Stocks are rallying as oil prices keep falling after the U.S.-Iran agreement, but investors are still trying to sort through a market shaped by Fed changes, Middle East uncertainty, and a massive wave of AI spending.<br><br>Chuck Zodda and Mike Armstrong break down why lower oil and gas prices are helping calm markets, how renewed tanker traffic through Hormuz could reduce energy risks, and why volatility has not fully gone away. They also discuss the accounting catch behind the AI earnings boom, why depreciation and rising usage costs could pressure Big Tech over the next 18 months, how heavy capital spending makes this market more dependent on flawless execution, and why retail investors need to be careful with volatile IPOs and leveraged single-stock ETFs.

AI Spending Boom Puts Market Earnings to the Test

The Financial Exchange Show

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Financial Exchange Show

## Participants

- **Chuck Zodda** (The Financial Exchange Network)
- **Mike Armstrong** (The Financial Exchange Network)
- **Paul LaMonica** (Barron's)
- **Monica** (Barron's)

## Transcript

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Help us support our great American heroes by visiting DAV5K.Boston and making a donation today. This is The Financial Exchange with Chuck Zahda and Mike Armstrong. Chuck, Mike, and Tucker with you here. And on the back of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran

and Kevin Warsh's first meeting as Fed Chair yesterday left us with some downward volatility. Today, the good news, we got the upward kind. The bad news is we still have volatility. You like to see markets calming down. Instead, they're still kind of jumping around as they have for the last couple weeks right now, to be honest. You take a look at where the S&P 500 has been over the last couple weeks, and it's been, okay, like 4% dip down, 3% move up, 2% move down.

It's not really a stable equilibrium that you have. It's kind of chopping around trying to figure out what the new world looks like in terms of, hey, what's the Middle East going to look like? What's the Fed going to look like? Kind of hard to find, you know, two more meaningful potential drivers of the global economy than those two topics. And so that's why it's not surprising that you got a little bit of volatility in the system. As I noted today, it's the good kind to the upside.

75 points up on the S&P 500, 235 on the Dow, and 359 on the NASDAQ. So anywhere from about a half to 1.3% move up in your major indices. 10-year Treasury after selling off yesterday, coming back down a little bit, down 3.7 basis points to 4.426. Dollar index still strengthening right now, up another 0.49% to 100.355. That is dragging gold to the tune of $114, down at 4,267 right now.

And crude oil continuing its slide ...

AI Spending Boom Puts Market Earnings to the Test

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

AI Spending Boom Puts Market Earnings to the Test

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.