and, thus, gas prices.
Barring such an escalation, experts predict oil prices will settle after Friday’s surge. Goldman Sachs analysts on Friday acknowledged that the conflict would boost oil’s risk premium in the near term, but maintained their prediction that WTI will trade around $55 a barrel at the end of the year.
This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect new market data.
AI’s huge appetite for computing power is fueling a global data-center ramp-up. Investors and builders are counting on the boom to continue.
Not since the height of the industrial revolution have we seen the level of demand for infrastructure capacity that the artificial intelligence boom has created. It’s estimated that roughly 10 times the computing power is needed to conduct a ChatGP search compared to a regular Google search. According to Goldman Sachs, we can expect AI power demand to increase by 165% by 2030; McKinsey forecasts that in Europe alone, meeting the new IT load demand will require between $250 billion to $300 billion of investment, excluding power generation capacity.
AI’s insatiable appetite for computing power, coupled with the current demand/supply conditions for cloud-based AI workflows/use cases, has supercharged the pace of investment and development of data centers. A data center is a facility housing cloud computing and storage resources that enable the delivery of software applications, the training of AI, and any number of additional processing and production applications.
Currently, the US is leading the AI power race, having built the largest number of data centers in the world. Statista reports that as of March, the US was home to 5,426 facilities, followed by Germany with 529, the UK with 523, and China with 449. By 2030, these numbers are expected to increase by about 30-40%. Globally, investment in data centers is forecast to reach $7 trillion.
Land And Power
How does the investment needed to build a data center break down?
“If someone owns a land parcel where data-center development is feasible, then the value of that land is significantly higher than it would be absent that demand,” says Tim McGuire, senior director of Project Finance at Rowan Digital Infrastructure, a developer and builder of data centers in the US. “For example, we see land in core markets like Northern Virginia exceed $2.5 million an acre, and to fit a hyperscaler development—Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft—we’re typically buying a hundred acres plus.”
Tim McGuire, Senior Director of Project Finance, Rowan Digital Infrastructure
Energy and water are both crucial cost components, and energy has been the gating issue in most geographies, McGuire adds.
“Data centers are very energy intensive,” he notes, “and even if the energy infrastructure is there to power them, building an interconnection can take months if not years. The cost of building those interconnections can be high. We’re therefore seeing more and more utilities—particularly utilities where the data center boom has really put strain on them—require some form of security for them to undertake the interconnection work.”
Well-capitalized developers that can afford to meet those requirements, have the advantage he says.
The dynamics related to power availability are different for data centers, observes Gordon Bell, principal at EY-Parthenon Digital Infrastructure. “Europe is particularly challenged with respect to power availability, given some of the local regulatory hurdles around expanding the power infrastructure,” he says. “The same thing is also true in North America, whereas in Asia it is relatively fast to build out that infrastructure.”
Graphic processing units (GPUs) are essential for all things AI, and some countries face further restrictions to data center development depending on how many GPUs they can import at any one time, Bell adds.
“Countries like Canada, Japan, Australia, and many in Europe don’t have restrictions on GPU imports,” he says, “which has created another catalyst for growth in the market in those regions.”
Also, different countries will offer specific incentives around the development of data centers. Some Middle Eastern countries, including the United Arab Emirates, are aggressively incentivizing data center development within their borders, he adds.
Financing Data Centers
Because building a data center is extremely capital intensive, backers are typically global companies like Blackstone, notes Claus Hertel, managing director at Rabobank, an active lender in the space and developer of its own green data center in the Netherlands. A lot of investors and lenders have relationships with these big firms and have assembled large project finance teams that are active in renewables, clean tech, and digital infrastructure.
Claus Hertel, Managing Director, Rabobank
“At the basic level, you have project financing, which incorporates construction, financing, and term financing,” Hertel says. “Once the data center is complete, you have a certain amount of time—typically a three- to four-year period—where the sponsor can decide how to access permanent capital or permanent financing. That could be in the form of asset-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, or a private placement to long-term investors. So there are different pockets of capital, short-term or longer term.”
Like many of its peers, Rowan Digital Infrastructure is sponsored by a private equity firm, Tim McGuire says.
