There's a lot plaguing the markets right now. BI's Joe Ciolli helps make sense of it all.
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Making sense of the markets madness
So many big questions are playing out in markets, from the war in Iran to AI and the future of work. Joe Ciolli leads our markets coverage and writes our First Trade newsletter, launched this past fall. (Sign up here!) I asked him to share some thoughts with us.
Joe, is there a rough weighting you can assign to the biggest issues moving stocks right now? Are investors broadly more focused on AI or geopolitics — or any other macro theme?
The Iran war is the main game right now and has been since the end of February. We're in the midst of the biggest oil disruption in history. The war has rocked markets — stocks, bonds, currencies — and hit businesses and consumers directly. It's having an immediate impact, so it's commanding attention.
AI will still be the defining market theme in the long run, but it's taking a breather from being the dominant narrative right now.
The rise of the Magnificent Seven big tech stocks partly reflects enthusiasm for AI. And yet selloffs signal fear that AI disruption will happen too quickly for the economy to absorb. What's your take?
The bull case is that AI will unlock huge productivity gains, eventually boosting profit growth across industries. And earnings growth is rocket fuel for stocks.
The bear case you describe has its adherents, but based on recent tech returns, investors still seem to believe the labor force will evolve rather than be replaced. The market expects a reshuffling of winners and losers, not an extinction event.
You've covered the markets for almost 20 years. Where do you see new and powerful voices right now? Where do you and your team look for insights or discover pockets of influence?
Substack is an emerging force for market commentary. The likes of Paul Krugman and Michael Burry are on there now, writing basically every day. Podcasts are also an avenue we're exploring more. They give pundits room to stretch out and dig deeper with analysis.
Discord and Reddit help us keep a pulse on the retail community. We're no longer in the Wild West of the GameStop era, but there are still sharp insights, if you know where to look.
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