Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets right now.
Big Tech's hunger for artificial intelligence infrastructure is running headlong into Europe's power grid. SoftBank has unveiled plans to build three point one gigawatts of AI data centers in northern France by twenty thirty one, a commitment that underscores just how capital-intensive the AI buildout has become and how seriously energy capacity constraints are being stress-tested across the continent.
Shifting to equities, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has staged a remarkable recovery, posting a forty percent gain since April tenth after Wall Street had broadly abandoned the position. The move reflects renewed appetite for software names as rate expectations stabilize and investors rotate back into growth, a sharp reversal from the risk-off sentiment that dominated earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Indian markets are under pressure this morning, with IT stocks leading the selloff after shares of Infosys and Wipro dropped between two and a half and eight percent on Wall Street overnight. The declines are feeding directly into sentiment in Mumbai, where technology heavyweights carry significant index weight and any weakness in U.S. demand signals hits hard and fast.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