“Typically, a private equity investor will front some of the pre-development costs, which could include acquiring the land parcel and doing some of the horizontal development,” he notes. “Rowan doesn’t put debt financing in place for projects until we have a signed lease, because at that point, we’re able to obtain very attractive terms. The hyperscaler customers are large, well-capitalized, profitable public companies with high investment-grade credit ratings. After signing a long-term lease with them, it opens low-cost debt capital that provides 80% to 85% of the capital needed to build the project.”
The Future Of Data-Center Investing
“The context for all of this is that the industry has grown tremendously over the last couple of years, and it’s expected to accelerate going forward,” says Gordon Bell. “That just requires more and more capital—more capital than a lot of the existing owners of these assets originally underwrote. They’re looking for ways to raise new capital as well as recycle capital.”
One of the possible solutions that is starting to percolate in the market, he says, is the introduction of dedicated funds that hold a portfolio of stabilized assets.
“That would then provide some diversification of risk and allow various investors looking to get exposure into the space to invest in a fund that holds a portfolio of assets across different markets and different customer,” he says.
“Typically, the stabilized asset deals that we’ve seen are for individual facilities or a handful of individual facilities,” he adds. “Those facilities provide exposure to very specific markets and within each of those facilities there’s oftentimes only a single customer. So, you’re placing a concentrated bet on a single customer and a single market. The private equity deals that have been made thus far have been more one off in nature, a handful of assets, or single assets. It’s not been anything that can programmatically scale globally, which is really what the industry eventually needs—a fund that would hold all these stabilized assets. Investors looking to get exposure into stabilized assets would then just be able to invest into this fund.”
Whatever the mechanism that gets it done, McGuire sees continued strong demand for data center development going forward, driven by continued investment from hyperscalers. AI will be a catalyst, but so will demand for cloud services.
“There’s a lot of support for the data center business for the foreseeable future,” he predicts.
Core retail sales rose 4.2% year-over-year in May, according to the National Retail Federation, which shared its estimates ahead of the government’s scheduled retail sales release next week.
Spending growth has slowed, but the trade group warned that consumer spending is shifting amid economic uncertainty.
Retailers are trying to suss out how their customers will respond to evolving trade policies and economic conditions.
Retail sales grew in May, according to a fresh analysis, but uncertainty is shifting consumer behavior, leaving retailers eager to pinpoint where it’s headed.
Core retail sales—which excludes restaurant, car and gas spending—rose about 0.2% from April to May, and 4.2% from a year earlier, the National Retail Federation said Friday. Spending growth has slowed, which the trade group said in part reflects fewer consumers stocking up on goods in an attempt to beat tariff-fueled price increases.
“While momentum remains, the nature of consumer spending is shifting as economic uncertainty increases,” NRF President Matthew Shay said in a press release. “Consumer fundamentals haven’t been damaged yet, and a slowing-but-still-growing job market is supporting household priorities ahead of any meaningful price increases in the coming months.”
Spending on digital products, such as games and books, shot up about 28% year-over-year in May, and sporting goods sales rose 8.2%, the NRF said. But sales at building and garden supply stores fell 7.3% over the past year, it said. The federal government is slated to release its own retail sales figures for May on Tuesday.
The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment rose 16% from May to June—marking the first increase in six months. Unease about the economy remains high by historical standards, but has come down as the White House has moderated its stance on tariffs.
Under a proposed trade deal with China, President Donald Trump may keep tariffs on Chinese exports at the current level, rather than the prior 145% tax. The U.S. may also maintain 10% tariffs on goods from a number of trading partners past July, when higher import taxes are slated to go into effect, officials said.
A number of retailers are searching for signals on how consumers will respond to the latest twists in domestic trade policy. Shoppers have been relatively cautious, apparel companies J.Jill (JILL) and Oxford Industries (OXM) said on earnings conference calls this week.
“Concern about the impact of tariffs on prices in the economy is exacerbating weak consumer sentiment,” Oxford Industries CEO Thomas Caldecot Chubb III said, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense.
Assessments are complicated by the fact that Americans endured years of high inflation, beginning amid the pandemic, said Howard Friedman, CEO of Utz Brands (UTZ), which sells chips, pretzels and other snacks.
“The consumer may be taking a little bit of a break,” Friedman said at a conference this week.
Rouven Bergmann has been CFO of Dassault Systèmes since January 2022. A software company, Dassault Systemes is also active in CAC 40 Index of blue-chip French stocks. It is a unit of the Dassault Group, which has holdings in aeronautics, high tech, digital, and communications.
