AI spending, Microsoft layoffs: Asking for a Trend
On today's episode of Asking for a Trend, Host Josh Lipton breaks down the biggest stories and trends from the trading day. Nvidia's (NVDA) latest earnings highlighted a major issue for the AI trade; despite beating earnings expectations, investors were disappointed as they looked for significant returns on massive capital expenditures (CapEx). RBC Capital Markets Internet Analyst Brad Erickson explains that investors are in a position where they have to put "blind faith" into AI players, knowing that it will pay off in the future. He tells Yahoo Finance, "From my perspective, like we're taking a little bit more of a measured approach, saying, 'Look, $200 billion. Think about what you need to do to maintain operating margins.' Pretty simple math of, like, are we really talking about $300, $400 billion of marginal revenue every single year? Those are big numbers." Microsoft (MSFT) is cutting about 650 employees from its Xbox gaming unit, the latest move in a string of layoffs that have impacted the video game industry. Wedbush Securities Managing Director, Equity Research Michael Pachter points out that in Microsoft's case, these jobs are redundant, stemming from its acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year. As for the broader industry, he said hiring increased during the pandemic when people were at home playing video games. Now, these companies are "right-sizing," though Pachter thinks they may be cutting too many jobs. Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Alexandra Canal breaks down the biggest takeaways from Thursday's trading session. Meanwhile, Market Domination anchor Julie Hyman reviews data from the Federal Reserve Bank of America which found home ownership affordability sentiments to have fallen to an 18-year low, equal to levels last seen in 2006. Finally, Josh Lipton covers some of the biggest after-hours movers, from Adobe (ADBE) to RH (RH). This post was written by Melanie Riehl
