Let's talk about more on the Fed and the markets and your money with David Zervos of Jeff. He's chief strategist and Alli McCartney, managing director of US Private Wealth Management, UBS. Ally, start with you because you promised when you sat down, you said, "Brian, I've got some historical context and stats. >> Would you bring?" >> Okay, here we go.So, you just had a guest on that was talking about the tenuousness of capex and the investment that has to happen and this transformational catalyst. If we loo ...

Why don't we start off with Amazon. So if you read a lot of analyst notes, talked to a lot of people, they always a lot of talk about Amazon losing market share when it came to cloud, specifically when it came to AI workloads. Does this just end that narrative or is that still an issue for the company.>> I think it does put the narrative to rest. There was a lot of noise about DEL in of the M AWS revenues, but obviously this number as well as them turning Project Reneer on tells you that the order book is v ...

Financial Performance & Guidance - Meta's Q3 ad revenue showed strong growth, with Q4 guidance implying another 20%+ growth [2][3][8] - The company anticipates mid-teens topline growth for advertising in 2026 [8] - Capex is projected to be between $70 billion and $72 billion [3] - Investors are concerned about expenses and capex, seeking rationalization [2] Investment & Strategy - The company is investing in AI for both core and non-core businesses, including super intelligence [6][7] - Investors seek more concrete data on how Meta will monetize non-core areas [7] - The company's management believes there's a huge opportunity in AI that requires investment [9] - The company may need to have the option to pull back on capex if ROI is not satisfactory [10] Risks & Opportunities - Continued advertising growth at 15%+ into 2026 is crucial for maintaining a bullish outlook [13] - The company has significant earnings power, especially if investments are scaled back [13] - The company's glasses initiatives are viewed positively, while VR's mass market adoption is less certain [11]

Let's bring in former Federal Reserve uh vice chairman and PIMCO e global economic adviser Richard Clara. Rich, um I wonder in the absence of uh of the official government data, what your uh take is on where we are in the economy with that softening labor market yet the rest of the capex driven growth hanging in there and how the Fed's current stance uh relates to it. >> Well, you are right.We don't get official data. There's a lot of alternative data, high frequency uh uh data. Uh and I think it it will sh ...

Let's talk more about markets. Uh Peter Bookvar is here, chief investment officer at one point uh at uh BFG Wealth Partners and a CNBC contributor. Good morning to you, sir.Andrew, uh help us understand what you think is actually going on here in markets. Uh well, I think this rally, the AI tech trade got a second wind after the deepseek news in late January. And who doesn't want to buy stocks when the Fed is cutting interest rates.So, I think that's what brings us to where we are today. Uh, but there's som ...

Let's talk more markets with Sylvia Dublonsky. Right now she is the CEO and chief investment officer of Defiance ETFs and Silia that's been a pretty constant theme for several months at this point that you know the high end is doing very well that consumers at the lower end of the economy are not. How does that play out in terms of one the economy and what that means for the markets.Secondly, yes, good morning Becky. Well, I think that overall consumer the consumer has res remained pretty resilient and cons ...

Dan Greenhouse. He's here with us at Post 9. Good to see you.Um, the market obviously doesn't care much yet. >> Neither do I. >> About what's happening in DC.How do you see things progressing from there. >> I don't think this matter. We was on the other day with Carl and I said, I refuse to play this game.Uh, we've done it. You've been around as long as I have. We've been playing this for 10 years now, 15 years now.And, uh, obviously shutdowns haven't happened every time that the shutdown fight has arisen. ...

Let's bring in first Smart Mark Capital founder and partner Rick Heightsman to hopefully provide us some answers. Good to see you. >> Hey, great to see you.>> So, a lot of people are asking that question and maybe some are sick and tired of it being asked and having to talk about it, but >> do you see any similarities to what's happening now to what happened then. What do you think. Generally, >> what happened then being in the dot bubble and how that >> the only then that's relevant to now, right.>> I I th ...

is about 40% below where we are right now. We got the analyst behind the call. That is Alex Hazel joining us now live from London.Alex, I'm sure uh you've received some choice and colorful comments to your email inbox today. Uh but you call it as you see it. We appreciate it.What is the basis of this call. Um yeah, first of all, thanks for having me on the show. The basis is really we see like big headline figures in terms of like order wins and also revenues but our work really shows that the value uh subs ...

Cloud Performance & Expectations - Microsoft's cloud growth is estimated at 34% year-over-year, with market watching if this meets investor expectations, especially after Alphabet's strong cloud performance [1] - The market anticipates further acceleration and strength in cloud, driven by easing Blackwell supply and significant rack installations by hyperscalers, potentially boosting cloud backlog in the second half [2] - Amazon is expected to demonstrate cloud acceleration, following Alphabet's lead in raising capex forecasts significantly above analyst expectations [3] Capex & AI Investment - Meta is expected to continue investing heavily in AI and data centers, despite prior efficiency initiatives, with the market anticipating a significant increase in their capex forecast [4] - The industry expects continued positive comments on capital spending, driven by increasing use cases, as evidenced by Alphabet processing 980 trillion tokens, up from 480 trillion a couple of months ago [5] - The industry acknowledges potential overinvestment in AI, with mixed signals regarding infrastructure growth, as highlighted by ASML's uncertain growth outlook [6][7] Market Dynamics & Confidence - Tax reform, allowing up to 100% expensing of capex and R&D, is expected to benefit companies' free cash flow, boosting confidence in capital spending [8] - Ongoing AI infrastructure investments by companies like Anthropic, Open AI, and XAI are expected to further fuel capital spending [9] - Despite potential market rebound and strong positioning in stocks like Meta and Microsoft, the industry believes it is still early in the innovation curve of AI technology [11] - The current situation is compared to the early stages of the internet, suggesting that the capex cycle is far from ending due to the generational nature of the technology [12]