Global Finance: Since you joined Dasault Systemes, what has been the most challenging period, and why?
Rouven Bergmann: The balance of managing long term and short term is always the biggest struggle for the CFO. You have to create the capacity to invest in the long term, but you also have to manage performance quarter to quarter. Certainly, 2024 was a difficult year, because of volatility in the end markets. There was a lot of geopolitical instability in the world and in Europe. Think back to the European elections and the uncertainty in France. This really has been a headwind in terms of decision cycles.
The timing of decision-making is becoming a bit less predictable for our customers. It’s not that they’re deciding against us or for the competition—that’s not the case. We are winning market share from the competition. But managing the cycle of transactions and deals has become really something that’s more difficult to predict.
To give you an example, we signed a strategic agreement with Volkswagen in December of last year; the first discussion started two years ago.
GF: What’s the impact of the new US tariff policy?
Bergmann: Clearly, 2025, with the situation that the US administration has started with tariffs, is creating a lot of uncertainty for our customers. Now they need to invest and adapt to the new world. I’m not worried about our future, but for sure, there could be short-term volatility and noise.
GF: There is a sort of academic debate over how the role of the CFO has changed: becoming more an ally and business partner of the CEO and less an accountant. What do you think?
Bergmann: I have been in this role for 10 years at different companies. For me, I don’t think it has changed. I think there are three types of CFOs. There is more of an accountant, who comes from the audit function, which I think is more about compliance and implementing standards but has less business interaction. Then there is the CFO who comes from an investment bank, who is more about capital and markets and investor communication. And then there is the operational CFO, who is deeply connected to the company’s value creation cycle. I think today you need to find the right mix of the three.
GF: What do you suggest to someone who is young and wants to become a corporate CFO?
Bergmann: Gain as much experience as you can with a company, in and out of finance. The CFO role is much more than finance; you have to understand the finance function, but also understand how the business works.
For example, when I was already at a very senior level at a software company, I left finance and worked as COO of product development. It was a role that was a combination of operational planning and financial planning. I had to find the right resourceallocation mix, maintaining and optimizing what exists, while freeing up enough capacity to develop new products.
At the same point in time, we all know that there are constraints to resources. You cannot hire as many people as you want, so you really have to find productivity, move people around, and create that flexibility in your workforce. The company where I did that was one of the largest software companies in the world. There were 20,000 engineers in software development. So, I really learned the operational part of the company, and now I can combine that with finance.
Consumer sentiment improved for the first time in six months in June, as potential trade deals eased fears that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will push up inflation.
Sentiment remained at low levels by historic standards according to the index.
Professional forecasters have also pared back earlier estimates for how much damage Trump’s tariffs will do to the economy.
People are less worried that President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign will push up prices, though American consumers remain pessimistic by historical standards.
The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment, a survey of how people feel about the economy and their finances, rose in June for the first time in six months, the university said Friday.
The index rose 16% in June compared to May, according to a preliminary survey, but was still 20% below its level in December 2024. At a level of 60.5 in June, the index is still below the typical range of about 100 before the pandemic.
Feelings about most aspects of the economy, including inflation, improved amid news about trade talks possibly defusing the high tariffs that Trump has imposed in recent months. Economists closely watch measures of how people feel about the economy because sentiment can affect how much people are willing to spend. Consumer spending is the cornerstone of the economy, making up about 68% of the GDP.
“It’s welcome news to see a pickup in consumer sentiment after months of decline,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a commentary. “Americans are relieved to see President Trump paring back his trade war and tariffs, but they remain on high alert for price increases at the store and gas pump.”
The decreased consumer pessimism echoes that of professional economists, many of whom have pared back their projections for how much damage Trump’s tariffs will cause the economy. Economists at Oxford Economics reduced their projected chances of a recession in the next year to 35% Thursday, though still over the baseline 15% chance of a recession in any given year.
The details of the survey had at least one red flag suggesting quite a bit of anxiety is still brewing. The share of people who said they’d be worse off financially in a year rose to 44% from 40% in May, eclipsing the 32% who expected to be better off. That was the highest share of people expecting to be worse off in the history of the survey going back to 1978.
“It’s unsettling how many Americans believe they will be financially worse off in a year,” Long wrote.
Official measures of inflation have so far been milder than expected, and the job market has stayed resilient. Still, forecasters are bracing for the tariffs to drag down employment and push up inflation later in the year, as more companies pass along the cost of the import taxes on to customers.
