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]

Labor Market Overview - Unemployment rate decreased to 41% [1] - Job creation was significantly influenced by state and local government hiring [2] - Monthly job reports can be volatile and influenced by factors such as teacher hiring cycles [3] Economic Outlook & Policy Impact - Tax bill passage is expected to accelerate private sector growth [4] - Companies have been hesitant to invest due to uncertainty surrounding the tax bill [4] - Full expensing on equipment and factories is anticipated to stimulate capital expenditure (capex) [5] - Increased capex is expected to lead to construction jobs and subsequent hiring for new plants [5]