This article was updated after publication to add information about the percentage of people expecting to be financially worse off in a year.
On May 27, Chinese EV battery giant CATL raised HK$41 billion (about $5.23 billion) in the world’s largest IPO of 2025 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Shares jumped 16.4% on its debut, with JPMorgan Chase underwriting the deal that propelled the bourse to the top of global rankings.
“CATL’s Hong Kong listing is a significant milestone, not just for the company but for the broader regional market,” said Joshua Chu, a Hong Kong-based lawyer at CITD.
“The scale of the IPO, given the current global macroeconomic headwinds and the cautious investor sentiment in Asia, is impressive,” he added.
The advisers also managed a complex dual-listing process, underscoring Hong Kong’s growing capability to handle large strategic offerings. After all, these were some of the most seasoned global and regional financial institutions and law offices, according to Anandaday Misshra, managing partner of Indian law firm AMLEGALS.
“It is clear that CATL has leaned on deep institutional and sectoral expertise to structure a deal of this magnitude,” Misshra added.
Also, CATL’s Hong Kong listing “shows growing confidence in zero-carbon technologies and the companies building them,” Kapil Dhiman of Quranium said.
“As a company building secure digital infrastructure for the future, we see this as a sign that Hong Kong is ready to play a leading role again in supporting bold, forward-looking industries,” Dhiman adds.
CATL reported a 40% year-on-year increase in EV battery deliveries in the first quarter of the year. Seoul-based SNE Research suggests it also acquired a 38.2% global market share.
CATL’s Hong Kong listing proceeds would be utilized for factory construction in foreign markets—accounting for 30% of its total revenue.
“For now, it looks far more like a war chest. The large earning to spending suggests China will take up any new technologies slowly anyway,” said economist Dr. Bryane Michael of Oxford University.
CATL’s IPO also reflects a broader shift in global capital flows.
“As US-China trade tensions ease, Chinese equities have rebounded strongly, while ongoing US-EU tariff disputes and political uncertainties continue to weigh on US markets,” Chu said. “Hong Kong’s mature market infrastructure and strategic positioning make it an increasingly attractive destination for international investors seeking stability and growth in Asia.”
Adobe shares slumped Friday, as the design software developer failed to impress with its quarterly results, despite topping Wall Street estimates.
Several Wall Street analysts indicated Adobe’s results didn’t suggest enough progress with its own AI offerings to ease worries it could be held back by growing competition and AI disruption.
Deutsche Bank said it expects the stock ‘to remain range-bound until the company demonstrates more tangible success from AI.”
Adobe (ADBE) shares slumped Friday, as the design software developer failed to impress with its quarterly results, despite topping Wall Street estimates and boosting its full-year outlook.
The stock led S&P 500 decliners by sinking nearly 6% in recent trading to roughly $390, leaving shares down 12% for 2025.
“The key investor question remains when (if) AI innovation can move the needle,” wrote Morgan Stanley analysts, who added the quarter “brought little to quell the bear concern around AI contribution being unable to reaccelerate growth while bulls must remain patient for encouraging AI metrics to move the needle.”
Still, the analysts said they are “overweight” on the stock with a $510 target, expecting Adobe AI monetization to ramp up in the next fiscal year.
Jefferies analysts, who reiterated a “buy” rating and $590 price target on Adobe’s potential growth driven by its AI offerings, echoed the comments, writing that while the firm’s earnings showed some AI progress, it was “maybe not enough to appease bears.”
Jefferies also noted that Adobe’s forecast, while higher, would imply a slowdown in growth in the fiscal fourth quarter, though they added they believe it “reflects management’s conservatism amid ongoing macro uncertainties.”
Bank of America, which raised its target to $475 from $424 on Adobe’s outlook and AI growth potential, said the company demonstrated “solid execution in a weaker software backdrop,” calling it a “break from this reporting season, with most software companies opting not to flow through upside to the full year.”
Citi analysts, however, were less convinced, citing worries growing competition and AI disruption could hold Adobe back. Citi issued a “neutral” rating for the stock and $465 target.
Deutsche Bank analysts, who affirmed their “hold” rating and $475 target, said they “expect the stock to remain range-bound until the company demonstrates more tangible success from AI.”
Last night, as you’ve no doubt heard, Israel launched a large targeted air strike on Iran, hitting its Natanz atomic facility – a significant escalation in regional tensions..
Now stocks are crashing on fears that this could seriously heighten geopolitical instability around the globe..
But we’re here to tell you that, while those worries are understandable, this battle should remain contained to the region for now…
For long-term investors, history suggests that markets often recover from geopolitical shocks – offering opportunities amid the volatility.
Here’s why we think that’s the case.
What Just Happened: Israel’s Air Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
Just hours ago, on Friday morning, Israel launched a major preemptive operation – dubbed Operation Rising Lion or Am KeLavi – blitzing Iran’s nuclear and missile sites, including the Natanz facility and key military leadership in Tehran. Reportedly, this attack killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami and two nuclear scientists in the process.
And while Israel has struck Iran before, this is the first time it’s directly hit a nuclear facility.
In April 2024, Israel carried out a limited strike near Isfahan, targeting air-defense radar that protected the Natanz nuclear site. Though close, this did not directly hit enrichment centrifuges or nuclear infrastructure.
Then in October, Israel launched a larger missile and air campaign that hit air defenses, missile production, and even a nuclear-related research complex at Parchin – but once again, no direct attack on enrichment or centrifuge facilities.
Friday’s strike on core nuclear sites (and key officials) marks an escalation beyond earlier attacks.
As a result, some geopolitical experts are warning that ‘this time is different’ and that the Iranian response could be much more severe than what we saw throughout 2024.
Such a severe response could risk disrupting oil supplies, spiking oil prices, reigniting global inflation, fracturing already-frayed geopolitical relations, plunging the global economy into a recession, and dragging everyone into World War III.
There is definitely a potential apocalyptic outcome at play here.
But history says it is very unlikely to unfold that way…
Why Iran Will Retaliate Via Oil
No one wants a full-blown war in the Middle East. That seems especially the case for Iran, which has already been weakened militarily and politically and probably wouldn’t stand a chance in an escalated conflict against both Israel and the United States.
But it also can’t just lay down and let Israel steamroll it with airstrikes. It needs to respond in some way.
And we believe that response will largely be to weaponize oil.
Historically, Iran has leveraged oil and maritime disruptions to escalate pressure during skirmishes. A salient example is the 2019 Abqaiq-Khurais drone strike, which knocked out about 5% of global oil production and led to a spike in global prices.
Doing so now could be especially potent…
Because President Trump is intent on lowering U.S. oil prices and keeping inflation low so that he can secure rate cuts. But none of that will happen if oil prices spike to $80-plus. Inflation would stay high, and rate cuts would be off the table.
Iran knows this and, therefore, knows that it can go for the jugular here by weaponizing oil.
Disrupt supply chains and spike oil prices. Reignite global inflation. Pressure Trump to step in and tell Israel to back down.
We think that’s most likely Iran’s strategy here – which means short-term pain, long-term gain for stocks.
Market Impact & AI Boom Resilience: Why Investors Should Pounce on AI Stocks
Geopolitical conflict brings with it profound human and societal consequences – far beyond markets and headlines. Indeed, these developments rightly draw global concern, but it’s important to separate short-term volatility from structural trends.
Though any further disintegration of peace in the Middle East is not good news, in our view, this latest development doesn’t impact the trajectory or pace of the AI Boom.
Even amid the crisis, AI chips are being bought. Data centers are being built. Energy facilities are being commissioned. New models are being developed, and AI agents are being deployed.
While today’s headlines are unsettling, AI is still rapidly proliferating throughout the global economy. Israel’s strike against Iran does nothing to change that.
So, as AI stocks crash lower today, the structural trend remains unchanged: buy any dips in top-tier AI trades.
For the long-term AI investor, this is noise, not signal. Stick to your allocation plan. Rebalance where prudent. If you’re building for 2030, today’s escalation does little to change the buy thesis.
And one corner of the AI market could be the most lucrative of all – humanoid robotics; what we call “AI 2.0.”
At the heart of this revolution is Tesla’s (TSLA) Optimus bot, a project that could transform labor as we know it. Think warehouse robots that learn on the fly, medical assistants that adapt in real time, or domestic helpers that move, see, and reason like humans do.
But it’s not Tesla you need to focus on… It’s the little-known supplier helping make these robots a reality.
We’ve released a full breakdown on this humanoid future and under-the-radar stock – and why it could be the biggest AI winner of the decade.
